9. Bowling Alleys

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Economics of Everyday Things
Host: Zachary Crockett, Freakonomics Network
Episode: #9 "Bowling Alleys"
Date: January 29, 2026

In this episode, Zachary Crockett delves into the past and present of American bowling alleys—once a staple of social life, now a business forced to reinvent itself. By interviewing industry veterans and experts, Crockett unspools how bowling survived decline, why it's making a comeback, and how the economics of running a bowling alley have fundamentally changed.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Golden Age and Decline of Bowling (00:24–04:03)

• In the 1960s, bowling boomed: over 12,000 alleys and pro bowlers earning more than NFL stars.
• Bowling alleys served as what one trade publication called "the poor man's country club."
• The landscape shifted: league membership plummeted by 75% since the 1960s; many alleys closed due to rising real estate values.
• Quote:

  “Bowling alleys were a critical part of America’s social fabric. The poor man’s country club, as one trade publication put it.” (00:54 – Zachary Crockett)

2. A Survivor’s Story: Bel Mateo Bowl (04:03–06:19)

• Mike Leong, a lifelong bowler who took over Bel Mateo Bowl, recounts investing over $1 million to modernize and revitalize the alley.
• Renovations included: upgraded restrooms, new scoring systems, lights, music, and air freshening.
• Leong’s focus: eliminate old bowling alley stigmas and attract younger customers.
• Notable Moment:

  “I wanted to make Bel Mateo a place that was going to be very clean and very modern compared to the old 1960s, 70s look that it had… The scoring system that we purchased was, you know, quarter million dollars. We added laser lights with fog machines.” (04:38 – Mike Leong)

3. From League Play to Open Play: Shifting Business Models (05:45–07:56)

• Modern bowling alleys now generate only 30-40% of revenue from leagues (down from 70%), so open play and parties are the focus.
• More attention to experiences for kids and young adults—birthday parties in the day, social bowling at night.
• Quote:

  “It wasn’t cool in the 80s and 90s and maybe even 2000. But the centers that have survived are very friendly towards the younger generation.” (06:02 – Mike Leong)

4. The Bolero Model and Industry Consolidation (07:06–09:35)

• Devin Stewart (FSU bowling coach, CEO of Bowl Connect, consultant) explains Bolero’s takeover: buying up over 300 alleys and transforming the experience—neon lights, high-end food and drinks, glow-in-the-dark lanes.
• At Bolero-style alleys, bowling may only account for about half the revenue; the rest is ancillary (food, bar, parties, etc.), sometimes even overtaking bowling.
• Bowling alleys now compete on maximizing "dollars per square foot"—with alternatives like laser tag and mini golf replacing vast lanes.
• Quote:

  “Proprietors are figuring out ways to maximize dollars per square foot and that number is getting higher and higher… Some even do, you know, go karts, mini golf adjacent to their facilities..." (09:04 – Devin Stewart)

5. Sticking to the Roots (09:35–10:35)

• Leong on resisting buyout offers:
• “I have an allegiance to bowling. All of the other ancillary income things that happen in a center, at least for me, are to keep people happy in the center while they're bowling.”
• At Bel Mateo, bar and snack sales are secondary; the heart remains the lanes.
• Quote:

  “The snack bar is probably only about 8% of the revenue, so they’re not making a lot of money… Even the pro shop that we rent, I almost give it to them for the cost of electricity.” (10:02 – Mike Leong)

6. The (Surprising) Economics of Operation (12:09–16:06)

• Business basics: 15% of revenue goes to rent, nearly 30% to staff.
• Bowling-specific costs:
  • Frequent equipment replacement: balls ($30 each), pins ($18 each—$9,000/yr for Leong’s 24 lanes).
  • Used pins are sold to gun ranges for target practice.
  • Stolen shoes are a recurring headache; restocked three times a year mostly due to theft, not wear.
  • Lane oil: about $250/day for lane conditioners.
  • Machines: older pinsetters are complex and expensive to maintain; reliable mechanics are scarce.
• Quote:

