UPDATE: BCAW Cancels Middle School Season & WI Pepsi USBC Events

Earlier this evening Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced mandatory closure of all public and private K-12 schools, effective Wednesday, March 18, 2020 for an indefinite period of time.    In light of the continued concerns about COVID-19 and the health risks to communities throughout Wisconsin, BCAW has taken the necessary action to cancel the WI Pepsi USBC Tournament as well as the WI Middle School Bowling Club (MSBC) 2019-20 season.

The following announcement went out to Pepsi center coordinators:

Due to the continued closure of schools throughout the state, BCAW has cancelled the WI Pepsi USBC Tournament, to include all 16 regional events plus the WI Pepsi USBC State Tournament scheduled for May 9th at Dale’s Weston Lanes.

BCAW will be issuing refunds in full which will be paid to whomever made payments to BCAW. We handled nearly 1,900 entries and just over $60K in registrations which will be processed for refunds by staff, so this will take some time. We expect to have all refund checks mailed no later than April 1st. This process may require us reaching out to obtain mailing addresses, especially if parents made the payments directly to BCAW.

We encourage you to let all of your youth bowlers and families know of the event’s cancellation as soon as possible. We will also be posting information on our BCAW website and Facebook page.

Thank you for your understanding and patience in (these) challenging times.
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The following went out to all MSBC District Coordinators after the state-wide school closure mandate:

As a result of Evers’ announcement just prior to 5:00pm, mandating all K-12 public & private schools be closed indefinitely effective Wednesday March 18th, our MSBC Program has been cancelled for the 2019-20 season. This includes the MSBC State Championships scheduled for May 2nd at Bowlero Wauwatosa.

It is a most unfortunate situation, and we hope you understand the position BCAW has taken. We know a number of you were challenged by “what to do” given some of the local school district decisions being made earlier in the day. I apologize for the lateness in this message to you, especially as Roger & I had spoken with some of you (and your coaches) earlier in the day. It wasn’t until Gov. Evers’ mandate announcement that led us to this decision.

If there is any silver lining in this . . . it will give staff an opportunity to get a jump start on the HS & MS redistricting project for next year.

Thank you all for your support and what you do for youth bowling in your communities!
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We feel badly for everyone impacted by these closures, especially our 18 BCAW member centers directly affected because we will not be bringing youth bowlers and their families to their businesses after having these events on the BCAW tournament calendar for nearly nine months.  The economic impact on them is real and substantial.  Such decisions are never easy, and we hope families will get out and go bowling over the coming weeks.

To find a BCAW member bowling center near you, please check out our website!