After four decades of the same presentation of wrestling, the federation chose a massive overhaul of mat colors and uniforms for referees and wrestlers.
The impact of the decision can't be overstated. The original mats, the bright yellow and red that are ubiquitous to wrestling rooms around the globe, were chosen for a different age. All the way back in 1972 ABC asked the federation to adopt the mat color to better coincide with -- get this -- the color of the broadcaster's jackets for the Munich Games. The motivation in using bright yellow was to help penetrate the black and white television still widely in use and provide some color-pop for television sets who were in the first phases of Technicolor.
The new mats -- blue and orange in the theme of the federation's new style -- are not made darker to suit any broadcaster's jacket. In an attempt to provide an improved, more subtle viewing experience, the mats have been darkened to allow the colors of the athletes uniforms to be highlighted. There is less need to impress ABC and more need to impress online audiences.
Gone are the standard red and blue of the international singlet. The new colors will be a representation of the flag, national animal, or whatever else is chosen by the member federations. Designs, meant to appeal to audiences and allow a quicker recognition of wrestlers from a distance, will be a massive boon to the sport's televised appeal. Against the darkened backdrop the uniforms will look in-place -- whereas set against curb yellow the viewing experience would be akin to watching the Wizard of Oz on acid.
Wrestlers aren't the only ones to change their uniforms, referees will no longer dress like a traveling band of gypsies. The suit and yellow ties have been replaced with trousers and a polo shirt. The change will allow the referees more flexibility to get closer to the action and take the viewer's attention away from their wedding attire and back where it belongs: the wrestlers.
And finally ... the death of the singlet. The favorite baton by which to whip the sport of wrestling has been eliminated. The distraction is gone and in its place an opportunity to increase youth participation and the revenue of teams who can market to those who want to "dress like the team." There will be different uniforms for all three styles, with women likely to keep an outfit more similar to the standard fare. Meanwhile Greco-Roman and freestyle will see drastic improvement, with much less exposed spandex and almost certainly some type of shorts. The uniform designs are still being tested, revised and reviewed.
The sports community demanded that wrestling make modernizations to the sport, and it has responded. At its core the sport will remain the same, the truths about what it takes to succeed on the mat are unchanged by what the competitors are wearing. Wrestling is wrestling no matter the surface, no mind the color scheme, so why not make it better?
To be clear, the singlet, like a bad first job, was not a mistake but a learning experience. In its time and place a single piece of shiny lycra was the solution, but after five decades of being battered by its bad publicity it's time to bury it for good. In America, lycra has come to define wrestling, but that wasn't always the case and a return to something more "modest" isn't without precedent. Also worth noting is that countries around the world have wrestled for centuries and never once have they worn a singlet.
The change has arrived and though it wasn't as fast as some wanted and will feel unnatural to others, it's the next step in a long process of wrestling to reach more people around the globe. Wrestling is changing, and that's good for business.
To your questions ...
Q: Is Joey McKenna taking some sort of Olympic redshirt this year?
-- @Robbybobbi
Foley: No. He just hasn't enrolled in school. From what I understand he can take a year, or maybe two, to start his collegiate career, and he seems to be taking his time. Olympic redshirts can only be taken in Olympic years.
Joey McKenna won a Junior World silver (Photo/T.R. Foley)McKenna has the chance to be a world-caliber wrestler and it'll be interesting to see if he makes his way to Stanford or stays closer to home to continue training at Lehigh. I've never been that talented at a physical thing so it's difficult to know which option is best. I'd imagine the best decision would be the one that feels most natural today, as he committed to Stanford 18 months ago -- well before his recent spat of success.
Q: I'm interested in your thoughts on what is going to happen with wrestling as a result of the full cost of attendance now being granted for Power 5 conference schools. I work in athletics development at a major Division I university. We hit our goal this year of just over $15 million raised. Our increased cost for full cost of attendance in 2015 will be $700,000 and in 2016 by over $1.2 million (or approximately what it costs to run the wrestling program).
There's no doubt that programs will be dropped by Power 5 schools -- wrestling, swimming, baseball, track ... you name it. I could foresee a situation where the Power 5 conferences will be whittled down to a handful of sports (a dozen teams or so). This is, of course, terrible news for wrestling and all Olympic sports.
