Fans take in the parade of All-Americans at the 2019 NCAA Division II Championships in Cleveland (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)Wrestling is one of the oldest forms of combat. It is an incredibly proud sport with a rich history that dates back thousands of years. As with any sport that lasts this long, it must encounter some bumps and bruises along the way. Over the last three or four decades in particular, wrestling has been put through the ringer -- and the sport has been working to recover ever since.
Title IX was particularly devastating to the growth of the sport -- causing it to regress in some ways rather than progress initially. The Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 was enacted into law in June of that year. It read as follows:
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
Although the primary objective of Title IX was to expand the limited educational opportunities available at the time for women and girls -- which it did, it is the application of Title IX to athletics that has gained the greatest public visibility in the nearly 50 years since it was enacted. In particular, the effect it has had on certain non-revenue generating sports such as wrestling.
In March of 2016, Forbes reported that, as of the 2014-15 school year, just 76 Division I institutions sponsored wrestling, with 229 programs being supported across all three divisions.
The important takeaway from that data: 101 men's wrestling programs have been dropped between 1988-89 and 2014-15, including 41 at the Division I level. On the contrary, the total number of student athletes across all NCAA sports has increased exponentially since 1988-89, but the number of wrestlers has declined 26% from 3,428 to 2,520 in Division I over that span.
On the bright side, though collegiate wrestling may not be restored to its glory days of old just yet, there are numerous indications that the sport is rebounding and growing once again.
Currently, there are 78 Division I, 64 Division II and 109 Division III wresting programs across the country, according to ncaasports.org. More impressive, these figures are continuously increasing as we speak.
For instance, it was announced back in 2018 that, by the year 2022-23 season Division I wrestling would expand to 80 programs. Augustana University, a Division II school in South Dakota, plus Long Island University are all on the move to Division I wrestling.
In a similar vein, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced in March of last year that the conference added seven new affiliate members -- Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Rider, George Mason and Cleveland State -- to begin competing in the MAC with the 2019-20 wrestling season. In doing so, the mid-major conference is now the second-largest in all of Division I wrestling.
Equally encouraging for the sport is the tremendous growth it has seen at both the high school and collegiate ranks as it pertains to women's wrestling.
As reported by ESPN in April of 2019, the prevalence of female wrestlers has changed drastically. Since 2001, the number of girls in high school wrestling has risen from 3,405 to nearly 17,000. This is a product of the introduction of women to Olympic wrestling in 2004 and the rise of MMA, a sport dominated by strong wrestlers. I assume the MMA's crop of strong female wrestlers turned MMA athletes themselves will only grow in the future as well. In the past year, six states have sanctioned the sport, making it one of the nation's fastest-growing high school girls' programs.
At the intercollegiate level, we are seeing similar trends. According to collegewrestlingrecruiting.com, there are 48 collegiate women's programs located in 22 states, plus one program in Canada. Additionally, the 48 varsity-sponsored college wrestling programs are at NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, and NWAC schools. The most recent development in this realm came just last week when Hiram College -- a Division III institution in Ohio announced that men's and women's wrestling programs would become the Terriers' 17th and 18th varsity sports -- starting with the 2020-21 season.
So, what does all of this mean and why is it significant?
This means that, as a sport, wrestling -- including collegiate wrestling, is growing again, rebounding from the days of Title IX cuts. As for the significance of this trend, this is noteworthy because this growth is only beneficial if it is also sustainable long-term.
While the current growth the sport is seeing is great, here are four additional measures I would like to see taken. If they are, wresting, and college wrestling in particular, will be better for it.
Look to the inner cities -- extremely high-populated areas -- to grow the sport
As Mike Powell, executive director of BTS Chicago, and Caryn Ward, a BTS Chicago advisory board member, point out in their July 2019 InterMat feature, inner cities are ripe with possible wrestlers -- they just may not know it yet. The Beat the Streets organization currently operates in eight different locations: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Boston, Providence and Chicago. Many of these are massive metropolitan areas and the perfect place to start attracting young wrestlers to the sport. If you can hook the athletes while their young, you'll have them as fans and participants for life.
Don't forget about NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA, NJCAA and NCWA wrestling
There is a plethora of reasons as to why utilizing the sport in the lower NCAA divisions is the perfect way to grow the sport. For instance, Division II and Division III schools carry more wrestling programs than Division I institutions. The increased support for wrestling is because they (DII and DIII institutions) traditionally have tough times attracting students to campus. In the Big Ten, for example, hundreds of thousands of applications pour in year after year to Columbus, State College alike. At schools like Mercyhurst (Division II) or Gannon (Division III), it is tougher to get students to enroll. Wrestling, however, is an asset -- a very literal recruiting tool to encourage kids to campus ultimately helping mitigate some enrollment concerns. Naturally, smaller, lower-level institutions tend to be more enrollment-focused than some of your Big Ten and ACC juggernauts. With that in mind, we need to utilize and capitalize on the mutually beneficial relationship between the needs of a Division II or Division III school (higher enrollment) and wrestling as a vehicle for achieving that. Doing so can fill these schools and possibly grow and popularize the sport.
Allow more opportunities for current fans and new fans to see the beauty of NCAA wrestling unfold live via more dual or tri-meets
I realize that large meets with a gaggle of schools all in attendance are necessary just for logistical and geographical purposes. It's one of the only ways to get in multiple matches for every wrestler easily and efficiently. Knowing this, I acknowledge why larger multi-school meets are a necessity. That said, they can be confusing and overwhelming to new fans trying to learn the sport. Even for the most experienced wrestling fan -- it isn't easy to watch six, eight or even 10 mats at once. Similarly, speaking from personal experience as a graduate of a Division I mid-major institution, there were years where my team wrestled less than five times at home in a given season. As a wrestling fanatic, I found ways to follow along because I had no other choice. But, for newcomers to the sport, they will never pick up the trade if they cannot see it live easily. Again, I realize there are numerous streaming platforms that allow you to take in all the wrestling coverage you can stomach -- but I think we can all agree streaming falls short to experiencing the match atmosphere at Carver-Hawkeye, Rec Hall, Gallagher-Iba Arena, The RAC and any number of electric, historic wrestling venues. The bottom line being -- if there was a greater emphasis on having more dual meets or tri-meets at schools across the country it would be more welcoming to new, less knowledgeable fans and be more advantageous for growing the sport in that way. Plus, your hardcore fans would still attend too.
Keep furthering the growth of women's wrestling at all levels
The numbers and the growth already seen since the early 2000s with respect to women's wrestling speak for themselves. Any growth or increased availability -- whether for men, women or both will prove beneficial to growing and popularizing the sport as a whole.
As it stands now, the sport is growing and becoming more popular both locally and globally. However, these developments and beneficial changes mean zero if they cannot be sustained long-term. While these four solutions are not an exhaustive list nor are they the only ways to grow and popularize the wrestling brand, they are legitimate options nonetheless.
I admit, the best option to truly aiding the growth and popularization of collegiate wrestling would be to have a media rights deal akin to what NCAA football and basketball receive. But, as everyone reading this already knows, this hypothetical behemoth of a TV deal with ESPN, ABC, CBS or any other major player in sports broadcasting is nothing more than a pipe dream in reality.
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