First, let me say that I'm not a professional. But just with the costs I have incurred going to regional amateur tournaments in my area this year, some of your projected costs are a bit off. I don't know anyone that only spends $40 a day on meals. Perhaps one meal at today's costs. Certainly not if you're eating at the bowling center, where the costs (in my center at least) ate close to twice that of a restaurant. Air travel can be cost effective IF you don't have to incur that added costs of multiple ball bags, depending on the tournament. If you're driving your own car or renting one, the cost of fuel is going to blow your budget up. Here in Iowa, we have close to the cheapest fuel in the nation and that is still over $3 a gallon. So I figure I spend close to what you have budgeted for travel, for one event I do a month. And that is regional, not national. I agree that costs can be defrayed by "carpooling" with a friend. But that is not always possible. Things that were overlooked. You did not account for practice time fees. My center will work a deal where they only charge me per game, which is great. However, when I ask for just pinsetters for an hour for spare practice or drills, they charge $25 an hour. That will vary to what the pro can work out with their home center and it's tough to nail down. But practice is essential and needs to be accounted for. I personally spend $54 a week minimum just for practice and I'm an amateur. This was a good illustration as to what a pro could possibly do on tour and I'm glad you broke it down. But as some of the comments suggest, it seems like you paint and overly rosy picture of what a professional bowler can make. There is a reason that quite a few pro bowlers I follow have jobs in pro shops and certificates of instruction. Professional bowling is quite competitive and even bowlers that have been on tour for years are still searching for their first major win. For me, I would've taken the low end of earnings and the high end of costs and compared those. I understand why you didn't. That would be discouraging to say the least. I truly hope that you end up a tier one professional. But there is a field every week that don't make the cut.
@@robertcuratolo5339 yeah even in this horrible inflation im paying around 11$ a meal eating out. cut the soda and large fry and iced coffee if you cannot make 40$ a day for food work.
@@troytrujillo8979 Yes but i am talking about El Lardo {Doh Hughes} notorious binge eater. Of course this doesn't apply to him cause he has his own set of rules. Listen you do the things you do for the love of the game. Cutting costs cutting corners is essential staying out on the road. Not everybody can be Jason Belmonte who has bellboys deliver his luggage....lol
I thought professional bowlers practiced for free at most bowling centers? She did assume a pro card in her computations so I'd eliminate the practice portion of "costs". OF course if things have changed and pro's don't get free practice anymore I'm surprised and very dissapointed. 🙄
The top 20 bowlers in the world can make a living as a professional bowler. But for the rest, pro shop or side jobs are a requirement. Cashing in a regional or a sweeper events are possible. It's tought to get ahead in the pro tour. The television money has all but disappeared from pro bowling. The competition for television viewers is just to tough in today's environment. Back in the golden years of pro bowling when there were only 5 television stations meaning that each station had a 20% chance of getting people to watch their product. But nowadays with 250 different channels to watch you're not going to get eyeballs watching television shows. Only the hard core bowlers will be watching Fox broadcast the professional events. And even then people are too busy with their lives and will most likely catch the show on RU-vid or some other media platform.
I feel like being on Staff, and getting free or extremely discounted gear is a very over looked part of bowler cost/income. The typical Pro bowler drills how many balls a year? Maybe 50+? Us non-staff bowlers are paying nearly $300 out the door for a high end ball... $200 for a lower end ball... (the ball price - 185 high end/100 low end + $10 grips + $10 thumb sleeve or slug + $60 drilling fee + tax - this is what my shop charges). Once you're on staff, and getting those perks, it's a non-issue... but for those bowlers trying to reach that point, who are also coming out of pocket at full price for the balls they bring, that's a major financial consideration.
Quite the informative video you've made here, Ms. Klassen. As noted below by another commenter, you'll definitely see fluctuations in your expenses, dependent upon different areas of the country to which you'll travel. Always good to keep in mind for the future. Best wishes to you in the 2022 season. We look forward to any & all successes coming your way.
