Bowlers Journal International - November 2008 - (Page 120) Business Industry Updates and Insight 95. NATIONAL BOWLING STADIUM, RENO, NEV. INSIDE OUT BY ROGER DALKIN { rogerd@bowlersjournal.com } THE NATIONAL BOWLING STADIUM IS AWE INSPIRING, but the story behind its construction will make you wonder, “What were they thinking?” As the principal liaison for ABC/WIBC during the building of the Stadium, I had a unique perspective from the inside. My credentials? I have a mechanical engineering degree and a fair amount of knowledge about bowling center construction, having overseen the annual building of the ABC Tournament lanes. During the design phase of the project, I received assurances that the expertise of ABC and WIBC would be used to assist the architect. The first hint of a problem came when I was invited to view a full-scale mockup of two lanes, the settee area and the first five rows of the stands, all built to scale in the existing Reno Convention Center. It was obvious to me that there were problems with the design. First, the bowlers’ area was far too small to handle two five-player teams and their equipment. Second, the sightlines from the stands did not provide a full view of the pindeck area. Finally, they were proposing that the bowlers’ area be completely carpeted. I explained to the architect about the area for the bowlers, and recommended that they bring in 10 top local bowlers to simulate the traffic flow of tournament bowling. Clearly, a larger area was needed. Next, I explained the issue with the sightlines, not just The carpet eventually was removed from the bowlers’ area, but the poor sightlines from many of the spectator seats remain. for spectators, but also for media covering events at the facility. Finally, I told them of the maintenance problems that would occur with carpet in the bowlers’ area. The architect and his associates nodded, thanked me for my insight, and said they would address the issues. Those who have bowled at the Stadium know that none of the issues were addressed. Eventually, the carpet was removed from the settee area. Later, when I reviewed the blueprints, I noticed that the size of the squad room was small. The architect assured me that they had done the research, the space was more than adequate, and that it was hard to visualize in the drawings. He was right about that last part. I visited the rough shell of the Stadium during construction, and viewed the concrete already poured and walls set for the squad room. I was shocked. The size of the room was extremely small, and bowlers would be squished together like sardines. When I confronted the architect, he stated that they had made the space slightly bigger than the squad rooms used by ABC to stage its past two tournaments. So, what was the problem? Hint: The ABC constructed 48 lanes for those events; the Stadium has 78 lanes. You do the math. Another huge behind-thescenes mess had to do with the computer software to run the scoring and tournaments. As part of the negotiated agreement, ABC and WIBC were to write the software, including scoring, to assure compatibility with the soft- ware then being used by both tournaments. Unbeknownst to us, the Stadium struck a deal with Brunswick on the equipment for the Stadium, including that company’s newest scoring system. Rather than initiating a legal battle and possibly voiding our agreement with the folks in Reno, we reluctantly agreed to work with the Brunswick system. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, and seemingly as many man hours, later, the jerry-built combination of our tournament software and the Brunswick scoring system began operation in February of 1995. Our software wasn’t written to work with Brunswick’s system. Brunswick’s system wasn’t developed to work with our software. It was a recipe for disaster. To call the 1995 ABC Tournament a disaster from the computer operation side would be a huge understatement. Some squads that were supposed to start at 10:30 p.m. actually got rolling at 4 o’clock the following morning. Just ask anyone who bowled in 1995, and they’ll have some horror story about starting times and computer problems. My list could go on, but space limitations prevent me from continuing. In spite of all of this, to an outsider, the National Bowling Stadium still stands as an impressive bowling “Taj Mahal.” As it should. 120 Bowlers Journal International | November 2008 www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com
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