There’s a fascinating article in Wired about Rob Glaser, the founder and CEO of RealNetworks. Seems that Glaser and a couple of other deep-pocketed dudes bought the Professional Bowlers Association!

Such a bowling geek was Glaser that he rallied a small posse of deep-pocketed execs four years ago and bought the Professional Bowlers Association for $5 million. It was chump change to the three moguls – Glaser, Chris Peters (Microsoft employee number 105), and Mike Slade, a marketing guy who became CEO of Paul Allen’s venture, Starwave. But many observers considered the trio to be the real chumps. Professional bowling had lost longtime broadcast partner ABC when its contract expired in 1997 and the league was hovering near bankruptcy. Even when bowling was still on the Wide World of Sports, two-thirds of its viewing audience was over 50 years old. Getting the public excited about pro bowling would be like trying to bring back the Commodore 64 as a mission-critical corporate computer.

Glaser saw it differently. “Take any of the rules of how modern sports are run – professional bowling did none of those things,” he says. “Most matches weren’t televised. The league didn’t have personalities who generated excitement. So there was a great opportunity. If we were going to make bowling relevant to an MTV, videogame-trained generation, we had to make it exciting.”

Exactly what, if anything, does professional bowling have to do with standup comedy? We’re glad you asked. They bought an entity that was constantly demeaned in the press and derided in the popular culture and had faith that they could , with minor changes, make it appealing, profitable and sexy. And they realized the power– and necessity– of television in their plan.

A bowler rolling a strike no longer quietly returns to his seat – he shakes his fists in the air and talks trash to his opponent. Down-the-lane seating puts the audience on top of the action, and rock bands keep the crowds pumped between matches. Most important, the owners landed a stable TV contract. A deal with ESPN, first signed in 2001 and extended through 2007, means live championship matches every Sunday afternoon during the five-month season…

The numbers, which Glaser likes working with so much, have never looked better. TV ratings are climbing; 775,000 households watched pro bowling on ESPN last year, up 25 percent from two seasons ago. Viewership among 18- to 34-year-old males– the demo that makes or breaks most pro sports– is up 80 percent-plus. More people now watch the PBA than the National Hockey League.

As viewership has grown, advertising has followed. Starting from nothing, the PBA has racked up more than a dozen major brands, including Bayer, Geico, and Miller Brewing. The retooled Web site, PBA.com, gets 300,000 visitors a year to see streaming video via Glaser’s Real media player. And more people than ever are interested in becoming pro bowlers. PBA membership – which requires an average score of at least 190 – is at an all-time high, up more than 75 percent from five years ago. Purses have skyrocketed. Five players topped $1 million in career earnings last season.

We read it over again, but this time, we substituted “standup” every time we saw “bowling.” We’re now praying that someone with Glaser’s vision and attitude (and cash) comes along and purchases all of standup comedy. Of course, this would be impossible. But perhaps they might only purchase, say, The Las Vegas Comedy Festival for starters?! Read the entire article.

Now, if you’re still unclear as to how bowling (and the NBA) relates to the current state of the standup comedy business, check out Brian McKim’s latest column.

And while we’re using sports analogies, the NBA had an interesting dilemma a few years back when Michael Jordan retired. They wept profusely because they were losing their one big star. Jordan, it was said, was mainly responsible for making the NBA as big as it was and now he was gone. Well, whose fault was that? They quickly picked themselves up, wiped
their tears and set about creating new stars. Within a season or two, Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were huge and, I might argue, the NBA was bigger than when it focused all of its attention disproportionately on His Baldness. Comedy will be forced eventually to do the same. Standup will soon create new stars! How will they do it? Repeat after me: TELEVISION!

Thoroughly confused? You needn’t be. Just read the whole thing and it will all make sense.