Loved the breakdown. I was thinking it would have been closer to 6 figures, but your numbers make sense. I'd love to bowl professionally, but I'd never make any money at it.
it definitely can be closer to 6 figures in some athletes cases - depending on the events won/cashed in. like i mentioned in another comment the Women’s US Open top prize was $100,000 in 2021. i just read too that in 2022 the overall prize fund of the PWBA will be increased to $1.4 million, which represents the largest per event average since the relaunch of the tour in 2015. still not quite as much as the men’s side, but it is encouraging to see that increase. 😊 thank you for watching!
Bowling's a difficult career: one injury to any part of the body sidelines the bowler (I hurt my thumb in a bike accident at 17 and quit with a 190 average and a promising future). They used to have to pay entry fees of like 550 a week, practice is expensive AF, equipment is heavy, and spending all day practicing indoors was never for me. Hustling was nice: I'd shoot 165 while hung over in the junior leagues then 190+ in the pot games or high-stakes matches after. One Saturday in 1984 I went home and uncrumpled about $800.00 in winnings; won about five grand one day a week while a senior in high school. Tried scratch singles in 1991 but didn't want to take my game to the next level, and quit.
Some other costs to consider: rent for wherever you live, weekly food costs, and health insurance. The best thing to do if you want to bowl professionally is have your business. Bowling Center owner, lawn care, insurance sales, Mary Kay, Amway, etc.
Thank you for the video showing a breakdown of the costs. I was a member of the Professional Duckpin Bowlers Assoc. during the '80s thru 2003, when my mom passed away. I did travel by myself, driving at night, but I stayed with 3 others from my area so the hotel cost was split 4 ways. Sometimes it was only with one other person but he would bring a cooler with some food that helped with the meals cost (we made our own sandwiches). At that time, our DPBA membership fee was $50 (per year) with $100 entry fee for each tournament except our year-end final one, which was $150. I did make the money cut in some tournaments but unless you won a tournament, or finish in the top 5 in a tournament most of the time, you didn't make money. We certainly didn't make enough money to live. My "practice" time was during the leagues that I bowled in during the week and we got prize money back with the amounts depending on where the team finished in the standings. If I wanted additional practice time during the day, I paid by the game.
With all those calculations food is very low at $40 per day and I think you put in the PBA membership at $300 which is yearly into every tournament spending so the weekly number is wrong. But with additional food it’s probably about $1300 per
quite agree with your computation, as you’ve said for a “good year”👍 Everybody seems to be focusing on the $40 food/ day which i think is just right cuz if you eat more than that, you’re probably not an athlete and bowling footwork might be slow-er😜, have a great journey !
50k aint too bad for 10 events if you have that season. i think the moneys in giving lessons and coaching the center i go too the proshop guy charges 199 per 2 hour lesson and he does 3 or 4 a day 3 days a week. makin it as a pro is great but id be thinkin long term cashflow especially when bowlings a short season. just my 2 cents
Good job Sarah. It's an eye opening experience for many to see this. FYI - If you're headed to Long Island in June, you'll see it will be hard to find a hotel for $125 a night and meals for 4 days for $160. This area is certainly not Wichita so a partner is a must to share the load to keep things reasonable. Good Luck !
Great breakdown of the earnings & expenses Sarah! Small calculation error with the expenses, the membership $300 fee annual not for each event, so the total expenses can be reduced from $15,600 down to $12,900. I bowled competitively in college and getting back to bowling again now, yet don't expect to be bowling professionally.
Much less money than the big sports, but you can be a top bowler for much longer career than the others. It seems like bowling is catching popularity and if it makes some changes and starts drawing in more fans the $ will grow as well. So these videos are helping the cause for sure.
The PWBA Membership fee shouldn´t be included for all 10 events, but only for one, and remember the discount you talked about. So the math is not quite right... :)
I pinned this comment so that people will see it! I also realized I messed that up. so the total fees for events is actually about $2,700 too high - at least it’s a positive mistake where their salary can be increased that amount 😊
This is an excellent video Sarah. It really helps us to understand the expenses involved in bowling professionally. In my opinion, you ladies are just as good the professional lady golfers. Unfortunately, the sponsorship is not there for bowling. I would love to see the ladies make as much bowling as they do golfing. Bowling for a living would be an awesome thing to do. But, I would be broke :)
If the PBA is worried about the state of bowling then they need to step up and secure more sponsors, pay more prize money and restructure the sport so that to tournaments and events don’t cost players to participate. For my league teams I was able to secure enough money to pay for 60% of league fees, new bowling balls, practice time and custom jerseys for six bowlers. If I can do it I’m sure the PBA can do it.