  “We have to reorder shoes probably three times a year. Rarely is it because the shoe breaks. It's probably more because somebody wanted that shoe and took it home.” (14:20 – Mike Leong)

• Notable Moment (Fun Fact):

  “We sell a lot of [used pins] to people at gun ranges. They like to blow them up for some reason.” (13:59 – Mike Leong)

7. Technological Change: Making the Game Easier (14:44–16:29)

• Melamine lanes and modern balls/oil patterns have made bowling easier—perfect games have skyrocketed from ~800/year (1970s) to over 50,000/year.
• Pinsetter mechanics: an aging specialty. The United States Bowling Congress now allows “string pinsetters,” a simpler, cheaper system, reflecting the scarcity of traditional mechanics.
• Quote:

  “It's much more difficult than looking under the hood of a car. One of the difficulties of running a bowling center is having a mechanic who can troubleshoot when your machine goes down. It’s just not something that there’s a lot of people doing.” (16:06 – Mike Leong)

8. Rising Prices & The Future of Bowling (17:05–17:51)

• Inflation and higher costs have pushed game prices from $0.25/game (1960s) to up to $15/game today.
• Operators must raise prices to survive, risking customer complaints but ensuring longevity.
• For bowling devotees, the price doesn't matter; the joy of the sport is what endures.
• Quote:

  “If I don’t keep those prices up, it’s real simple. We’ll just go out of business.” (17:05 – Mike Leong) “You can bowl a 28, you can bowl a 228, it doesn’t matter. I just think it’s really, really beautiful that people are having fun again.” (17:34 – Devin Stewart)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On nostalgia and decline:

  “Leagues have been in decline for decades. Many bowling alleys have been replaced by high rise condos and office space. And the establishments that remain have had to get creative to keep their businesses out of the gutter.” (00:24 – Zachary Crockett)

• On modern revival efforts:

  “Bowling has become cool again.” (01:37 – Mike Leong)

• On the economics of modernization:

  “In all, Leong says he spent over a million dollars on the retrofit, more than what he’d paid for the business.” (05:12 – Zachary Crockett)

• On industry consolidation:

  “I have more buyers than properties to sell, which is actually a strangely good problem to have.” (07:56 – Devin Stewart)

• On the changing ethos:

  “The new model is made so that the person that wants to come bowling can’t because they have to wait an hour. They don’t have enough lanes. So what do you do? You sit at the bar and you have a drink or you eat. I have an allegiance to bowling.” (09:42 – Mike Leong)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:24 – Setting the stage: the cultural and economic backdrop of bowling’s golden age
• 02:12 – Mike Leong’s first memories and the historical “country club” ethos
• 04:38 – The modernization investment at Bel Mateo Bowl
• 05:45 – Shifting revenue streams: leagues vs. open play
• 06:54 – Devin Stewart introduces the new, immersive bowling experience
• 07:56 – Bolero’s acquisition spree & revamped business model
• 09:35 – Leong on resisting the corporate bowling model
• 12:09 – The unique cost structure of running an alley
• 13:12 – Insurance and liability issues
• 13:35 – Equipment costs, pin replacements, and side hustles (selling to gun ranges)
• 14:20 – Shoe theft and turnover
• 14:44 – Lane oiling, easier bowling, and the rise of perfect games
• 16:06 – Pinsetter mechanic scarcity and technology change
• 17:05 – Necessity of raising prices for survival
• 17:34 – Stewart on the enduring magic of bowling

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains a smart, lively, and conversational tone, peppered with nostalgia and humor alongside pragmatic business insights. Crockett weaves in personal stories and data, balanced by the perspectives of industry insiders—demonstrating both the emotional and economic stakes.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

Whether you’re a casual bowler, economist, or business owner, this episode paints a vivid portrait of how a humble American pastime has weathered economic storms, technological change, and shifting tastes—and why, with both the old guard and new players innovating, bowling’s lanes aren’t quite deserted yet.

