Bracketology: You support them, they support you.

NOTE: The opinions of Gordon Pepper are not necessarily reflective of anyone on the UBA staff or the UBA.

You wanted to know about the rules once the alleys in NY are open? Well, here they are: According to donyc.com, bowling alleys are able to open up at 50% capacity this week, with every other lane occupied. Due to the continued indoor dining restrictions, bowling alleys will only be able to serve food and drink if it is delivered to each individual party’s lane via waitstaff. Balls and shoes will still be available for rent, with strict regulations in place for sanitization between games. Those numbers will go up – or down – pending on the Covid 19 numbers and / of the enforcement of the allowances that are currently in place.

The fact that 50% capacity is allowed is good news for the bowling industry, as they are in better shape, capacity-wise, than gyms (33%) museums (25%) and other arts areas (25%). In fact, the 50% is better than the 25% that’s the current rule in NJ.

The opening of the alleys also mean the opening of the pro shops, so people who want to see how their grips have changes after months of no bowling can check it out. The one stickler – only one lane on a pair can be operational, which makes leagues and tournaments sticky.

But my opinion is that you need to support the alleys NOW, regardless of the restrictions. You can be creative to make changes to tournament formats, and the capacity restrictions aren’t going to last forever, either. However, if you don’t support them now during their time of need, the alleys won’t be lasting forever, either.