However, I wonder if it may turn into good news. I could foresee a scenario where Power 5 schools are basically semi-pro football and basketball with some women's sports thrown in to comply with Title IX. Then, the remaining conferences, not being able to offer the full cost of attendance stipend, being closer to the true essence of college athletics -- offering scholarships but not having the semi-professional funding that we have in the Power 5 today. Being more similar to a enrollment driven schools, I could see mid-majors adding Olympic sports with some scholarship but not fully funded, knowing that kids want the opportunity to compete in college.
Interesting article here.
-- John H.
Foley: You paint an apocalyptic scene. I don't know what the implosion of college athletics will look like, but I'm hoping for less "The Road" and more a triumphant phoenix rising from the ashes. I'd even settle for a scene reminiscent of "Mad Max."
The paid athletes won't extend past the top sports, and like you mentioned there will need to be an offset on the women's side. That could mean contraction, but don't count out the creative bookkeeping of America's top colleges and universities. There is value in an academic scholarship, and with the skyrocketing cost of tuition that number is very high. Don't be surprised if that is no longer counted as a benefit, but as a dollar amount, a payment made to an employee.
In-kind donations like clothing and other benefits like a training table, physical therapy, weight room, tutors and other items will all be listed as a cost to the athlete. When tallying up that variety of services many scholarships are well in excess of $50,000 per year, an amount sure to satisfy the requirement of pay-to-play.
For the outsiders, the big-time players of NCAA football and basketball, other considerations will need to be made, but those can also be offset by donations and individual sponsorship. Imagine if Johnny Manziel could sign autographs drunk at 4 a.m.? Kid would've been making $80k in cash and kill the argument about proper compensation.
The line from fixed budgets to an open marketplace for the purchase and retention of talent, will not be straight. The process will be slow and complicated, but none of it will be adjusted at the insistence of a few hundred thousand wrestlers.
The wrestling community has a nasty habit of not adapting to change, and should the athletes in basketball and football start cashing checks, it would be to our advantage to not complain. What had complaining ever earned the community. Title IX has been proven a loser cause in 2015, while Division I enrollment-based schools has been proven a winner. Even the Save Olympic Wrestling movement didn't succeed simply because we moaned loudly, but because we made changes.
What might those changes need to be? I think wrestling needs to look at a model outside of the college system. We see in countries around the world that there can be a robust model at the club level. Will that support the 250k youth wrestlers in America? Unclear, but with creative leadership it might.
Wrestling has its own media outlets and speaks to itself. Most wrestling programs are earning as much money from yearly donations as they are taking money from the school's they represent. Maybe not every school, but there are more than a few that can make that claim. Could wrestling convert those fans to adjoining Club programs?
Life outside the NCAA might be more interesting. There would be less red tape and more opportunity to change the rules when necessary, as opposed to when the NCAA deems it appropriate. Maybe wrestling in America could adopt freestyle rules and better help prepare young wrestlers for the Russian and Iranian opponents they face on the international scene?
If we accept that the sporting world is going to change, then we can be more capable of delivering a clear response. We'll need leadership and we'll need to absorb some losses, but wrestling -- the sport, the lifestyle you and I and so many others enjoy -- is not at threat. You can't eliminate something that exists in the blood of every human on the planet. You can erase the sport of curling from memory, because sliding a rock across ice isn't part of human nature, but you can never eliminate the desire to wrestle, or the role it has played in history.
We are better off than 90 percent of the at-risk sports. If wrestling can put aside its indignation at being deemed "at-risk" we could avoid the way of the Dodo and recognize that sure as the world spins the people on it will change their minds. So should we.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Marcelo Garcia is likely the greatest grappler to have ever walked the planet. He also, by chance, is one of the planet's nicest. This month he promoted three brown belts to black, but before he did the ADCC and world champion took time to tell his class that it takes more than brawn and grit to become a black belt. It also takes generosity and kindness. The first ten minutes are the most interesting.
Special congratulations to my best friend and college wrestling teammate Will Durkee who yesterday received his black belt from monster human being and jiu-jitsu royalty Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu. Durkee introduced me to jiu-jitsu and is one the biggest wrestling heads I know. I'm sure he'll be an excellent role model for lower belts and will continue to find success in competition.