Transcript

[Zachary Crockett]

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[Mike Leong]

People would say, wow, when they walk in, bowling has become cool again.

[Zachary Crockett]

For the Freakonomics radio network, this is the economics of everyday things. I'm Zachary Crockett. Today, bowling alleys. In the 1960s, bowling experienced a golden age. Professional bowlers were national heroes who earned more than NFL stars. Bowling alleys were a critical part of America's social fabric. The poor man's country club, as one trade publication put it. There were more than 12,000 of them.

[Mike Leong]

I remember that they were crowded with a lot of men that were smoking cigarettes and cigars.

[Zachary Crockett]

That's Mike Leong. He started bowling in 1966 and he was hooked from the start.

[Mike Leong]

I think my first league average was around 144, which was not bad for an 11 year old kid. By the time I was 15, I was already a 200 average player. We were bowling people for money, you know, two or three bucks a game, which back in pre1970 was a lot of money.

[Zachary Crockett]

Leong soon developed an interest in the legitimate business side of bowling. Over the years, he took on jobs at shops and alleys and worked his way into management at a company that owned four bowling centers. But by the early 2000s, bowling was in a tough spot right at the intersection of Two trends. The sport's popularity was going down, the value of urban and suburban land was going up, and a bowling alley has a big footprint.

[Mike Leong]

The bowling crowd started to thin out a little bit. The property for a large lot like that just got too valuable, and most of them all became housing.

[Zachary Crockett]

Eventually, only one of those four bowling centers remained. Bel Mateo Bowl, a 24 lane alley just south of San Francisco. When the owner put it up for sale in 2013, Leong said, why not?

[Mike Leong]

I did go over the numbers with a few trusted friends and we decided, oh, well, you know, if we really put our nose to the grindstone, we might be able to make a living out of it.

[Zachary Crockett]

Now. Bowling in 2013 was a far cry from bowling in the 1960s. The number of Americans in bowling leagues had plunged by 75%, and less than a third of those 12,000 bowling alleys were still in operation. Part of the problem was that young people just weren't interested in bowling. Leung decided to figure out why. He started asking teenagers and 20 somethings what it would take to get them into the alleys. His first piece of feedback he needed to get with the times.

[Mike Leong]

I wanted to make Bel Mateo a place that was going to be very clean and very modern compared to the old 1960s, 70s look that it had. So we started with the women's restroom and put $50,000 into it. I think the next thing was automatic scoring. The scoring system that we purchased was, you know, quarter million dollars. We added laser lights with fog machines. We updated our music system, a new carpet, new paint all over, new sidewalls. We pretty much went through the whole building.

[Zachary Crockett]

In all, Leong says he spent over a million dollars on the retrofit, more than what he'd paid for the business. His mission has been to build a bowling alley free of all the typical bowling alley stigmas, right down to the smell.

[Mike Leong]

Our center has a. A couple of air fresheners that are on all the time. We change our smell three or four times a year. And so, for instance, going into summer, we have like a very oceany summer breeze scent when you walk in the door.

[Zachary Crockett]

Bowling alleys used to get about 70% of their revenue from leagues. Organized groups of bowlers who meet two to three times per week to compete. It was a reliable income stream, but now those leagues only make up around 30 to 40% of an ally's business.

[Mike Leong]

You know, bowling was pretty cool in 60s, maybe even in the 70s. It wasn't cool in the 80s and 90s and maybe even 2000. But the centers that have survived are very friendly towards the younger generation.

[Zachary Crockett]

Today's successful centers have to cater to what they call open play. Recreational bowlers, usually on the younger side, who just want to rent a lane for an hour or pay by the game.

[Mike Leong]

In the daytime you'll see a lot of kids that are aged anywhere from 5 to 10 years old having birthday parties. You'll see a lot of families. And then in the evening you'll see a lot of 18 to 22 year olds.

[Zachary Crockett]

BEL Mateo Bowl's metamorphosis is just a small part of a larger trend going on in the bowling alley business.

