USBC In Advanced Talks to Ban Urethane Bowling Balls

The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) logo

For a while, rumours about regarding a potential urethane ban was all across internet. Now, it is finally taking shape. The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) has issued a formal statement outlining growing concerns over the continued use of urethane bowling balls in certified competition.

The announcement, released via social media last night, confirms that the national governing body is actively considering steps that could result in a USBC ban urethane bowling balls in the near future.

Over the past several months, USBC has conducted in-depth research on urethane equipment. This process included gathering input from a third-party working group, technical experts, and key stakeholders across the sport. In addition, manufacturers were invited to submit comments during an official feedback period.

According to USBC, the current concerns on urethane bowling balls focus on four key areas.

First, there are issues with lane pattern integrity. According to USBC, urethane bowling balls tend to break down oil patterns faster than reactive balls. This creates lane conditions that may not match the intended design and can favor certain playing styles over others.

Second, USBC points to competitive fairness. The use of both urethane and reactive resin balls in the same competitive setting may cause imbalances between different bowler styles. According to USBC, certain athletes gain an unfair advantage out of this. However, it remains unclear how this is defined as an unfair advantage, since each player chooses their own style, lane strategy, and equipment.

Third, there are player development concerns, especially for younger athletes. The statement explains that an overdependance on urethane bowling balls may limit skill growth, reduce versatility, and affect how bowlers learn to adjust to different lane conditions.

Finally, USBC notes challenges with governance and enforcement. Urethane balls often measure softer over time, making it difficult to distinguish between natural wear and possible tampering. This has led to increased integrity issues, confusion at events, and overall discontent within the bowling community.

In response to these issues, USBC says it will continue to review the matter closely.

Along with the official announcement on social media, USBC released a public survey asking on what should USBC do about urethane bowling balls in certified competitions. The survey offers several response options:

• Allow urethane with tighter specifications (such as a minimum hardness of 78);

• USBC ban urethane from all USBC-certified competition at the national, state, and local levels;

• USBC ban urethane only from USBC National Tournaments;

• Continue allowing urethane with no changes;

• This doesn't affect me, I'm not concerned about the topic.
  

All feedback collected to date, along with any new input, will be presented to the Equipment Specifications Committee during their next meeting, scheduled for late August or early September 2025. After that meeting, we should have a clearer picture wether USBC ban urethane bowling ball or not.

Although, some sources suggest that the decission might be pretty much settled already.

Though not officially confirmed in the USBC statement, sources suggest that bowling ball manufacturers had already been notified that a redefinition and ban of urethane bowling balls is expected. The exact scope and timeline are still under discussion.

In the past year, most major brands have already moved away from producing new urethane bowling balls. For example, Storm released its last urethane model, the IQ Tour 78-U, in late 2023, while Hammer launched the Black Pearl Urethane in March 2024. Since then, no other performance-level urethane bowling balls have been released among major brands.

The ban on urethane bowling balls is already taking place in Europe. In May, we reported that the Norwegian Bowling Federation (NBF) introduced a new rule banning the use of certain urethane bowling balls in major national competitions. This includes the Norwegian National Championships and the National League.

Some bowlers were quick to react to the potential ban on urethane bowling balls. For example, four-time PBA Tour title winner Tom Daugherty jokingly suggested banning all spare bowling balls, since they make shooting spares too easy.