As a 'retired' tenpin bowler who also plays competitive lawns bowls, a couple of comments / observations.
For those who haven't tried bowls, I assure you it is a lot more difficult than the common perception. Over the years I have taken several mates to have a crack at social bowls who thought it was going to be easy (and were more than happy boast about how well they were going to go), only to find they could not land more than one or two bowls out of many within 3-4 metres of the jack.
Regarding skill level, rest assured that any player, male or female who is playing off in an Aus Open final is a very good player. I guess it is important to remember that bowls is played in the elements, not something Tenpin has to deal with. Even the best players in bowls are made to look 2nd rate regularly when conditions are tricky (swirling or flukey breezes, intermittent rain etc). This also cant always been seen or understood when watching on TV.
But back to the main topic. Bowls has quite a few advantages over Tenpin when it comes to tournaments, sponsorship and prizefunds.
- Bowls has less overheads than Tenpin
- Tournaments run in Bowls, largely are backed by the Club that is hosting/running the event. In most cases these clubs are a big businesses in their own right (multiple bar and restaurant facilities, along with big revenue from pokies and keno). These clubs have memberships that spread across the whole community - not just limited to bowlers (social member who just use the above facilities and don't bowl). As a result of the above, clubs can afford to 'dip into their own coffers' to kick start a tournament, and invariably local business is happy to get involved through sponsorship, due to the exposure they receive across the whole community.
- Because of the above, entry fee to these events in much less than in Tenpin and covers meals throughout the tournament. (eg: not as reliant on entry fee to bolster the prize fund)
- Bowls tournaments / carnivals while important to the club at a bowls level, are just as much about getting people in the door to spend $$$'s in the clubs bar, restaurants and gaming facilities.
As a result of all of the above, the are plenty (probably over 100) tournaments or carnivals each year across Australia that are worth as much or more than Tenpin's 'major' tournaments (with the exception of this years 'mega' Aus Open which has been discussed).
No answers in the above for how this helps Tenpin, but the structures within the sports are completly different, so its pointless comparing them.