[Devin Stewart]

Super fun music playing, sound effects, projector screens with music videos. Right. A fully interactive and immersive bowling experience. I've seen those offerings increase in centers across the board.

[Zachary Crockett]

That's Devin Stewart, and you could say he is a bowling nut.

[Devin Stewart]

Where do I begin? Bowling has been a gift to me that has never stopped giving. I became fascinated with all the laughter, the fun, the joy that was happening in the room. It's a rare thing in modern day to experience.

[Zachary Crockett]

I'm guessing you're a guy who's bowled a few three hundreds in your life.

[Devin Stewart]

I have my share.

[Zachary Crockett]

Stuart is the head coach of Florida State University's bowling team. He's the CEO of Bowl Connect, a recruiting company for the bowling industry. And he's a consultant with the Hansel Group, which has brokered the sale of more than 500 bowling centers across America. He says that bowling alleys have managed to shed their old school reputation and as a result, the remaining centers have become a hot commodity.

[Devin Stewart]

I have more buyers than properties to sell, which is actually a strangely good problem to have.

[Zachary Crockett]

The biggest buyer is a company called Bolero. Over the past decade, Bolero has gone on a bowling alley buying spree, snapping up more than 300 centers across the country. The company guts its alleys and installs neon lights, flat screen TVs and glow in the dark lanes. It serves roasted lamb and artisanal $15 cocktails. Its mission is to make bowling cool again, and it's working. Bolero has more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. In recent years, its parent company acquired the Professional Bowlers association and the bowling center operations of longtime industry G AMF and Brunswick. Bolero has helped usher in a new generation of bowling alleys with a radically different business model. At these establishments, bowling is no longer the kingpin of the business. Half the revenue might come from food and drink sales. And there are other ways for customers to spend their money too.

[Devin Stewart]

Proprietors are figuring out ways to maximize dollars per square foot and that number is getting higher and higher. Thirty years ago there were centers that had 70 or more bowling lanes. But now they'll have laser tag where the lanes used to be, or It'll be a 24 lane center that will have 16 standard lanes and then they'll feature an eight lane party room. Some even do, you know, go karts, mini golf adjacent to their facilities, batting cages. A lot of proprietors have gotten very imaginative to increase revenue.

[Zachary Crockett]

Mike Leong says that big companies have offered to buy out Bel Mateo Bolt, but he's not sold on the idea.

[Mike Leong]

The new model is made so that the person that wants to come bowling can't because they have to wait an hour. They don't have enough lanes. So what do you do? You sit at the bar and you have a drink or you eat. I have an allegiance to bowling.

[Zachary Crockett]

At Bel Mateo bowl, bowling is still the main attraction.

[Mike Leong]

All of the other ancillary income things that happen in a center, at least for me, are to keep people happy in the center while they're bowling. I do about 20% of our revenue through the bar. The snack bar is probably only about 8% of the revenue, so they're not making a lot of money. The other ancillary things like the arcade, very small income generator. Even the pro shop that we rent, I almost give it to them for the cost of electricity.

[Zachary Crockett]

Running a bowling alley comes with some rather unique costs. Broken pins, oil, and as it turns out, a lot of stolen shoes. That's coming up. The Economics of Everyday Things is sponsored by crowdstreet. You're the kind of person who reads the fine print, who likes to make your own calls, who's built a life, not to mention a career by thinking independently. So why shouldn't you invest that way too? Crowdstreet is built for self directed investors who want direct access to private market opportunities like private equity, private credit and real estate. Vetted offerings, transparent data and clear diligence summaries help you make confident, informed choices. Because independence doesn't stop at your desk or your business or your weekend projects, it should extend to your investments too. Invest the way you live independently. Learn [e-mail]. Dear McDonald's, your breakfast menu Fire tens across the board.

[Devin Stewart]

I could be happy with anything even though I order the same thing every time. Thanks for not judging me. I'll try something new next time.

[Mike Leong]

Maybe everybody eats.

