Modern professional bowlers don’t fit the bowling stereotypes displayed in wacky movies like Kingpin and The Big Lebowski. The best pro bowlers are true professional athletes that command big money payouts and lucrative sponsorships with their charisma and level of play. While professional bowling’s decline has been a hot-button issue over the past couple of decades, pro bowlers can still make a decent living off of the multiple revenue streams the PBA Tour (and other tours) facilitate.
If you’ve ever wondered about the average annual salary of a PBA bowler or how prize money works at the highest levels of the game, we’re here to shine a light on things. While few bowlers are raking in seven figures a year, top bowlers in the sport make money hand over fist from tournaments, sponsorships from bowling companies and other companies, and other revenue sources.
What is the average salary for professional bowlers?
During the golden age of professional bowling in the 1960s and 1970s, the average professional bowler made twice as much money as NFL stars of the time. The Professional Bowlers’ Association was at its peak and PBA bowlers were making cash hand over fist for tournament cashes, sponsorships for everything from bowling balls to soft drinks, and other side contracts.
The top earners of the time signed million-dollar contracts and became international celebrities in the process. Many young folks started bowling in the 1960s and 1970s with dreams of emulating greats like Pete Weber, Don Carter, and Earl Anthony.
Nowadays, the average yearly salary of a pro bowler is much more modest. With a decrease in popularity and television ratings, pro bowling doesn’t offer the boom/bust earning potential it once did.
So, how much money does a pro bowler make? According to recent estimates, bowlers with a PBA membership typically make $45,000 to $50,000 a year with sponsorships not factored in. The best bowlers like Walter Ray Williams Jr. make much more that, though, with the average top pro bowlers clearing around $250,000 to $300,000 a year.
It’s just not the same as it once was during the Golden Era. Compared to top athletes in other sports, the best bowler in the world brings home a salary that pales in comparison to a top football player or tennis player like Novak Djokovic. However, bowling is still a professional sport and there’s real money to be made if you’re good enough and know what you’re doing.
How do pro bowlers make a living?
Pro bowlers are independent contractors. While they play in PBA events as members of the PBA Tour, they don’t receive binding contracts like athletes in team-based professional sports organizations. Professional bowlers mostly cover their own living expenses, travel expenses, and entry fees unless they have a sponsorship deal that stipulates otherwise.
So, how exactly does a professional bowler make their nest egg? It depends on the bowler.
Some pro bowlers and semi-pro bowlers invest in a bowling center or buy it outright, coordinating everything from cosmic bowling to league nights as an added source of income. Other bowlers make enough off of the prize money earned from winning or placing in tournaments to cover their income. Also, most PBA bowlers have some sort of sponsorship deal (or deals) on the books that provide added cash or free bowling accessories for practice and PBA Tour play.
Bowlers may not be landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated with regularity or landing lucrative paid advertisements with Coca Cola, but there are still plenty of ways for them to cash in on their skills.
Other outside sources of income that promise more money for PBA bowlers include performing in local bowling tournaments and working at second jobs in a related or unrelated field.
With the boom/bust earning potential of most pro bowling tournaments, having other jobs on the backburner is often a good idea for those pro players just breaking in to the bottom ranks of the PBA Tour.
What is the average payout for professional bowling tournaments?
It just depends on the tournament. Exactly what a bowler makes from a particular tourney depends on the type of tournament, the amount of prize money available, and their order of finish.
In some PBA tournaments and semi-pro events, the vast majority of bowlers go away empty-handed. Prize earnings are concentrated at the top of the standings, leaving some bowlers with barely enough money to book their travel plans back home.
Other events are much more generous, paying $5,000 to $10,000 to bowlers eliminated in the opening rounds. A top-tier bowling showcase in New York State might have more money to hand out based on sponsorships and attendance, while a low-profile event somewhere in Nebraska may have to be much more creative with its payout structures.
In other countries, the payouts can vary based on the popularity of bowling in the area and the notoriety of the tournament itself.
There’s a lot more money available, though, for the winners of major tournaments such as the PBA Championship. The 2021 PBA Players’ Championship featured a record-breaking $1 million prize fund and a whopping $250,000 payout for the winner.
Most top tournaments pay anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 to the victors, and about half of that to the runner-up. Payouts for other placements decrease from there.
How much does a professional bowler make from sponsorships?
The difference in sponsorship earnings between a former or current PBA Player of the Year and a mid-level PBA bowler is quite significant. Because bowling isn’t the television ratings draw it once was, big-money sponsorship deals are often reserved for top performers and legends like Norm Duke.
Bowler sponsorship earnings can range from a few hundred dollars to cover the price of a bowling ball to thousands of dollars for wearing a logo on their shirt. Also, some bowlers have backers who cover their entry fees and living expenses to help them save money as the PBA Tour season goes on. Often, these arrangements come with a caveat of shared earnings if the bowler strikes it big with a tournament victory.
How much do women’s pro bowlers make compared to male bowlers?
The average women’s professional bowler makes anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 a year. Top women’s bowlers make anywhere from $75,000 to the low six figures in earnings. The cold reality about professional bowling is that earnings are down across the board. And with a marked gap in television ratings between men’s and women’s professional bowling, it’s even harder to make a decent living as a women’s bowler trying to make your name.
That’s not to say that the earning potential isn’t there. These things tend to ebb and flow, and there’s no reason why a women’s bowling boom isn’t possible or waiting on the horizon.
Who are the highest-paid professional bowlers in the world? Who is the highest-paid bowler?
With an amazing run during the 2021 PBA Tour season, Kyle Troup has set a PBA single-season earning record with an eye-popping $496,900 prior to the first of September. This eclipsed Walter Ray Williams Jr.’s previous record of $419,700 set during the 2002-03 PBA Tour season.
The five top earners from the Covid-interrupted 2020 PBA Tour season were as follows:
- Jason Belmonte ($293,050)
- Bill O’Neill ($272,285)
- Anthony Simonsen ($227,130)
- Kristopher Prather ($223,285)
- EJ Tackett ($149,250).
Compared to the multi-million dollar contracts earned by top performers in the four major American sports, these are pretty modest numbers. Yet, with sponsorships and other earnings factored in, many of these bowlers are approach the high six figures to low seven figures in overall yearly income.
