Brunswick Zone Will Re-Open As Arena Bowl

The family that owned Arena Bowl for over 40 years is taking back the keys from Brunswick Corporation, which has been leasing the bowling center since 2001.

Bill Bard's father, also named Bill, built the iconic Arena Bowl at 103rd Street and Cicero Avenue in 1956. Bard took over after his father passed away in 1976, and ran the bowling center until his retirement in 2001, when he leased the building to

A gang-related shooting in parking lot in July 2010 on the Brunswick Zone.

Brunswick provided that the bowling center continues to follow a village board-mandated safety plan.

Bard was lured out of retirement to reopen the bowling center under the historic Arena banner when negotiations for a 10-year lease with Brunswick broke down last fall. He had already granted a one-year extension on the lease to allow the corporate-owned bowling center to regain it’s footing after being required to close at 10 p.m. on weekends following the shooting.

“The negotiations didn’t go well,” Bard said. “I started talking to my family in December and we thought the best way to go was to take the place over again and correct the things that happened over the last 11 years.”

On Tuesday, approved a Class A tavern license for the Arena Lounge. The liquor license, which takes effect July 1, allows alcohol sales until 2 a.m.

Bard told village trustees that he’d like to stay open until 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays “if the business is there.”

He also said he was impressed with the job that off-duty Oak Lawn police officers did controlling the clientele, which “needed no controlling.”

“A couple of guys walked with their pants hanging around their knees and the policemen stopped it,” he said.

Trustee Tom Phelan (Dist. 6), said he’d be open to letting Arena Bowl remain open until 2 a.m. on weekends.

“There was a reason we restricted the hours of the other organization,” Phelan said. “They had a pattern of problems for six or seven years. I think the expectation here, were that to return, the same rules would apply here.”

Bard acknowledges that a lot has changed in the industry since he left it 11 years ago. The days of maintaining a two-hour waiting list on summer evenings of bowlers waiting for a lane to open are long gone.

“I know how much the 10 p.m. closing hurt [Brunswick],” he said. “I want to be on an even playing field. I want to stay open to normal hours and don’t want to be held to certain standards because of Brunswick and their mismanagement.”

Bard doesn’t have a set opening date yet, but Brunswick’s lease expires on July 17. The corporation would like to terminate its lease early.

“It’s easy to get out, but a lot tougher to get back in and figure out what I missed over the past 12 years,” Bard said. "Brunswick does a lot of things right and I will keep some of their programs and promotions, but the niche wasn't 103rd Street and Cicero."