The 2019 PBA Tour season will officially kick off this week with the PBA Hall of Fame Classic in Arlington, Texas, and it will begin a long stretch of events that are sure to test the players like they haven’t been tested in years.

Here are a few key points to get you ready for this week’s event:

The format and lane condition

While 2019 will present a tougher schedule than years past, the players will ease into the 2019 campaign at the Hall of Fame Classic, which is a relatively short duration event.

With just 14 lanes available for competition at the International Training and Research Center, the field has been limited to 70 players and will be split into two squads.

Both squads will bowl 12 games of qualifying before the field is cut to the top 18 players for six final games of qualifying.

That’s it, 18 games of qualifying and then we will know the five players for the stepladder finals who will bowl for the season’s first title and $25,000. Pretty simple, right?

According to PBA.com, the players are scheduled to compete on the 44-foot Carmen Salvino pattern this week.

How to watch

All 18 games of qualifying will be broadcast live on FloBowling starting Thursday at 9 a.m. Central and continuing through Saturday, wrapping up about Noon.

FloBowling subscribers will be able to watch the FloZone channel with commentary or select a specific pair to watch their favorite players.

The stepladder finals on Sunday will be broadcast live on FS1 at 10 a.m. Eastern for audiences in the United States. International viewers can watch live on FloBowling. An archive of the show will be available on FloBowling seven days after it airs live.

What big names are competing?

With a limited field, the roster is stacked with talent. Among those registered to compete are nearly all of the Top 20 from the 2018 PBA points list, including 2018 PBA Player of the Year and points leader Andrew Anderson.

Also competing are Anthony Simonsen, EJ Tackett, Kristopher Prather, Stuart Williams, Jason Belmonte, Marshall Kent and Bill O’Neill.

Other big names in the field include PBA Hall of Famers Chris Barnes, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Parker Bohn III and Norm Duke.

One name missing from the roster is Pete Weber, who withdrew from the season’s final event, the U.S. Open, with an injury.

Weber had less than kind things to say about the United States Bowling Congress, organizer of the U.S. Open, on his way out of the event. With this week’s event taking place at the home of USBC, that could be a reason Weber decided to skip.

Weber is scheduled to compete in next week’s PBA Oklahoma Open, however.

Hall of Fame inductions

One key piece of this week’s event will take place off the lanes as four new members will join the PBA Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place Saturday at 6:45 p.m. Central and be broadcast live on FloBowling.

Among those being inducted are past PBA stars Mika Koivuniemi and Patrick Allen.

What the schedule looks like

Here’s the schedule for this week’s event, all times listed are Central:

Thursday, Jan. 3
9 a.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad A (six games)
4 p.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad B (six games)

Friday, Jan. 4
9 a.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad B (six games)
4 p.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad A (six games)

Saturday, Jan. 5
9 a.m. – Qualifying Round 3 (Top 18; six games)
6:45 p.m. – PBA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Sunday, Jan. 6
10 a.m. – Stepladder finals* (Top five)

* - FloBowling live broadcast only for audiences outside the United States. The archive of the finals will be available for all audiences seven days after it airs live.