Media is a booming business. While habits are changing, there has never been a time in history where information was being consumed at this rate, or by this many people. What HBO is realizing is that their horizontal business approach to media is no longer solvent. The future is in niche and for HBO that is storytelling, not sports.
HBO's niche will be wider than most. They produce and pay for movies, documentaries and world-class television. But in recent months -- as takeover attempts have been approved, and now denied -- that niche is expanding so that the channel can carpet as much creative content as possible. Live sports, however, is outside that reach.
The future will continue to be shaped by niche providers. Boxing is now being shown on DAZN (Da Zone), where a subscription costs $9.99/month -- pennies to those who enjoy the sport.
Wrestling is familiar with the subscription model for streaming. FloSports and SportsEngine/Trackwrestling are providing streams to every match in the United States and the world. We see it all, but we also must pay for it all, putting us all into a decision about how we spend our entertainment money.
But for now, you can watch the UFC on FightPass, boxing on DAZN, jiu-jitsu on FloGrappling, and wrestling on Flo and Track. You just might not be able to also afford Hulu, Showtime, basic cable, and of course, HBO.
To your questions …
Q: Which freshman in Division I will make the most impact on the mat this season? Can any make a run at four NCAA titles?
-- Gregg Y.
Foley: If we are including the redshirt freshmen, then Daton Fix is my No. 1 in terms of impact on the mat this season. Wrestling at 125 pounds or 133 pounds he is almost assured an All-American plaque and should be in the conversation for a national championship. Winning four championships is never a guarantee, especially given the talent level of freshmen each year, but if he's able to compete at 125 pounds each year I think has a decent chance to put himself into four finals.
Gable Steveson is another top freshman, but I'm concerned he will run into some early hiccups against larger competition. His performance at Junior Worlds exposed some vulnerabilities, but there are always a number of factors for these types of performances. Is it indicative of his upcoming NCAA season? Unlikely. I think that he has a style that works well in a seven-minute grind and has proven himself apt from bottom during his collegiate wins in his high school career.
Overall, I think that the next four-time champions will come at the edges of the weight classes because there is a lot more new blood (freshmen) at heavyweight and 125 than you would see at 174 pounds. The 125-pound guys typically can't hold their weight for four years, while the upper weights get injured and younger talent always seem to be supplanting established guys at programs.
Ethan Lizak rides Nathan Tomasello at the NCAAs (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Q: I love watching Ethan Lizak of Minnesota compete because he's so damn good on top. Nobody wants to go underneath him. He's moving up a weight to 133 pounds. Do you expect him to find the same/similar success at 133 pounds that he had at 125 pounds? Or will he lose some of the length/leverage advantage?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Case in point on vacating 125 pounds, which makes it an easier climb to established four-year guys to win four-in-a-row.
I think that at Lizak's height and wrestling in the lighter weights his leverage will always be a factor, but I do think that he will have a difficult time managing the strength of those slightly bigger opponents who will have an increased chance of fighting out of Lizak's more dominant positions.
Q: What can you tell me about the ability for RTC-level wrestlers to compete for nations other than the United States?
-- Jason W.
Foley: I recently helped another coach out with this process. Overall, it's straightforward, but it will require the buy-in of several stakeholders.
First, if the athlete is a dual passport holder he/she is eligible to compete for the other nation. However, if that athlete has already competed for the United States at an international competition they will need to seek guidance from USA Wrestling on transfer (in most cases it is free and painless).
As this is being determined, the wrestler needs to also contact the national federation they are interested in representing. While more of the smaller nations may be grateful for some USA talent on their roster, there is often times a process that must be followed. To be eligible for most national teams the athlete will need to compete at the national championships and be registered with a club recognized by the national federation.
The national federation itself must also be recognized by United World Wrestling and be in good standing. For example, Trinidad and Tobago doesn't have a national federation infrastructure so anyone looking to compete for them would need that in place first, and for that to be recognized by the Pan Am Council and then United World Wrestling.
Assuming that the national federation is eligible, the athlete is eligible, and the athlete wins his or her spot they will then need to register with United World Wrestling and receive their license. Once that is complete they can go to any tournament they want. However, they are limited in Olympic qualification. A nation can only bring to the Olympic Games qualification tournaments as many athletes as appeared at the continental-level event.
Good luck to any athletes out there with world and Olympic dreams, and please let me know how I can help get you in touch with the right people.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Hakuho might be the greatest wrestler to ever live. Here he is winning his 41st basho. The previous record was 34. The size, strength, and stamina to be a successful sumo is almost unmatched. Competitions every day for 16 days four times a year. Also, he has won a total of more than 1,000 matches. Unreal achievement.
And just like that Hakuho clinches his 41st yusho and 1000th win in the top division. Sets another record, this time for most consecutive years with at least one championship (13) pic.twitter.com/PvHlFnsO7m
�" MEGATON (@BasedDongeezus) September 23, 2018
Q: I know some Americans like Carson Manville and Emily Shilson are competing at the Youth Olympic Games. What's that event all about? What's the competition like?
-- Mike C.
Foley: The Youth Olympic Games were established in 2010 as a way for a world of Cadet-level athletes to access the Olympic experience through their competition. The main aim of the IOC was to spread positive message through sport to more regions, and to entrench their Olympic Values in the next generation of athletes. The Olympic values being good sportsmanship, fair play and the rest.
Overall, I think the experiment has worked. The 2014 Games in Nanjing were top-of-the-line and while the wins and losses mattered to the athletes a lot of time and energy was spent on creating positive dialogue with the athletes about doping, role models and sport-to-life balance.
The Youth Olympic Games also allow for pre-professional Olympic inspiration to take hold in a number of nations and corners of the world where that dream felt too distant. The Youth Olympic Games do this by allocating qualification spots based on region, rather than just performance. In this way the Olympic brand is spread to more nations which generates buy-in and allows the number of invested national federations to grow. One of the keys to the growth of individual sports is financial support from the government, and that happens when there are positive, media-ready moments like those presented at the Youth Olympic Games.
Overall the competition is pretty good! There are some mismatches here and there and the brackets are a little smaller than we are used to seeing in wrestling, but the finals usually feature top-level competitors. In fact, Yuki Takahashi was the 2010 champion in freestyle and just won his first world championship in Paris. So, there is a lot of top talent in action, just not end-to-end like you will see at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Q: Northern Colorado coach Troy Nickerson has landed two of the nation's top 25 recruits in the Class of 2019. Can Northern Colorado eventually become a top-10 program? Or are there too many challenges? What kind of impact would that have on college wrestling?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I've gone over the most pressing challenges facing new and small programs: institutional funding, exposure to recruits, and alumni support. While I can't speak to the number of scholarships Coach Nickerson is able to utilize or how much he's raising from alumni or friends of the program, the fact he's landing top 25 recruits shows that he has the exposure to make strides.
I've never visited the campus, but the idea of going to Northern Colorado sounds incredible. All about that clean mountain air!
Q: Who were the biggest draws at the 2017 World Championships?
-- @zachjanderson
Vinesh Phogat
Bajrang
Snyder/Sadulaev
Burroughs
Sakshi Malik
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