3 ms·

The concern isn't that the country hosting the Olympics won't be able to afford a bowling alley, it's that competing in the sport would be economically out of r

The concern isn't that the country hosting the Olympics won't be able to afford a bowling alley, it's that competing in the sport would be economically out of reach for much of the world.

dagw 2y ago
it's that competing in the sport would be economically out of reach for much of the world. I don't know anything about 'high end' bowling, but I cannot see how it could be any more expensive than many other sports at the Olympics.
- boomboomsubban 2y ago
  My local bowling alley charges $25 an hour to rent a lane. Practicing 20 hours a week makes it $2000 a month. Admittedly, they probably have strong discounts for someone bowling that much, but that's only the price for a beginners practice spot. Winter sports and some older competitions probably match that, but I think they try to be more aware of that for summer sports. Compare it to another recent addition, skateboarding. One of the competitor's (medalist I think?) family went without electricity for a month to afford her first board, but after that it with some luck it was affordable enough to get her to the Olympics.
wongarsu 2y ago
But doesn't the same line of though still apply? Making a bowling lane in your back yard or in a community center is pretty cheap if you set the pins manually. In terms of costs for a training spot with Olympic-like conditions it would be pretty middle of the pack and probably in the cheaper half. It's more expensive than say table tennis or marathon, but a lot cheaper than swimming, pole vault or golf, never mind the heavy hitters like ski jumping.
- boomboomsubban 2y ago
  Making a 60ft flat level surface is harder than you'd think, and even with your human pin setters a lane would effectively allow 1 or 2 people to practice at a time. Plus, as another poster pointed out, I think several other sports would be rejected for the same concerns if they weren't effectively grandfathered in.
IncreasePosts 2y ago
You're basically describing the Winter Olympics. And all of the equestrian events in the Olympics. Tim Duncan famously took up basketball after his swimming career was derailed when a hurricane destroyed the only pool on st Croix, and they couldn't rebuild it.
- boomboomsubban 2y ago
  >Plus, as another poster pointed out, I think several other sports would be rejected for the same concerns if they weren't effectively grandfathered in. Including most of the Winter Olympics.
  - IncreasePosts 2y ago
    There's no such thing as grandfathered in, events are we considered every olympics. Just because there is no world where the 400 m sprint will be removed does that mean it is grandfathered in. Wrestling was almost removed from the Olympics a few years ago. Which is one of the actual events from the ancient olympics.
    - boomboomsubban 2y ago
      I am aware, which is why I said "effectively." The bar for removing a sport is different than for adding one. For one thing, swimming and similar events have over a century of work making them more accessible.

The concern isn't that the country hosting the Olympics won't be able to afford a bowling alley, it's that competing in the sport would be economically out of reach for much of the world.

dagw 2y ago

it's that competing in the sport would be economically out of reach for much of the world. I don't know anything about 'high end' bowling, but I cannot see how it could be any more expensive than many other sports at the Olympics.

boomboomsubban 2y ago
My local bowling alley charges $25 an hour to rent a lane. Practicing 20 hours a week makes it $2000 a month. Admittedly, they probably have strong discounts for someone bowling that much, but that's only the price for a beginners practice spot. Winter sports and some older competitions probably match that, but I think they try to be more aware of that for summer sports. Compare it to another recent addition, skateboarding. One of the competitor's (medalist I think?) family went without electricity for a month to afford her first board, but after that it with some luck it was affordable enough to get her to the Olympics.

wongarsu 2y ago

But doesn't the same line of though still apply? Making a bowling lane in your back yard or in a community center is pretty cheap if you set the pins manually. In terms of costs for a training spot with Olympic-like conditions it would be pretty middle of the pack and probably in the cheaper half. It's more expensive than say table tennis or marathon, but a lot cheaper than swimming, pole vault or golf, never mind the heavy hitters like ski jumping.

boomboomsubban 2y ago
Making a 60ft flat level surface is harder than you'd think, and even with your human pin setters a lane would effectively allow 1 or 2 people to practice at a time. Plus, as another poster pointed out, I think several other sports would be rejected for the same concerns if they weren't effectively grandfathered in.

IncreasePosts 2y ago

You're basically describing the Winter Olympics. And all of the equestrian events in the Olympics. Tim Duncan famously took up basketball after his swimming career was derailed when a hurricane destroyed the only pool on st Croix, and they couldn't rebuild it.

boomboomsubban 2y ago
>Plus, as another poster pointed out, I think several other sports would be rejected for the same concerns if they weren't effectively grandfathered in. Including most of the Winter Olympics.
- IncreasePosts 2y ago
  There's no such thing as grandfathered in, events are we considered every olympics. Just because there is no world where the 400 m sprint will be removed does that mean it is grandfathered in. Wrestling was almost removed from the Olympics a few years ago. Which is one of the actual events from the ancient olympics.
  - boomboomsubban 2y ago
    I am aware, which is why I said "effectively." The bar for removing a sport is different than for adding one. For one thing, swimming and similar events have over a century of work making them more accessible.