The Professional Bowlers Association announced today a major expansion of its PBA League, increasing the number of teams from eight to 10 in 2020 by adding teams that will represent the cities of Milwaukee and Las Vegas when the league’s Elias Cup competition returns to Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, in July. 

As part of the expansion, the PBA has named Hall of Famers Marshall Holman and Amleto Monacelli as managers for the Milwaukee and Las Vegas teams, respectively. The “High Rollers” is the league’s newest team name, representing the Las Vegas franchise. The Milwaukee team has yet to be officially named, but this month the PBA will give its fans the chance to be a part of PBA history and help select a name for the team by participating in a social media contest starting Monday, Feb. 3.

Fans are invited to submit their original franchise names for Milwaukee between 10 a.m. EST on Feb. 3 and 10 a.m. EST on Feb. 5 via the PBA’s dedicated Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts. The top three names will be released on PBA’s social pages by 1 p.m. EST on Feb. 5, and fans will be invited to vote for their favorite. The winning team name will be chosen by the PBA and publicly announced at the PBA League draft. The person who submits the winning name will receive a customized bowling ball and pin autographed by the Milwaukee team after the draft.

The PBA League, which introduced a unique team competition to the PBA in 2013, will return in 2020 with its eight original teams and managers: the 2019 Elias Cup Champion Portland Lumberjacks (manager Tim Mack); Silver Lake Atom Splitters (Mark Baker); L.A. X (Andrew Cain); Motown Muscle (Del Ballard); Brooklyn StYles (Johnny Petraglia); Dallas Strikers (Norm Duke); Philadelphia Hitmen (Jason Couch); and NYC Kingpins (Carolyn Dorin-Ballard).

With the addition of Milwaukee and Las Vegas, the League will be divided into two five-team divisions: the Carter Division (Dallas, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Silver Lake and Las Vegas) and the Anthony Division (New York City, Motown, Portland, L.A. and Milwaukee).

A player draft will be held during the PBA World Series of Bowling XI in Las Vegas on March 15. The eight existing teams can protect up to three players from their 2019 rosters and will draft in the reverse order of how they finished in 2019. Any remaining player not protected will go into the draft pool.

All 10 teams will round out their five-player rosters with players whose draft eligibility may be earned up until this year’s WSOB. Player eligibility for the draft will be based on the top 75 players in combined competition points earned during the 2019 and 2020 seasons through WSOB XI.

The eighth annual PBA League Elias Cup competition will be conducted over three consecutive nights of live television coverage on FS1 (United States) and FloBowling (international).