Go Bowling! PBA Tour on FOX Introduces Specto StrikeTrack Technology

LOS ANGELES – Today, FOX Sports announces the premiere of the PBA CLASH on Sunday, Dec. 23, (2:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM ET), a 90-minute special featuring the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour’s top eight stars and unveiling the unique Specto StrikeTrack ball-tracking analysis, which becomes a mainstay of FOX Sports’ coverage of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) competition in 2019.

FOX and the PBA have entered into a multi-year contract with Kegel for the use of their Specto ball-tracking technology StrikeTrack to provide real-time ball tracking during all events. Using Specto’s technology, StrikeTrack provides a completely new experience to the viewer with visual examples to support the action on screen. Viewers will see a live trace of the ball as it rolls down the lane, as well as ball speed, location and RPM, to name a few of the features. Watch an example here.

“We are extremely excited about this new technology to debut on our PBA events,” said Zac Fields, Senior Vice President, Graphic Technology & Integration, FOX Sports. “StrikeTrack is able to give insight into a match like never before to tell the story of exactly what’s happening. We believe this will take bowling coverage to another level. Designed specifically for bowling, StrikeTrack compares to FlightTrack for golf, which FOX introduced in 2015 and it’s now a standard in golf broadcasts.”

FOX PBA analyst Randy Pedersen is impressed by the StrikeTrack technology. “I’ve never seen anything like it. This lets the viewers see where the ball is going down the lane, the speed, power, and how it impacts the pins and why that resulted in a strike or not,” he said. “It really helps quantify my analysis.”

Held at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla., the PBA CLASH is hosted by Rob Stone, with longtime PBA analyst Pedersen and reporter Kimberly Pressler. The telecast includes a $25,000 winner-take-all single-elimination competition with eight of the 2018 season’s leading money winners including Jason Belmonte, Anthony Simonsen, Dom Barrett, Andrew Anderson, EJ Tackett, Marshall Kent, Stuart Williams and Jakob Butturff.

The telecast also features profiles on the eight players, the announcement of the 2018 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year and the Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year, and a preview of the historic 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule of FOX and FS1 telecasts.

The PBA on FOX makes its 2019 debut on FS1 on Sunday, Jan. 6 (11:00 AM ET), with live coverage of the PBA Hall of Fame Classic finals on from the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

During the 2019 season, viewers can live stream the PBA shows on the FOX Sports app, through the FOX and FS1 streams. The shows will be available on desktop at FOXSports.com and through the app store or on connected devices including Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, Xbox One and Roku. In addition, all programs will be available on FOX Sports on SiriusXM channel 83 on satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app.