Former PFL CEO Peter Murray Named PBA CEO

MONACO, MONACO – OCTOBER 23: Peter Murray, CEO PFL, poses at the keynote “PFL’s Global Growth & Creating the Champions League of MMA” during the SPORTEL Monaco 2023 – Day One at Grimaldi Forum on October 23, 2023 in Monaco, Monaco. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Sportel)

Getty Images for Sportel

HIGHLIGHTS

• The founding CEO of one of MMA’s most ambitious organizations has landed in an unexpected new role
• The playbook that helped build a global fight league is being ported to a sport with 180,000 league bowlers
• A new media strategy launching this month aims to reshape how fans experience the sport on television and in venues

The Professional Fighters League has gone through tons of growth and transition since its inception in 2018. Peter Murray was instrumental in most of the moves the MMA organization made, but now he is pivoting to a new professional sports organization.

Murray is seemingly taking everything he has learned over the course of a long career in sports media, management and promotion to construct what he hopes is a winning approach for the professional bowling league.

Who Is Peter Murray and What Did He Do at PFL?

Murray was the founding CEO of the Professional Fighters League, where he helped reposition the upstart MMA promotion as a global league built on a season-and-playoff format with heavy content output.

Under his leadership, PFL secured a multi-year ESPN deal in the U.S., expanded media distribution into more than 170 countries, staged events internationally, and launched regional leagues in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The league invested in new formats and shoulder content to differentiate itself from the UFC, and Murray was the architect of that media-first approach.

What Are Peter Murray’s New Roles With PBA?

Murray has been named CEO of the Professional Bowlers Association and Head of Media for Lucky Strike Entertainment, which owns the PBA and operates more than 360 bowling destinations nationwide.

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 17: Pro bowler Pete Weber attends the State Farm Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational held at Lucky Strike Lanes at L.A. Live on January 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Professional Bowlers Association)

getty

In the PBA role, he’s tasked with overseeing global growth, modernizing the sport’s presentation, and executing a media strategy built around behind-the-scenes access and personality-driven storytelling.

As Head of Media for Lucky Strike, he’ll design a cross-platform content and live-experience strategy that uses Lucky Strike venues as physical extensions of the PBA brand.

How Is the PFL Playbook Being Applied to Bowling?

The announcement explicitly says the “same playbook” from PFL — building fandom through new IP, innovative formats, live events, premium content, and access — is being ported to professional bowling.

That means the PBA’s growth plan is less about changing the core sport and more about surrounding it with social-first storytelling, digital formats across multiple platforms, and a media-company-built-around-a-league approach that mirrors what Murray tried to build in MMA.

Murray’s quote reinforces that framing. He said he’s honored to lead the PBA “at such a transformative moment — not just for bowling, but for how sports live within culture.” The language is less nostalgic and more about distribution and engagement, consistent with his PFL tenure.

What Does the 2026 PBA Media Plan Look Like?

The 2026 PBA Tour is described as the first step in Murray’s media strategy. PBA on The CW launches Sunday, February 22, kicking off a run of 10 consecutive “Championship Sundays” including four majors.

Starting April 4, coverage expands with live broadcasts on CBS and Paramount+, including the PBA World Championship Finals as part of more than 35 hours of PBA Tour coverage on CBS platforms.

On the venue side, Lucky Strike’s 360-plus locations are being positioned as always-on entertainment environments where fans can watch PBA broadcasts, interact with athletes, and participate in leagues and watch parties that blend sport, nightlife, and media.

Murray built a media infrastructure for an MMA league that went from zero to 170 countries. Whether he can do the same for a sport with 180,000 league bowlers and a legacy television footprint is the question that makes this appointment worth watching — and the PBA on The CW debut this weekend is the first real test.