
Having signed a new five-year rights deal with Professional Bowlers Association in June, ESPN has unveiled a unique visual tool to illustrate the intricacies of the sport. The PBA worked with Brunswick, its official lane-maintenance provider, to develop a custom blue dye that illuminates the distribution of oil on the lanes, which is a key to bowlers' strategy during competition. ESPN and PBA Productions used the dye in producing several World Series of Bowling telecasts, which are airing throughout December.
Blue dye lets viewers see the how oil is distributed on the lanes, shown at the 2013 PBA Cheetah Championship.
Until now, one of the most crucial and least understood aspects of the game was invisible, says ESPN Coordinating Producer Kathy Cook. You can literally see the playing field' and the difficult conditions the bowlers face week to week, as well as how lane conditions dramatically change over the course of a match. Much like the shot tracker in golf, it's a great layer for our coverage. As the World Series of Bowling progresses and our viewers become accustomed to seeing it, the dye will become an integral part of the fan experience.
The way conditioner is distributed on the lanes is a primary factor in dictating a player's strategy because of the ball's reaction to the oil. However, the oil is transparent, making it impossible for viewers at home to see. Over the years, ESPN and PBA Productions have tried a variety of methods to convey these oil patterns to the viewer, but graphics and description alone have simply not been enough to illustrate how the conditioner evolves on the lane throughout play, forcing bowlers to make adjustments.
Bowling is often seen as a simple game; this is both a blessing and a curse because, while people can identify with the simple notion of knocking the pins down, they can overlook the nuances and precision both in player shot execution and decision-making, says PBA Commissioner Tom Clark. Any education about the oil and oil breakdown and the decisions made based on those slight differences will help viewers understand there is a complex sport being played, and that can only create more interest.
Chris Barnes wins the 2013 PBA Viper Championship on lanes highlighted by custom blue dye.
All World Series of Bowling events take place on the same bowling lanes, but the way the oil is applied to the lanes is different for each event. The events are named after these different patterns: Cheetah (shortest pattern in which oil goes down the lane for 35 of the lane's 60-ft. total, Viper (39 ft.), Chameleon (41 ft.), and Scorpion (47 ft.). Different players with different skill sets have greater affinity for oil patterns that best suit their games (Clark compares the dynamic to tennis, where some players prefer clay over grass or hard courts).
The bowling audience is diverse, novices and experts alike, he points out. The fact that there not only is conditioning on the lane but it is applied in a specific pattern and length down the lane, is eye-opening and educational to the novice. To the expert fan, it becomes easier to dissect and predict the moves players make as the oil transitions due to ball traffic on the lane, impacting the oil pattern.
The PBA developed the dye (which is not available for recreational use) with the sole intention of improving the ESPN's bowling telecasts. The PBA and Brunswick conducted a barrage of tests, including one with Hall of Fame bowler Norm Duke, to determine whether the blue dye translated to television and how it affected lane conditions. Eventually, the PBA determined that the positives outweighed the negatives and moved forward with using the dye.
Never before have replays or segments shown the lane with the purpose of illustrating literally how the oil distribution has changed throughout a telecast, says Clark. During these WSOB shows, we do that every show throughout, and the analysis points out the areas of high traffic and what that means to players.
Most recent headlines
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
19/12/2025
L3Harris technology for the SDA Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program will provide in...
19/12/2025
Partnership brings Nielsen ONE measurement activation directly into XR's adv...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Berklee Announces Spring 2026 Signature Series This season's highlights include the Gospel Extravaganza, the 40th International Folk Festival, special gue...
19/12/2025
Performing arts centres across the globe have doubled down on live production infrastructure in recent years. For venues like the Queensland Performing Arts Cen...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Ricardo Coke-Thomas Named Chair of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The distinguished theater educator, director, and performer will join the Conser...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador Arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to give your WO Automation for Radio system a quick tune up. At the top of your year end checklist is on...
19/12/2025
19 Dec 2025
VEON's Mobilink Microfinance Bank Launches Islamic Banking Oper...
19/12/2025
Wrapping up a year of connection and clarity!
19 Dec Written By Suzanne Costello
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank our incredib...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Last Samurai Standing' Renewed for Season 2 - A Global Se...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
19/12/2025
Nanoparticle vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola and other deadly filoviruses Scripps Research scientists turn nanoparticles into virus showcases to ...
18/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Kurt Sutton, Director of Broadcast Operations, Clemson ...
18/12/2025
Follow the Money Episode 2: Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and St...
18/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Google Cloud's Anshul Kapoor on the Future of Generative Prod...
18/12/2025
The 2025 SVG Summit Draws Record Crowd for 20th-Annual Sports-Production Industr...
18/12/2025
SBS's sports schedule sizzles in January with Dakar Rally, Kooyong Classic a...