Best Move of the Year!
Q: I was wondering what your thoughts are on having dual meets held concurrently with other sporting events. I keep score at the University of Nebraska. For the second year, we held a both a dual meet and a gymnastics meet at the same time, on the same floor. We've come to label it as Tumble N Rumble. I think some other schools have done this too. We've also held high school duals before our duals too to draw in crowds and highlight the sport of wrestling. This year we also held two high school duals before the Rumble N Tumble, featuring some good schools, Grand Island and Omaha Skutt of Nebraska, and Blue Springs and Staley of Missouri. I think this has helped grow interest in both sports. I'm curious what your thoughts are and if you have experienced these types of events.
-- Jared H.
Foley: That's a very interesting idea -- a little bit of creative marketing has never ever hurt wrestling or gymnastics.
I like gymnastics and consider it a cousin sport to wrestling, demanding a power to strength to body awareness combination not seen in basketball, football or ... curling.
Though I haven't heard of this partnership until now, by mentioning this idea I'm sure more schools will look at creating this type of interaction. With what success is unclear, but in finding new fans the sport of wrestling can help grow on its recent success in the media.
Best of luck!
Q: Has anybody ever tried to have a pro wrestling tournament? Make it golf-style results, top X amount of finishers in each weight class get guaranteed money. It seems to me that when companies pick certain wrestlers to wrestle for money or try to create leagues, they come off as too manufactured. Everybody likes a tournament where the underdog can pull upsets and the winner is the actual best of that weight class. If sports like running, sailing, golf, spelling bees, etc. can get air time and sponsors, wrestling should be able to get them easily, in my somewhat unbiased opinion. Start off small and over time increase the money as popularity grows and so will the wrestlers and sponsors. This seems like a more stable platform for pro wrestling than coming up with semi-arbitrary dual meets. Your takedown tournaments would work in this format as well.
-- Tom V.
Foley: I have the solution: The Weight Class Grand Prix System.
You invite the top, most marketable wrestlers in the world for a one-day weight class grand prix. Two groups of five with the top finishers in the group going for a cash prize. Sponsorships, livestreaming and media coverage would be easier than ever to access as the model has already proven effective in other sports, including the Copa Podio in jiu-jitsu.
For example, the USA could host the 74 kilos Grand Prix in New Jersey. Get a well-outfitted 4k seat arena with VIP areas, beer sales and some good in-arena effects. Invite Burroughs, Dake, Howe and Taylor who are all guys from the region, throw in Tsargush (Russian from Brighton Beach) and any Iranian you choose (as we've seen, they travel very well). Now make the prize to win $100k and you will have a media frenzy.
There would need to be 18 Grand Prix event and some of these would need to be doubled up within a country, but by spreading the wealth and making the event about one weight class, it's likely that the talent will concentrate for the experience, attention and cash.
Interesting Comment of the Week!
By Jacob R.
I am not sure if this is something you have ever experienced, but on countless occasions while catching a cab or Uber to the airport, train station, or wherever, I have had the most interesting discussions about international wrestling with my drivers. If the dude is from Iran, it comes as no surprise that he will have great knowledge of who the best wrestlers are from that country as well as who the top guys are from the U.S. This is likewise the case for drivers from Mongolia, Turkey, and Russia. I can't wait to meet someone from Senegal! As a fan of international wrestling it is always a pleasure to talk with folks from other parts of the world and get their take on things.
Follow-Up on Last Week's Big Ten Question:
Paul Diefenbach of Okemos, Michigan:
Of the 14 who won Big 10 titles every year, three were confirmed as unbeaten, five were found to have losses, and six could not be determined.
Here is some info on two of the six:
Jim Heffernan lost to Jude Skove of Ohio State in February 1985.
Ed Banach was probably unbeaten. His sophomore- senior losses in 1981-84 were to Mark Schultz of Oklahoma (2), Mike Mann of Iowa State (3), and Colin Kilrain of Lehigh. His last freshman loss was to Rick Worel of Cal Poly. I can't find the other two losses, but both occurred before Christmas 1980 and therefore were not Big Ten duals.
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