LAS VEGAS (March 6, 2020) – Professional Bowlers Association members hoping to become eligible for the 2020 PBA League draft will make their last-ditch bids to earn qualifying points when the PBA World Series of Bowling XI gets underway at South Point Bowling Plaza Sunday.

In the meantime, the opportunities to join 2020 PBA League rosters became clearer with the announcement of “protected players” from last year’s rosters by the PBAL’s eight existing team managers, including three stars who helped the hometown Portland Lumberjacks, managed by Tim Mack, earn their first Elias Cup in 2019: Mark Roth PBA League MVP Wes Malott, two-hander Kyle Troup and 2019 PBA Playoffs champ Kris Prather.

With two vacated roster spots available for each team plus the expansion of the PBA League from eight to 10 teams in 2020, more players than ever will get a chance to participate when the league’s Elias Cup competition returns to Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, July 20-23. The trick is to get into the top 75 in composite PBA competition points for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The last chance to earn points happens during WSOB XI with the PBA Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion Championships plus the PBA World Championship that compose the World Series.

At the conclusion of the PBA World Championship, the top 75 players in combined points over the past two seasons will be announced on March 13. The 2020 PBAL draft will then take place on Sunday, March 15 at South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas, the host center for PBA World Series of Bowling XI. The draft will be covered live by FloBowling on March 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Pacific following the live FS1 telecast of the Go Bowling Cheetah Championship finals.

On Thursday, the eight existing PBAL team managers announced the players they wanted to retain from their 2019 rosters. Each manager was allowed to protect up to three players. The players not protected were returned to the 2020 draft pool. With at least 16 spots vacated from 2019 rosters, plus the 10 more spots available thanks to the addition of new franchises in Las Vegas and Milwaukee.

Roster announcements released Friday indicate the 2020 PBAL “Protected Players” and those returned to the draft pool. Teams are listed in order of finish in 2019:

1, Portland Lumberjacks (manager Tim Mack). Protected players are Wes Malott, Kyle Troup, Kris Prather. Returned to 2020 draft pool: Ryan Ciminelli, Mitch Hupé.

2, L.A. X (manager Andrew Cain). Protected players areJason Belmonte, Stuart Williams, Jakob Butturff. Returned to 2020 draft pool: Dick Allen, Anthony Lavery-Spahr. 

3, Dallas Strikers (player-manager Norm Duke). Protected players are Duke, Tommy Jones, Bill O’Neill. Returned to 2020 draft pool: Andrew Anderson, Brad Miller.

4, NYC KingPins (manager Carolyn Dorin-Ballard). Protected players are Pete Weber, Marshall Kent, Kyle Sherman. Returned to 2020 draft pool: BJ Moore, Darren Tang.

5, Silver Lake Atom Splitters (manager Mark Baker). Protected players areChris Barnes, Jesper Svensson, Tom Daugherty. Returned to 2020 draft pool: DJ Archer, AJ Johnson.

6, Motown Muscle (manager Del Ballard Jr.). Protected players are EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Josh Blanchard.Returned to 2020 draft pool: AJ Chapman, Mykel Holliman.

7, Brooklyn Styles (manager Johnny Petraglia). Protected players are Walter Ray Williams Jr., Rhino Page, Brad Angelo.Returned to 2020 draft pool are: Sean Rash,Andres Gomez.

8, Philadelphia Hitmen (manager Jason Couch). Protected players are Dom Barrett, Tom Smallwood, Shawn Maldonado. Returned to 2020 draft pool: Matt Sanders, Patrick Girard, Jake Peters.

9 and 10, Las Vegas High Rollers (manager Amleto Monacelli), Milwaukee (to be named later; manager Marshall Holman).

The current list of draft eligible players includes the following (* indicates PBA Tour title winner): *Sean Rash, *Ryan Ciminelli, Mitch Hupé, *Dick Allen, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, *Andrew Anderson, Brad Miller, *BJ Moore, Darren Tang, *DJ Archer, AJ Johnson, AJ Chapman, Mykel Holliman, *Andres Gomez, *Matt Sanders, Patrick Girard, *Jake Peters, Nick Pate, *Thomas Larsen, Zach Wilkins, *Jason Sterner and *Osku Palermaa among others.

The 2020 draft will include five rounds in reverse order of the 2019 standings, plus the two new teams will get first picks for the first three rounds. The draft order for expansion teams Milwaukee and Las Vegas will be decided by a coin flip:

Round 1: 1, Las Vegas or Milwaukee. 2, Milwaukee or Las Vegas.

Round 2: 1, Milwaukee or Las Vegas. 2, Las Vegas or Milwaukee.

Round 3: 1, Las Vegas or Milwaukee. 2, Milwaukee or Las Vegas. 3, Philadelphia. 4, Brooklyn. 5, Motown. 6, Silver Lake. 7, NYC. 8, Dallas. 9, L.A. 10, Portland.

Round 4: 1, Portland. 2, L.A. 3, Dallas. 4, NYC. 5, Silver Lake. 6, Motown. 7, Brooklyn. 8, Philadelphia. 9, Milwaukee or Las Vegas. 10, Las Vegas or Milwaukee.

Round 5: 1, Las Vegas or Milwaukee. 2, Milwaukee or Las Vegas.