Pro bowling loop in works

An advertising executive, who was never involved in school sports, is cooking up a local professional bowling league that seems to be long overdue.

Henry Tan, president of Pro-Ads Marketing Concepts, confesses to having been a bookworm at Chiang Kai Shek High School where his classmates included Graham Lim and Christian Tan, now high-ranking Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) officials. He went on to study at Mapua then made a living out of selling cars and cement before setting up his own advertising company early this year.

Tan, 42, says he got hooked into bowling when his wife Lorraine organized a sportsfest for Chiang Kai Shek graduates some years ago. He saw in the sport a wholesome activity for the entire family. Tan and his wife eventually made it a ritual to bring their three teenaged kids to a bowling center in Quezon City every Sunday.

"Instead of going around the malls, we thought of bowling as our Sunday activity," says Tan. "The kids enjoy it and so do my wife and I. It’s a perfect family sport."

Tan admits he’s not super-good at busting pins but says he knows enough about the sport to appreciate its nuances. Tan, who’s in the business of creating media values for his customers, is confident a professional bowling league will be gobbled up by advertisers.

Tan’s idea is to form a league made up of 16 teams, each supported by a corporate sponsor like in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He says there will be five bowlers to a team. A draft will be held to determine which players go to which team.

"We will seed the country’s top 16 players then determine the order of drafting," he explains. "The pool will also include other bowlers who are willing to join the league. Only bowlers with an average of 200 will be listed in the draft. The league will not allow handicapping so that all the bowlers must be in Class O."

Tan says a season could be broken down into two conferences or tournaments with games to be played in various bowling centers in Metro Manila and occasionaly, in the provinces. One conference could be an All-Filipino affair while the other could bring in an import to reinforce each team.

"The league is still in the planning stage so I can’t even start to make an estimate of the franchise fee but it will definitely be much, much lower than what a company pays to join a basketball league," Tan continues. "My estimate is about P500,000 per team. Of course, each team must pay salaries to its bowlers–that’s important because we want our athletes to make the sport their livelihood so they can concentrate their efforts on becoming the best they can be."

Tan laments the fact that Filipino bowlers rely on whatever ad hoc tournaments are organized here and abroad to polish their skills. There is no regular league which they can call their home and which they can count on for a monthly salary.

Tan says he has spoken to Red Bull basketball team manager Tony Chua on the concept and the feedback was extremely positive. He plans to talk to other PBA team managers to find out if they’re interested to join.

Tan says he will coordinate closely with Philippine Bowling Congress president Steve Hontiveros in organizing the league.

A key to drawing support for the league is four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno’s endorsement. Tan says Nepomuceno’s participation will be critical. "When we approach bowlers, their first question is will Paeng join," notes Tan.

On his choice as founding commissioner, Tan says he’d like to invite Nepomuceno’s father and coach Angel. "Mr. Nepomuceno would be a symbol of credibility," adds Tan. "Even if his son plays for one of our teams, Mr. Nepomuceno will still be our choice. We know him to be fair, unbiased, and competent. I just hope he agrees to become our Commissioner when the time comes."

Tan, whose office is in Binondo, produces a popular Sunday 10 a.m. show on NBN-4. The one-hour magazine show features a variety of topics related to the country’s Chinese community and even offers lessons on how to speak Mandarin.

Tan says he’s excited about putting the pro bowling league on TV. "There’s an Asian tour that’s constantly on cable TV," he notes. "We have more than enough top-caliber bowlers to make our own league. I’m sure a local professional bowling league will be a big success."