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[Mike Leong]

Heads in the ball return or trying to throw the ball really hard and injuring themselves. You know, kids get their hands smashed if a ball's coming up. It's kind of part of the business.

[Zachary Crockett]

Leong has about 150 bowling balls at his center. He buys them wholesale for $30 each and replaces them every few years. He also needs a lot of bowling pins.

[Mike Leong]

Pin costs are now up to about $18 a pin and you're putting 21 pins in every machine. And usually I would say our center changes pins out once a year.

[Zachary Crockett]

Multiply that by 24 lanes and Liang is looking at about $9,000 worth of pins per year. But he is able to recoup a little bit of that cost by selling his used pins.

[Mike Leong]

We sell a lot of them to people at gun ranges. They like to blow them up for some reason.

[Zachary Crockett]

Shoes are another recurring cost for Liang. On the higher end, they run around $40 a pair wholesale, and he has to restock them far more than he'd like to.

[Mike Leong]

We have to reorder shoes probably three times a year. Rarely is it because the shoe breaks. It's probably more because somebody wanted that shoe and took it home.

[Zachary Crockett]

Is that a common problem? People just walk out with the shoes on.

[Mike Leong]

That's one of the problems that comes along with bowling being cool now is that people don't mind having a 12 on the back of their shoe.

[Zachary Crockett]

Another surprisingly high cost oil. Most of today's bowling alleys have swapped their wood lanes for melamine. That's a hard plastic surface that needs protection. The oil is dispensed in a very specific pattern several times daily by a machine that kind of looks like a Roomba. An Alley like Liang's might call for $250 worth of oil each day. Changes in the materials used to build lanes and bowling balls have been mostly driven by economics. The new models are cheaper and easier to maintain, but they've come with a strange side effect. Bowling has become a lot easier. In short, the new balls and the oil patterns dramatically improve accuracy. Fifty years ago, amateur bowlers in the US bowled around 800 perfect games per year. That's a score of 300 or 12 strikes in a row. Today, it happens more than 50,000 times a year. When all those pins fall, a machine called a pinsetter picks them up and puts them back in place. Leong's machines are from the 1960s. If one were to break, it would set them back tens of thousands of dollars. So his most critical expense is his full time mechanic.

[Mike Leong]

He's very, very good and he's kept those things running. Those machines have several hundred moving parts in them. It's much more difficult than looking under the hood of a car. One of the difficulties of running a bowling center is having a mechanic who can troubleshoot when your machine goes down. It's just not something that there's a lot of people doing.

[Zachary Crockett]

Mechanics who are familiar with these complicated contraptions are becoming an extinct breed. So much so that the United States Bowling Congress, the national governing body of bowling, recently approved a new, simpler machine called the string pinsetter. It uses pins attached to strings that lift them back up into place. All of these seismic changes and costs mean that most bowling alley operators have had to raise their prices. It's not something they take lightly, but Leong says it's necessary to keep the lights on.

[Mike Leong]

When I was a kid, we were bowling for a quarter a game. Now it can be as much as $15 a game, depending on what time you come bowling. I've had customers complain to me that, you know, my God, you raised the prices. But if I don't keep those prices up, it's real simple. We'll just go out of business.

[Zachary Crockett]

For true bowling buffs like Devin Stewart, the price of a couple games is inconsequential.

[Devin Stewart]

I remember how excited I was just as a young person getting to walk through the doors of bowling center. For me, it was a refuge. You can bowl a 28, you can bowl a 2 28, it doesn't matter. I just think it's really, really beautiful that people are having fun again.

[Zachary Crockett]

For the economics of everyday things, I'm Zachary Crockett. This episode was produced by Sarah Lilly with help from lyric Bowdich and mixed by Jeremy Johnston Interesting how beer and bowling have always had kind of a symbiotic relationship.

[Devin Stewart]

Yes, yes, I am scared to be in the presence of such athletes and the guys choking down the hot dog and drinking the beer.

[Zachary Crockett]

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