BATON ROUGE - It is kind of funny. In 2019, when the PBA left ESPN for FOX Sports, bowling fans were wondering what bowling would look like after decades on ESPN. We didn’t need to worry.

Well, here we go again.

The Professional Bowlers Association announced its schedule for 2026 on its new home, The CW, and when all is said and done it has a lot of good qualities to it.

First of all, viewers are going to know when it airs as the two-hour broadcast will be live every Sunday at 3 p.m. for 10 weeks, starting Feb 22 through April 26. For the first time, maybe since the ABC Sports days of the Pro Bowlers Tour, the show will air every week consistently at the same time on the same channel. That’s a win for everyone.

The CW is available in most markets either over the air or on cable which is a good thing. An even better thing is the CW app is absolutely free and will be a great addition for those traveling or away from the set on show dates.

The schedule as expected has four of the major tournaments – the Players Championship, the U.S. Open, the USBC Masters and the concluding stop will be the Tournament of Champions at Rivera Lanes in Fairlawn, Ohio. The PBA has done a good job in the last decade of getting that event back to the historic site that was the host site back in the ABC Sports days.

Speaking of tournament locations, the highlight for many when they saw the schedule will be on April 19 when the finals of the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman doubles will be held at iconic Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.

Bayside became synonymous with the PBA League and the amazing crowds there that gave bowling an atmosphere not seen before. The League may be officially gone for now but the return to Bayside for what is always an entertaining event will be most welcome.

The schedule for the World Series of Bowling and the World Championship hasn’t been set yet, but it has already announced that CBS and CBS Sports Network will have that coverage, probably in May.

I think a lot of us are more than happy. Now hopefully the network can deliver.

FIRST COLLEGE RANKINGS

Seriously, the National Tenpin Coaches Association first poll for the 2025-26 season might as well be a Conference USA Bowling League poll.

The first six teams and eight-of-the-top-10 in the coaches voting are CUSA schools.

There is no surprise that Jacksonville State is No. 1 with the newest CUSA member, Nebraska, at No. 2 Then there is Vanderbilt at three, Youngstown State at four, Wichita State and Arkansas State rounding out the top six.

Interestingly, the first-place votes were 14 for J-State, seven each for Nebraska and Vanderbilt, with Youngstown State getting the most (16).

Sitting in No. 9 is Louisiana Tech and Tulane is 19th in the first poll.

Tech did nothing to hurt its top 10 ranking with a big win on Sunday in the Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Conference II event at Cityview Lanes in Fort Worth. The Bulldogs rolled 4,688 to finish first ahead of Tulane (4,345) with Texas A&M third (4,290). Kylee Trexler led all bowlers for the second straight day, posting a total score of 1,175 to also earn a spot on the all-tournament team.

The Green Wave were led by Mia Stolakis, who was the runner-up in the event, rolling 1,148 across six games.

The LSU men’s club team finished sixth in the men’s portion of the event.

We’ll have more college bowling in the weeks ahead, including what’s happening at Southern University with their women’s team.

Until next Monday, good luck and good bowling,

                                    Kent Lowe