Dream-Bowl Palace, host of the 2010 Men's World Championships, celebrates Grand Opening

Updated with a short video from lane 1 to 52

 

 

Just 175 days after the ground-breaking ceremony, Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany, celebrated its Grand Opening on Monday evening, Dec. 14, 2009 with a couple of hundred guests from politics, business, media and the world of bowling (proprietors, distributors, industry representatives, tournament organizers, players, officials, etc.).

The 52-laner equipped with Brunswick Anvilane Pro Lane with Brunswick Vector plus scoring system, Brunswick GS-X pinsetters and Strikemaker pins is the largest bowling center in Europe with all 52 lanes on a single floor with no supporting pillars.

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The center has been built to the highest possible standards featuring air-condition and humidity control for the comfort of all guests as well as for the best possible playing conditions.

Photos Beat Grauwiler

Dream-Bowl Palace was designed over three floors and spans approximately. 8,000 square meters and offers an outside terrace and an additional parking area for 220 vehicles. Elevators will connect all floors with the parking area.

The first floor with approx. 5,000 square meters covers all bowling lanes including a removable VIP area as well as the "bistro". A restaurant, conference rooms and billiard tables can be found on the second floor, while the pro shop and indoor miniature golf (above, right) is available on the third floor.

Spectators can either watch bowling from a spacious area right behind the players or from the balustrade on the 2nd floor or move to more quiet areas in or outside the center. The whole venue should have a capacity for at least 500 spectators.

You don't need to be a prophet to know that this center will win industry awards for Architectural Excellence and Best Interior Design.

Have a glimpse at the 52 lanes from both, the first and second floor.

 

© Produced by Bowlingdigital and Beat Grauwiler.

 

Andy Karg (pictured left), a local radio star, who served as the evening's emcee, welcomed the guests and introduced the host, the man behind the 18-million Euro project, Werner Knöbl (right), managing director of the Dream-Bowl Palace GmbH.

Knöbl started his speech with a big relief "Yes, we made it!" He thanked the local politicians, his bankers, the architect, all the craftsmen and workers involved and last but not least the entire Dream-Bowl team for creating "the most modern and most innovative tenpin bowling center in Europe".

If the Proprietors' Association of Germany would have a Proprietor of the Year award Knöbl would be the landslide winner not only for building such a magnificent, state-of-the-art bowling center but also because of taking the risk to invest so much money in tenpin bowling especially during the ongoing worldwide financial crisis.

Dream-Bowl Palace will host the 2010 Men's World Championships Aug. 11-22, 2010 and also two tournaments which will be held prior to the MWC, the Nations Cup (for men's national teams only) from April 8-11, 2010 and the 1st Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open (EBT stop #11) from June 27 through July 4.

Dream-Bowl Palace will also host the 24th European Youth Championships and the Men's European Championships in 2011. Knöbl finished his speech promising that he and his crew will do their utmost that all bowlers feel well at Dream-Bowl Palace.

Karg then introduced Franz Schwarz, the first mayor of the municipality Unterföhring in the Upper Bavarian district of Munich. Munich is Germany's third largest city with 1.3 million inhabitants. Unterföhring, a town of 9,000 people, is located northeast of Munich close to the International Airport and is one of the important media locations of Germany. In a humorous talk with the typical Bavarian touch, Schwarz explained how it was possible to get such a huge project done in such a short time.

Addie Ophelders (right photo, on the right)), president of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation and Roland Mück (left), president of the German Bowling Union (DBU) then thanked Knöbl for the Dream-Bowl Place. "Too long have we been waiting for a bowling center like this," said Ophelders, "Thank you in the name of the 49 ETBF member federations."

Then Dream-Bowl Palace architect Ulrich Ruck stepped forward. Celebrating his 49th birthday on the opening day of the center made it even more emotional for Ruck especially when Knöbl and the guests started singing "Happy Birthday to you".

Ruck, a typical Swabian (Swabia is a historic and linguistic region in Germany consisting of much of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg and its capital city of Stuttgart), recalled witnessing the ground breaking ceremony of the building 175 days ago "on a green meadow".

"Give the job to a Swabian and he gets it done. It is not quite ready but you can't see this tonight," Ruck said with a smile. He was close to tears when he praised the craftsmen and worker involved for never letting him down.

He asked everybody to grab a beer and made a toast to the opening of the center. (pictured left) Following was the symbolic hand-over of the key when Ruck gave a huge replica to owner Werner Knöbl to demonstrate that he's in charge of Dream-Bowl Palace now.

The last official part of the Grand Opening was when Knöbl, Schwarz and Ruck threw the ceremonial first balls on lanes 25-27. None of them got a strike but also nobody threw a gutter ball and together the trio knocked down more than ten pins. Hopefully a good omen for the Dream Bowl Palace.

The evening continued with a dinner, live music and some show bowling (pictured left) before the guests were invited to test the lanes, an invitation which was eagerly accepted. It was an unforgettable evening that ended early on Tuesday morning.

For more information on Dream-Bowl Palace click here.