Could Oprah Winfrey or Ellen DeGeneres save women's bowling?

Like so many other American businesses, women's bowling is at a crosswords thanks to the economy.

Four years after the United States Bowling Congress helped resurrect major women's competition by sponsoring the U.S. Women's Open and the Professional Bowlers Association Women's Series, tough times mean that sponsorship will not take place in the 2010-11 season.

“USBC has had to make many difficult decisions to re-focus our financial priorities,” said USBC Managing Director of Media Pete Tredwell of the U.S. Women's Open being put on hiatus in 2011. “Our membership decline has been consistent with projections, but all of our tournament entries are down, and that hurts our bottom line.

"Having failed to generate sponsorship for the event, USBC is forced to add a significant amount of money to the prize fund, as well as pay for TV production. The event just wasn’t financially feasible for 2011, but we do hope it will return some time after that."

Many sports leagues and organizations are seeing decreases in sponsorship. The problem is for sports like bowling, that drop hurts more than the major sports like baseball, football and basketball.

“Sponsorship is the key to making any sports property work, and women’s bowling is no exception,” Tredwell said. “We are seeing the PBA struggle with sponsorship due to the economic conditions as well. The good news is that there are many key industry people that would like to see a women’s tour again. It’s just a matter of finding a business model that will work.”

So what do the top women think is needed to save women's bowling?

"If we knew the answer to that question, we wouldn't be in this position," said PBA Series winner Stefanie Nation. "Maybe we need to win the mega millions. Or we need to go on Oprah (Winfrey) and plead our case.”

“We need a really rich celebrity who loves the sport of bowling who wants to bankroll the tour,” said Liz Johnson, considered by many the No. 2 best woman bowler in the world. “We need about $1 million for a good year.”

“We need sponsors outside the industry,” said Shannon Pluhowsky. “The industry does all it can so we have to go elsewhere. Maybe we go after female products like make-up. We always joke about going on Oprah or Ellen (DeGeneres).”

There are rumors throughout the bowling industry that the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, which formerly sponsored both the U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Open, will return to that role for the women in 2011. If true, an announcement likely will come at International Bowl Expo later this month in Las Vegas.

In the meantime, top women bowlers will continue competing with the men on the Professional Bowlers Association national and regional tours and in the USBC Queens and Senior Queens. They can only hope someone comes to their aid soon.

"We need to find somebody who is willing to put their name on our tour," Nation said. "It could be a non-bowler or a bowler. One stop a month would be good."

"We need to separate the sport of bowling from league night," Johnson said. "We need to break the stereotype people still think of bowling as smoking and drinking old guys."