Announced in 2023, the World Bowling League promised a new global bowling competition built around international franchise teams, with some of the biggest names in sport linked to the project. The league was supposed to launch in the first quarter of 2026, but that date passed without play getting underway.
Now, WBL is making public moves again, with renewed social media activity and a website outlining plans for a 2027 season.
After almost six months of silence, its social media account, now named FSP (Future of Sports), has started posting again. But not about bowling only. The new content looks back at bowling and squash history, from wooden balls and manual pinsetters to the early days of squash.
But even bigger update is on the World Bowling League website. Alongside the new launch year, it now explains how bowlers could join, how they would be ranked and how it would all look like.
From your local lanes to the WBL finals
Under the proposed format, bowlers would compete from their own centres. A phone placed near the foul line would record each session through an app, with an AI system called the Kinetic Truth Engine tracking the ball, pins and release.
WBL says scores would be captured live and locked when the session ends. No extra sensors would be required.
Those sessions would feed into an FSP Rating and a global leaderboard. Players would move through levels from Rookie to Ace, with ratings changing according to performance against an expected score.
Monthly rewards, such as time with captains, coaching, or more mysterious like wheel spins (although WBL organizers have experience in online games to win cryptocurrency, so manybe not that mysterious), would be divided by rating level, so bowlers could compete for prizes within their own group.
Mookie Betts and Jason Belmonte are listed now as captains, with three more to be announced. Eligible members could enter the Captain draft, while Golden Tickets earned through participation would offer another route to the finals.
The season would lead to one invitation-only Championship Finals event involving two captains and their squads. The website also describes pop-up matches during the season, but the finals venue and complete competition rules are not detailed.
What happened to the million-dollar prize plans?
When the project was introduced, League Sports Co founder and CEO Adi K Mishra said he expected WBL to make bowling more attractive to athletes and viewers within five years. Significant prize money would help raise the sport’s profile and commercial appeal.
In the 2023 announcement, WBL projected $3–5 million in collective prize money across competitions in year one, with hopes of reaching $10 million in year two.
The headline figure on the website today is a $200,000 Championship Finals grand prize. Monthly rewards are also advertised, but a complete season prize budget is not provided.
Prize funds in the hundreds of thousands are nothing that bowling is not used to now. For example the 2026 PBA Players Championship, advertised twice as that ($400,000 total prize fund), with $100,000 for the winner. And the winner didn't need to share it with the whole league team.
Playing in the WBL - under a subscription
Competing in the league will require a paid membership.
Getting a rating would be free, within limits. The Competitor package, for example, is advertised at an early price of $59.99 for Season One. It includes 70 rating sessions per month, basic performance trends, a ranked place on the global leaderboard, Captain draft eligibility and monthly rewards.
Meanwhile the Premier costs $299 at the early Season One rate. It adds unlimited sessions subject to fair-use limits, shot-by-shot analysis, priority draft eligibility, coaching and time with captains. Players would still need to earn their place in the finals.
At launch, the listed regular prices are $19.99 per month or $119.99 per year for Competitor, and $49 per month or $399 per year for Premier. The site also lists a verified student plan at $49 per year.
The website says early memberships are charged when purchased and cover Season One. How the ranking system would account for different oil patterns and lane conditions across bowling centres remains unexplained in the published overview.
A project with a long build-up
BowlingLife covered the initial October 2023 announcement, including League Sports Co’s background and the key terms of its agreement with the International Bowling Federation, in our original report on the World Bowling League.
During its early promotion, the project attracted names including MLB star Mookie Betts and cricketer Virat Kohli.
In a June 2025 interview with Reuters, Mishra said WBL would launch in the first quarter of 2026 with six international franchises.
Then, in December 2025, its Instagram account changed its name to FSPGames and began promoting World Premier Squash. No public explanation was given for the change at the time.
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