The 2020 PBA Tour season was the 61st season of play for the Professional Bowlers Association ten-pin bowling tour. It began on January 14th with the Hall of Fame Classic in Arlington, Texas and concluded on October 12 with the PBA Tour Playoffs in Centreville, Virginia.
It was the first full PBA season under the new ownership of the Bowlero Corporation.
All events were suspended mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited return to competition started on June 6. Due to cancellations, only fourteen title events (thirteen singles and one doubles) were held in 2020 (versus twenty-nine in 2019).
All announced 2020 PBA Tour events (through June) are broadcast on Fox Sports channels, with a commitment for 24 first-run broadcasts on FS1 and five broadcasts on Fox network affiliates. Prize funds for the events on the Fox Sports calendar have increased $400,000 over 2019, with two major championships (PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA World Championship) offering a $100,000 top prize in the new season. The PBA World Championship winner's share was later increased to $150,000.
CBS Sports Network covered the PBA Tour Finals in July, as it has since the tournament's inception in .
In 2020, all five majors were scheduled to be contested within the first three months of the Fox schedule. While the PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA Players Championship majors continued to be held in February, they were now followed in late February by the U.S. Open, which moved to the winter schedule for the first time since 2012. These three majors plus the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open on Feb. 29 and PBA World Championship on March 15 all offered a $1 million bonus for any player who rolls a 300 game in the championship match.
The PBA's World Series of Bowling XI (which includes three standard PBA title events and the PBA World Championship â the season's fourth major) was scheduled to take place March 6âÂÂ18 in Las Vegas, while the season's fifth and final major, the USBC Masters, was scheduled to take place March 23âÂÂ29 in Reno, Nevada. The PBA World Championship concluded March 15, but the match play and final rounds of the animal pattern tournaments were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the USBC Masters, PBA Tour Playoffs, and PBA League were also postponed. On July 15, the USBC announced that the 2020 USBC Masters would be cancelled.
On May 20, the PBA announced that it would resume competition beginning in June with several non-title, made-for-TV special events, including the PBA Strike Derby (June 6), PBA Summer Clash (June 13), and PBA King of the Lanes (July 20âÂÂ22). These events were held at Bowlero Jupiter in Jupiter, Florida with no fans in attendance. Regularly scheduled PBA Tour events, such as the remainder of the World Series of Bowling, the PBA League and PBA Tour Playoffs, were rescheduled for the fall.
The PBA announced on June 11 that the PBA Tour Finals, which features the top eight Tour points leaders over the last two seasons in an elimination-style tournament, would be held July 18âÂÂ19 in Jupiter, Florida, despite the fact that top points earner Jason Belmonte of Australia could not attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The #9 player in points, Norm Duke, took Belmonte's place. This was the first title event to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic halt. CBS Sports Network aired all rounds of the tournament (nine hours) in live broadcasts over the two days.
The PBA League held its draft on May 17, and announced that the League has expanded to ten teams (up from eight in previous seasons). On June 23, following the cancellation of the , the PBA further announced that two all-women's teams will be added to the PBA League, bringing the team total to 12. The draft for the two women's teams (10 players total) was held July 7 from a pool of the top 35 PWBA players in 2019 season points. The day after the women's draft, the PBA announced that the PBA League would take place September 26âÂÂ28 in Portland, Maine. On August 20, it was announced that the PBA League was changing its location for 2020 to Centreville, Virginia and will be held without fans in attendance. The PBA further announced that television coverage on FS1 would be expanded to 12 hours over four days. Following the seeding rounds on September 26, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals were all broadcast live September 27âÂÂ30 on FS1.
On September 25, the PBA announced that the PBA League will be immediately followed by the match play rounds and TV finals for the World Series of Bowling animal pattern tournaments (postponed from March and relocated to Centreville, VA), with the final rounds airing October 4 and 5. Finally, the PBA Tour Playoffs were rescheduled for an October 10 start, with air dates spread out between October 10 and November 8. Further, the PBA announced Guaranteed Rate mortgage as the official sponsor of all Fall 2020 events.
Note: The Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year Award was not given this season because of the abbreviated schedule.
The 2020 PBA tournament schedule is shown below. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parentheses (#). Winner's share prize money is shown in US dollars.
Tour points are awarded for most events. Besides the season-ending Harry Smith PBA Points Winner award, points are one consideration for Player of the Year voting, and also affect eligibility for the PBA Playoffs, PBA Tour Finals (combined with 2019 points), and the 2021 DHC PBA Japan Invitational. Points for tournaments are awarded differently based on a "tier" system. The tier of each qualifying tournament is shown in the Notes column on the tournament schedule, and is explained below.
+ Tommy Jones won an additional $10,000 for rolling a 300 game in the title match.