Fowling Warehouse, the game's Detroit birthplace, closes June 27

Fowling Warehouse, the venue that gave the homemade sport of fowling its first permanent home, will play its final game on Saturday, June 27.

Founder Chris Hutt announced this week that the original location at 3901 Christopher St., on the Hamtramck side of the Detroit border, can no longer carry itself. "After fighting very hard for the past few years, we have come to the point where it's just not sustainable to continue business at this location," Hutt said. He pointed to pre-pandemic expansion, the economy, and changes in social behavior as the reasons.

Hutt and a group of friends came up with the game while tailgating at the 2001 Indianapolis 500. The idea, as the company tells it, was to settle an argument between bowling and football by playing both at once. Players throw footballs at a rack of bowling pins, and the first side to knock all ten down wins. He opened the Hamtramck warehouse in December 2014, turning a parking-lot invention into a room with lanes, leagues, and a bar.

Over more than a decade the venue built a steady following. Corporate groups booked the lanes, league teams claimed weeknights, and the annual Motor City Open drew competitive fowlers from out of town. A Detroit team carried the trophy back from the Indy 500 last year, which Hutt called a fitting bookend for the location.

The concept grew into a small chain in the years before and after the pandemic. Fowling Warehouse now operates in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas, Kansas City, Omaha, and Minneapolis, none of which are affected by the Hamtramck decision. The closure is specific to the original site.

The final day will be one of its busiest. The Motor City Open is scheduled for June 27, running on the building's last day open. Hutt has said tournament details will go out on the venue's social channels.

Hutt has said fowling itself will continue and that he plans to "regroup and work on the next chapter," though he has not named a new location, timeline, or format. For now, the building that grew a backyard game into a national franchise wraps up its run this month.