NCAA Host City Review (Cleveland 2026)

Rocket Arena

Cleveland, OH

March 20-23, 2025

Two weeks have passed since the first takedown happened at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which I think is enough time to have recovered from all the mayhem that went down in Cleveland, Ohio. One thing is common every year, and that is the quality & excitement of the actual wrestling that occurs over six sessions in three days. What DOES change, year after year, is the host city.

Each city is unique, with its pros and cons, and every individual or group of fans reacts to it differently. For the past few years, I have given my review on the host city, with my experiences and takes. Do with that what you will.

So in this quick article, I’ll give my thoughts, critiques, highlights, and some personal interactions of this year’s host city based on a few usual criteria:

Hotels

Even though you might spend a couple of hours awake in one, you still need somewhere to put your bags and lay your hat. With the number of people coming into the host city, hotels (and those within a reasonable budget) can fill up quickly.

Air Fare/Travel - To and From

Whether it be by planes, trains, or automobiles, chances are you had to travel to get there to the host city.

Food and Drink

The fuel to keep you going all day and night.

Walkability

Getting around to and from the venue as well as getting to restaurants, attractions, and stores when not watching wrestling.

Wrestling Venue

Seats, Food, and WiFi signal. The holy trinity of a venue.

So, on to the evaluation:

Hotels

Right from the get-go, Cleveland looked to have circled NCAAs on their “raise the rates” calendar. Any hotel downtown seemed to immediately jump to about $400/night online. And they didn't seem to fall even up to a few days before the first whistle blew on Mat 1 (believe me, I tried).

Personally, I was able to snag a hotel (9 rooms, actually) at the Tru Hilton Midtown, roughly 3 miles away from the arena for all-in $174/night. Because we drove (more on that in the next segment), we saved on having to use ride/share (which would be maybe $20 each way) or use public transport to get to the arena.

If you were willing to shell out an extra mortgage payment on four nights in Cleveland to be within walking distance to the arena, more power to you.

The room itself was standard, two queen beds, large tv, plenty of outlets, and a small fridge that froze my sodas.

I’d say a solid “B.” If you were willing to stay a little farther out, deals could be had that were more budget friendly, but would then have to incur the cost of using either rideshare or the cost of a parking garage, which would be a slight offset.

Airfare/Travel

Cleveland fell in that juuust so far enough that airfare for $400 round trip would feel ridiculous, but juuust close enough to talk myself into driving 6.5 hrs through Pennsylvania.

So, my co-host of the #FCWpodcast Todd Szewczyk, my buddy Kyle (a Fantasy Wrestling superstar), his nephew Colby and I hit the road early Wednesday morning in my 2006 Toyota Rav 4. And despite the constant doubts from friends and family, the ol’gal made the 850-mile round trip without issue.

As noted above, a cost saving to rideshare is a plus. And looking at some of the parking garages, some as low as $20/day and some as high as ~$60+ (like the casino across the street from the arena). Now, I was lucky that I got a free parking pass from Todd’s brother Kyle so, add another one into the “save” column. (Shoutout to Kyle Szewczyk, who used to coach Waynesburg High and had four national qualifiers in Rocco Welsh, Wyatt Henson, Luca Augustine, and Mac Church).

For me, Travel was an “A”, and if you drove it was probably the same or “A-”... if you had to fly in, I’ll guesstimate that it was probably a “C”, because, you know... planes.

Food and Drink

As soon as you left the venue and regardless of which direction you headed, there were at least two bars and two restaurants readily available. Whether it was Harry Buffalo, Headline, City Tap, or The Clevelander, if your goal was to get a beer as soon as the session ended, Cleveland had you covered.

For us, being three miles out from downtown, we still had some good breakfast spots to start the day. The Cleveland Bagel Company was a staple for a couple of mornings, Dunkin Donuts being the others. One morning, we even hit the Italian Market across the street, Gust Gallucci’s Italian Foods, which was a nice change of pace having a capicola focaccia sandwich on the way to the arena. Also, it felt like home with all the Italian ephemera, decorations, specialty cookies and pastries, and the old Italian ladies yelling at one another while making our food.

Like we have done the past few Championships, we made reservations at a few spots even before we got to Cleveland, one of which did not honor the sanctity of the reservation. They knew how to take the reservation, they just didn't know how to hold the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation… the holding.

One fun spot we reserved between sessions was 5 Iron Golf, a golf simulator/bar about 7 minutes away from the arena. Two hours of golf, beer, pizza, and wings. What more could you ask for? (a better score, that's what).

Put me down for an “A+”. As could be assumed, the closer to the arena, the more packed and longer the wait there would be. But luckily, Cleveland was abundant with restaurants and watering holes that even a short, and easy, 10 minute walk would open up many other opportunities to imbibe. And for some reason, there are lots of Mexican spots too.

Walkability

This one will be short, since it has been mentioned in the previous section so much.

I’ll give walkability an “A” . Everything was right there as you left the venue. Not more you could ask for. Very easy to walk around and if you wanted to get back to your hotel outside of downtown, it was a quick ride there.

Wrestling Venue

Like I always say, this is always a little difficult to judge. There were seats in an arena that pointed to the floor where eight mats were rolled out. We, as fans, are very simple creatures when it comes to the wants and needs of a wrestling venue.

Rocket Arena proved to be a more than acceptable venue to me. Seating was great, aside from Todd’s seat being on a slant.

Surprisingly, I did not partake in a lot of the food options inside the arena, though one of the most seen items was a box of chicken tenders and fries ; a staple in the arena food scene. Beer also was not as bad as last year, being under $20 for a pounder. The real crime was water and soda being $7.50/bottle.

WiFi signal is also an important feature to have for the fans,and honestly, I did not have any issues logging on or lagging. Maybe that was because there may have been less people in the stands (or so it seemed) for each session, but that's a conversation for another article.

Venue I will give an “A.” No complaints from me.

*****************

This is the second time I have been in Cleveland for the NCAA Championships, and just like in 2018, it was a great experience. Travel was the only downside, but even that was not so bad. This may be the only time I say (write) this, but, I like Cleveland. I would definitely recommend it as a regular in rotation as a host.