BATON ROUGE - While less than six months ago, there didn’t seem to be a lot of optimism among people like me who write or make social comments about the Professional Bowlers Association after the group’s contract with FOX Sports ended, there is now even more surprises than thought possible.

The 10-week Sunday series of tournaments on the CW has already been announced and that will begin on Feb. 22.

But this past week, the PBA announced its schedules for CBS and the CBS Sports Network and there were quite a few surprises.

The most notable may be that the senior tour will get four nights of television exposure on CBSSN making for the first over-the-air telecasts since 2009 as the PBA50 World Series of Bowling will run concurrently with the PBA’s World Series to offer television coverage of both tours over four nights, May 9-12.

The series of CBS events begins on April 4 when the USA vs. The World competition takes place. CBS will also have the finals of the World Championship from Strobl Arena in Allen Park, Michigan.

The CBSSN coverage will conclude with a new event, the Norm Duke Open, which replaces the Tour Finals which the network did for several years. Eight bowlers, who qualified during the week, will bowl for the title in a five-hour telecast.

In all, CBS and CBSSN will carry 35 hours of professional bowling. That’s not a bad deal at all.

AN ANNOUNCER FOR CW SHOWS

Recently, we discussed potential announcers for the new network broadcasts on the CW. We have seen on social media a fuzzy outline with a tease to stand by for an announcement. That came earlier today.

The CW has apparently gone with a familiar voice for those who follow sports on the CW in Rick Allen. He’s been one of their college football announcers and is best known for his time as the lead play-by-play for NASCAR on NBC and Xfinity Series from 2015 to 2024.

It’s an interesting choice, but since the graphic on Facebook lists him as the PBA/CW announcer it is assumed Dave Ryan will continue to continue to call the bowling on CBS and CBSSN.

Do not know his bowling background, if any, and we’ll have to see how he fits in as the new season begins.

BACK IN 2026

This will be the final Spare Notes for 2025 as we will refill the bowling notebook and get ready for 2026 as we will be back on Jan. 5 to get city tournament results and updated and start looking toward the 2026 high school season in South Louisiana.

Again, I would like to thank WBRZ Sports Director Michael Cauble and the folks at WBRZ.com for allowing me the chance to continue writing this column on a weekly basis on a free site for our bowling fans to follow.

The 2025 calendar year was good to bowling with another USBC Open at the Raising Canes River Center and an exciting high school season with some great championships. We’ve seen some new names develop as seniors graduate and we can’t wait to tell the stories of the 2026 championship season. It will be here very soon.

Remember, no tap tournaments at All Star Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 if you are looking for something to do.

Thanks for joining us each week. Until 2026, as always, good luck and good bowling.