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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Jerry Koenig
Aired February 24, 2002 - 09:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, bowling, let's talk about bowling. Should it be an Olympic sport? Let's bring Jerry Koenig, in right away to talk about this. Jerry is owner, par excellence who has a 300 in the score card.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. He's president of the International Bowling Federation. You've got to get that in too.
O'BRIEN: How many 300s have you had?
JERRY KOENIG, DEO, USA BOWLING: Three right now.
O'BRIEN: Wow, isn't that great?
PHILLIPS: That's amazing.
O'BRIEN: Wow.
PHILLIPS: Well, I can see why he's fighting to get bowling in the Olympics.
O'BRIEN: All right, why the Olympics? Why the Winter Games?
KOENIG: Well, actually we don't believe that bowling can be eligible for the Winter Games.
O'BRIEN: OK.
KOENIG: Because there's a rules that says you have to be competed on...
O'BRIEN: All right, I thought maybe you were trying to sneak into the Winter Games.
KOENIG: Well, you know, I'm willing to work a deal where we make all of our lanes on ice.
O'BRIEN: That's curling.
KOENIG: No, ours is a little different than curling but we won't get into comparisons.
PHILLIPS: So tell us about your fight. Lay out your proposal here and how close are you coming to this happening, do you think? KOENIG: Well, we're one of several sports that believe that we deserve to be added to the Olympic program. I personally believe, along with about 100 million bowlers in the world, that we're an ideal Olympic sport. Besides the fact that we have the popularity going for us, we have tradition and history. Somebody once told me that Egyptians were bowling 5,000 years ago.
But more importantly, I think, are the marketing opportunities of the sport of bowling. We have, and this is probably a little known fact, almost an $8 billion to $10 billion annual revenue from the industry, and our television ratings are great all over the world. The recent PBA ratings here in the United States are at about a 1.3 level.
We have an Asian tour. We have a European tour. And on top of all that, it's a very exciting sport when you get to it at the elite level.
O'BRIEN: All right, but Jerry you know, I don't know, is there some perception issue here? Do people have some difficulty putting bowling in the Olympics, inasmuch as it's one of those sports that people frequently are drinking a lot of beer while they're doing it. I mean, does that somehow diminish the sport in some way, and how do you change that perception?
KOENIG: There's a bit of a negative, but for those who really understand the sport at its highest level, that's just simply not the case. The athletes that compete at the highest level -- I'll use this comparison. There are millions of people that go to the beach. How many of them are athletes in the form of swimmers that can win gold medals? It's the same thing for the sport of bowling.
Yes, there are people that are not in good condition. But the ones who win in our sport, the ones who excel, those are true athletes. I'll give you this comparison and you test it with any Olympian. We bowl in an average tournament, in order to compete at the highest level, 16 games a day, let's say for three straight days.
Now I defy anyone to bowl 48 games in three days and then come back with a trite statement like bowlers don't sweat.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jerry Koenig, we appreciate your insights. Thanks for joining us. Sorry we had to cut that short.
PHILLIPS: We'll follow your progress, Jerry.
O'BRIEN: Yes, why don't you come back and let us know how the effort goes?
KOENIG: I hope you become IOC members and you vote for bowling to be added to the program.
O'BRIEN: Listen --
PHILLIPS: Hey, we're pretty good bowlers actually, Jerry.
O'BRIEN: I can bowl. I love bowling. I really do.
KOENIG: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: It's a lot of fun.
PHILLIPS: So do I.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jerry. Thanks for dropping by, appreciate it.
KOENIG: Appreciate it.
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