General News
TBA lean on NBL experience to bring TPL to life
“We felt it was important from the start that we brought in someone who has experience not only in broader professional sport but specifically in building or re-building elite sports and entertainment products with a track record of success”
Tenpin bowling fans across Australia are excited at the announcement this week that Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) has launched the Tenpin Premier League (TPL), a new elite and entertaining competition that will see the nations biggest stars compete against each other across multiple events this year.
With a big vision in mind for the sport in the creation of a premier competition such as TPL, TBA CEO engaged experienced sport and entertainment executive Andy Crook, to advise on its development and delivery.
“To be able to achieve what we want for the TPL and Tenpin Bowling as a sport, we felt it was important from the start that we brought in someone who has experience not only in broader professional sport but specifically in building or re-building elite sports and entertainment products with a track record of success,” said O’Neill.
“We felt Andy Crook was the perfect person for this as his reputation in building a vision and finding a way to deliver on that vision has seen him become a key driver of numerous high profile sport and entertainment competition style products in the last decade.”
Crook is well known for his role as Chief Operating Officer at Australia’s NBL where he played a leading role in the incredible turnaround of the business. He is also credited with leading the development of NBAxNBL games, NBL1, 3x3Hustle and also bringing the Harlem Globetrotters back to Australia under the NBL banner.
In addition, Crook also played a role in the start of Super Netball amongst numerous other competitions both here and overseas. Launching a new competition that can stand out and compete in the modern day sports entertainment landscape is challenging for any National Sport Organisation. However with the experience Crook brings, TBA is confident they can build and launch a product the sport can be proud of and that can act as a tool to promote Tenpin Bowling as an elite sport and promote the wider Tenpin Bowling industry across Australia.
“From our first conversation, it was obvious Andy understood what TBA wanted to achieve, understood the data behind the Tenpin Bowling industry and understood how to bring the TPL concept to life,” said O’Neill.
“He takes a different approach to what I have seen previously in sport which is what has helped him create successes along the way, and our aim is that over time, Tenpin Bowling fans in Australia and overseas see the TPL differently to what Tenpin Bowling Australia have put on show previously,” O’Neill added.
With a number of the world’s best bowlers and over a million Australian’s participating in tenpin bowling every year, the foundations are there for TPL to not only launch successfully in 2022, but thrive well into the future.