It’s sad that professional bowling pays so little. Earl Anthony earned $10,000 plus a new car in 1971 for winning the PBA Cougar Open. When Darren Tang won his first title 50 years later, he earned $10,000 and no car. In 1964, Ebonite signed Don Carter for 1 million dollars. Why would anyone want to be a professional bowler today?
Good breakdown. Plenty of pros make a little money on the side giving lessons as well. Definitely something you could easily do. Keep up the good work!
Wow that's crazy and looks really hard to get to the top and staggering to see the break down and thank u for it Sarah, question how did the shoes u made with your friend go did u bowl in them Sarah?
You should include tax write offs. Travel (if driving - it's per mile, flying - ticket cost), hotels, meals, practice (training), equipment can all be deducted. Talk to your tax person, I did it for 6+ years bowling regonals.
It would be a dream come true if I did. I'm actually more focusing on school while working in retail to survive for now. I bowl on the side when I don't have a big test going on so I use bowling as an escape from both work and school. I want to work in bowling just to get the foot in the door and maybe join a league. If it comes up I will look into it and see what my options are. Thanks for the tip.
I don't usually make a comment on videos, but I do think that the prizes received seem very optimistic. As mentioned, the bowler in the example had a very good year. From a quick look at PWBA's website, $35k would have put said bowler between 5th and 8th on the money list every year there are stats posted (2015 thru 2021). It cannot be emphasized enough, that that is indeed a very, very, very good year. My suggestion would be to assume that one is an average or median PWBA bowler, barring significant evidence otherwise (and to me that would be having beaten a good number of the current PWBA touring pros consistently -- maybe you do have this in your collegiate record, I will plead ignorance). The average of the winnings in the tournament whose data you posted there is $986 (dont forget to avg in 0s for 26th thru 51st places, if you want to check this math). Median winnings would be 26th place, and technically 0, but let's call it that 25th place and $1150. In short, it seems to me that a decent starting assumption about potential earnings is on the order of $1k/tournament, not $3/tournament.
$1500 per week to cash to break even bowling. That would be 10th or better every week. slight chance of that. you need sponsor $ & extra activities to survive. Not easy way to make a living.
I think making a living bowling professionally is highly dependent on how successful on the lanes the person is. Some years would likely be better than others so saving for a rainy day or off-year would be important. Having a significant second or third income to fall back on would be necessary unless winnings are consistent and substantial. Marginal players may be more financially independent if s/he bowled local and regional tournaments and had a separate career that paid the bills. Sharing expenses with friends has to be necessary for most rookies. Supporting a family is difficult unless the bowler's spouse can bring home the bacon on a regular basis.
Hey Sarah, you forgot about the most important thing which is food. On average, each human would spend about $10/meal per day. So let's say you eat two meals a day, you are looking about $7,300 for the whole year. Also, taxes per one dependent is 30% (Average) depending on your tax bracket. For traveling, you have to pay check-in costs for bringing multiple bowling bags unless you ship the bowling ball to the event which still cost money. Overall, an average professional bowler would probably need to work a part-time job just to make at least $40,000 net profit after all expenses & taxes.
That's the only way a PWBA pro can survive is to have a "real" job during all the down time. Either a college coach or a pro shop would be perfect. It's hard to ask a regular employer for 10 weeks offer year.
I enjoyed the video but I’d like to see a better thought out and planned video. 300 membership fee is a one time thing. You multiplied it for each tournament. Minor thing. Please do another one after really planning it out. Best of luck on the tour.
Most professional athletes outside the big 4 in the US and soccer internationally, do not make a substantial amount of money and still need alternative incomes.
