2020 PBA Tour season

All announced 2020 events (through July 23) are broadcast on Fox Sports channels, with a commitment for 24 first-run broadcasts on FS1 and five broadcasts on Fox network affiliates. Events after July 23 are TBA.[2] 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.[3] The PBA World Championship winner's share was later increased to $150,000.[4]

CBS Sports Network will continue to cover the PBA Tour Finals, as it has since the tournament's inception in 2017.[5]

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.[6]

The PBA's World Series of Bowling XI (which includes three standard PBA title events and the PBA World Championship — the season's fourth major) was scheduled to take place March 6–18 in Las Vegas, while the season's fifth and final major, the USBC Masters, was scheduled to take place March 23–29 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.[7]

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 20–22). These events will be 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, USBC Masters, PBA Tour Playoffs, and PBA League are tentatively being rescheduled for the fall and winter.[8] 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).[9] On June 23, the PBA further announced that two all-women's teams will be added the to PBA League, bringing the team total to 12. The draft for the two women's teams (10 players total) will be held July 7, with the top 35 PWBA players in 2019 season points being eligible for the draft.[10]

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, will be held July 18–19 in Jupiter, Florida, despite the fact that top points earner Jason Belmonte of Australia will be unable to attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The #9 player in points, Norm Duke, will take Belmonte's place. This is the first title event to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic halt. CBS Sports Network will air all rounds of the tournament (nine hours) in live broadcasts over the two days.[11]

The PBA Tour Finals will be followed immediately by the King of the Lanes event on July 20–22 in Jupiter. Wes Malott, who won his eighth and most recent King of Bowling defense in February 2018 over Jason Belmonte,[12] will return in the initial "King" position. Two challengers will face each other in the first episode, broadcast live on FS1, for the right to face Malott, with the winner of that second match continuing as King. Two new challengers will compete head-to-head in each of the next five episodes, all broadcast live, for the right to face the reigning King. Challengers will include all eight bowlers in the PBA Tour Finals, plus PBA legends Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Pete Weber, along with PWBA members Clara Guerrero and Gazmine Mason. All matches are standard ten-frame games.[13]

The 2020 PBA tournament schedule is shown below. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parenthesis (#).[14][2] Winner's share prize money is shown in US dollars.[3]

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.

• Tier 3: PBA short format or limited field tournaments (2500 points for first, and descending thereafter)
• Tier 2: PBA standard tournaments with a fully open field (double the points of Tier 3 events)
• Tier 1: PBA major tournaments (triple the points of Tier 3 events)

+ Tommy Jones won an additional $10,000 for rolling a 300 game in the title match.[24]

• PBA 2020 Season Schedule