I'm actually glad you did this video, because after watching your video when you announced you were going pro I was curious if you signed with a bowling company? If so which company (if you're allowed to share the news).
thank you for watching! no, i have not officially signed a contract with any bowling ball company - but i am currently loyal to the brands of Storm Products with my equipment 😊
@@TheSarahKlassenChannel I was just about to say that, you literally took the words out of my mouth. I remember from one of your older videos that you were using a different brand (I think a couple of different brands), but ultimately you ended up using Storm (which was definitely the best decision). I'm glad you're staying with storm, and I wish you the best of luck in this upcoming season. You are one of my favorite bowling youtubers, youtubers in general, etc. I really enjoy your videos 😊😊😊
I hope you stay in college, get your degree (prepare for sustainable career) and fulfill your goals as professional bowler. As a caveat, professional woman's bowling shut down once before. In today's financial uncertainty there is always that possibility. Goals change as life changes. Stay flexible.
I gave some advice for y’all RU-vid professional bowlers to give a more 1st person account on your “struggles” and you listened and one up’d me. Now just take this and get other pros to start channels and integrate them and build their channels along with yours and watch the funds flow. Remember that “their” struggle is your struggle because you were where they are now st some point. Love and abundance to us all.
First off I did enjoy your video and breakdown. However, I think you over looked several possible expenses that most people don’t consider. Health insurance which is super important if an injury occurs and you have no bowling income. wear and tear on transportation, lastly saving for your future when you can’t compete anymore. No 401k, no pension. Not trying to discourage but I would like you to also think long term. Good luck living your dreams!
This is crazy to think about, and I know he won Pba player of the year so it's an outstanding season, but Kyle won almost $500,000 last year... I feel like they earnings for the PWBA need to be increased closer to what the men make
i agree. there is quite a drastic difference in earnings, but this year the Women’s US Open did have $100,000 on top - definitely a step in the right direction 😊
It's only now starting to come around. Belmo's the all time leader in major championships and has never earned more than $285k in a season, so the money is finally starting to come back to bowling. Hopefully it keeps growing.
if you compare it to soccer almost everything is a joke :D however I do think the fact that bowlers are not that challenged by risk factors like heavy injuries that can cost your career I'd say the money is fine but I also know that probably only the top 50 if not 20 in the world never ever have to worry about money again, which is quite a low number knowing that bowling is a REALLY competitive sport. It is hard to dominate the sport because there are SO many really good players...I would compare it to Golf when talking about competitiveness. Great Topic
Think it’s probably closer to the top 10 bowlers…I’ve known several professionals who have bowled for years and ALL of them full time jobs during the off season. Unless you’re a top tier player you definitely need to be innovative with some of the other potential revenue streams.
How do you even become pro? What if your full time job is your sustainable income and you don’t bowl as often as the pros do to get to that stage? I have to pay to train and have a yearly fee for the club as well it’s not a lot for a cost of a game but it adds up and travel then I pay for my own balls and accessories. And I live in a country where it’s not a massive sport to get support. ??
Unless ur name is belmo or one of the top guys.....ur not making a living bowling......Ryan ciminelli who is from buffalo ny like myself......at the height of his career was laying cement wit his dad as well as bowling and was working at the pro shop in airport lanes
Still has to be pretty fun to bowl for a living. Or at least half a living(some have other jobs or a partner that makes money as well). Getting sponsors, tournament entry, and winning brackets every week has to feel good and bad. Also watch out for that background music the yt police might attack you
I don't think it is that easy making money on the pro tour, most that one see's only cash lightly, some don't cash at all! Those on the PBA tour that bowl side events don't get it their own way, there are many regional players that are very good. If you could win a PBA or PWBA each year would help emensely but most don;t win at all so would have to rely on side/regional events to cover expenses. I appreciate and great to see people/bowlers to make that decission/commitment to bowl pro. I wish you well for the 2022 season, I will be following you on Bowl TV...I live the other side of the world so can't be there LoL
How about doing this for an average bowler who doesn't win a tourney and only makes the cut fifty per cent of the time, has no major sponsors, so buys their own balls, shirts and shoes, how do these bowlers manage to bowl all season.
Could you please get your facts straight before making a video? I watched about 3 minor you going 1,2,3,4 and saying nothing informational, so I turned the video off.
