Legit Venue for NCAA's in Vegas: Two questions...

[ThreePointTakedown]

What are the odds the NCAA will put wrestling in the Sphere vs basketball?

Is it a good idea to have a week's long wrestling event in Vegas? 

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, ThreePointTakedown said:

What are the odds the NCAA will put wrestling in the Sphere vs basketball?

Is it a good idea to have a week's long wrestling event in Vegas? 

odds on Vegas 

[ThreePointTakedown]

I missed that one. Good catch.

[lu_alum]

You won't see either in the Sphere.  It's more likely that NCAA sports would take place in T-Mobile or Allegiant.  There's also the privately funded NBA-ready arena that's coming just south of the resort corridor.  

[CHROMEBIRD]

The Pac-12 has its mens basketball tournament at the T-Mobile arena every year, around the time of Nationals. While I would love to see NCAAs in (or on) the sphere, I'm not holding my breath.

[DJT]

11 hours ago, ThreePointTakedown said:

Is it a good idea to have a week's long wrestling event in Vegas? 

Depends on your definition of good is… and if everyone would agree to honor the “whatever happens in Vegas” clause.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

It seems like a good idea to host NCAA championships in cities that have at least an NCAA D1, 2 or 3, or NAIA wrestling team, ideally for both genders. 

That way, Atlanta and Dallas can still host NCAA championship events, whereas cities that don't back our sport enough won't get rewarded at those other cities' expense.   

Vegas hosts a major event during late autumn or early winter.   Is there reason to think UNLV would add wrestling if we host the NCAA's out there too?

Or perhaps the main thrust behind choosing Vegas is making the sport available to more voters and potential consumers of wrestling-friendly brands, as well as high school wrestlers and such.   I think Los Angeles is also worth considering and they've got Cal. Baptist nearby.  They used to have Cal. St. Fullerton nearby, as well.  It's sad that that changed about a decade ago despite their respectable clinic and fundraiser attendance numbers, etc.   

That said, I'm not trying to get the idea of Vegas as a host discarded.   I maintain an open mind.  But why not Phoenix, AZ?   Talk about a community that deserves a reward for supporting our sport... 

What other "off the beaten wrestling path" cities deserve consideration if Vegas is getting considered?     How about Little Rock, AR?   They even have D1 wrestling now, impressively enough.   Arkansas has major major leaps and bounds at all levels during the past two decades...   Impressive...   

 
  

[ThreePointTakedown]

The B1G just added UCLA and USC so LA wouldn't be a bad place to start the influence campaign to nudge schools into (re)starting a wrestling program. 

[MadMardigain]

If The Sphere did host wrestling it would be a unique setup considering the arena seating was designed more as a concert venue with the 17,000+ seats in a fan type shape facing a stage that’s on the other end.  

 

They do have plans for pro-wrestling, boxing and MMA events there, so I guess it’s plausible, but it’s wasn’t really planned as a major sports complex. 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Utah Valley University (Orem, Utah: population nearly 100,000) and Northern Colorado U. (Greeley, Colorado: about an hour's drive from Denver and also Boulder) also come to mind.   They're on the frontier.   U.V.U.'s president is notorious for inspiring fan turnout at home duals...  Her Wikipedia page says she's a "super fan" of their wrestling team:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_S._Tuminez

[fishbane]

Las Vegas has many arenas that could be suitable.  T-Mobile Arena, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Thomas and Mack Center are the typical size used for NCAAs.  Allegiant could be used if they wanted to try the football arena again.  The Sphere is cool, but would be an unusual setup. 

Locations are set through 2026.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

I recall one year when use of the football arena was contemplated.   Didn't Covid wreck those plans somehow, though?   If such plans were actually implemented at some point, though, did attendance increase significantly?   Or was it an icy flop?

Edited July 19, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform
I wanted to keep the post from seeming like a mere recycled reply.

[DJT]

14 hours ago, ThreePointTakedown said:

The B1G just added UCLA and USC so LA wouldn't be a bad place to start the influence campaign to nudge schools into (re)starting a wrestling program. 

Burroughs did say before the B1G transition was a thing, he’d want to be the head coach at USC (or was it UCLA… either way). That would be huge if it were to happen, and it seems like it’s the right time for him to make that leap.

As far as NCAAs in LA…. Meh… but I might change my tune if UCLA and/or USC started a program. 

[juniorvarsity]

On 7/18/2023 at 2:13 AM, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

It seems like a good idea to host NCAA championships in cities that have at least an NCAA D1, 2 or 3, or NAIA wrestling team, ideally for both genders. 

That way, Atlanta and Dallas can still host NCAA championship events, whereas cities that don't back our sport enough won't get rewarded at those other cities' expense.   
 

I looked up the future venues for NCAA Championships and noticed that each City/Venue has a Host. Who could be the host out in Vegas? There are no Big12 or PAC 12 schools in Nevada.

These locations for NCAAs do need support semi-locally. I will go out on a limb and say it will never happen in Las Vegas because it does not align with any possible Hosts in wrestling.

RESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP DATES AND SITES
Year	City	Venue	Dates	Host
2024	Kansas City, Mo.	T-Mobile Center	March 21 - 23	University of Missouri, Columbia and Kansas City Sports Commission
2025	Philadelphia	Wells Fargo Center	March 20 - 22	Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and PHL Sports
2026	Cleveland	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse	March 19 - 21	Mid-American Conference and Greater Cleveland Sports Commission

 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Not to say I'm recommending either as a host team for an event in Las Vegas, NV but Bakersfield, CA and Phoenix, AZ (which both have NCAA D1 wrestling teams, as you know) are both around 300 miles from Vegas.    Some could suggest that they be co-hosts for a Vegas-hosted event.  I think I'd prefer Phoenix as a host over Vegas, but I am not trying to cast aside the rationale behind choosing Vegas (whatever that rationale is).   

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

For that matter, Orem, Utah's under 400 miles from Vegas. 

  

[juniorvarsity]

5 hours ago, juniorvarsity said:

I will go out on a limb and say it will never happen in Las Vegas because it does not align with any possible Hosts in wrestling.

 

I take this back. The PAC12 has their basketball conference tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Maybe the PAC12 could host and NCAAs in Las Vegas is possible. 

[fishbane]

Host selection is a bid process and an NCAA school or conference must be affiliated the with bid.  It doesn’t have to be a school that sponsors wrestling or school near the host city or in the same state, but usually those kinds of schools are the ones interested in bidding.  The closest school with wrestling to Las Vegas is Cal Baptist in Riverside, CA followed by Bakersfield, ASU, Cal Poly, and Utah Valley.  Hard to imagine any of them would be really Motivsted to bring NCAAs to Vegas, but perhaps if some person/entity in Vegas really wanted to get the tournament one could be recruited to join the bid.  Cal Baptist and Utah Valley are in the Big12 but it is unlikely the Big 12 would be motivated to bring NCAAs to Vegas.  The PAC-12 is the only school or conference I could see that would want Vegas to host and try and put together a bid.  It could be seen as a somewhat central location for all the schools.

“A member institution or member conference of the NCAA must be designated as the host institution/conference for the Division I Wrestling Championships.”

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaaorg/championships/marketing/2019_bids/wrs-d1.pdf

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

6 minutes ago, fishbane said:

 

 

Did the NCAA accelerate Cal Baptist's entry into the NCAA for wrestling, or has time simply flown by quickly?  I had thought they'd have at least another year or more to wait to get to compete in the NCAA but my independent search just now suggests that they're ready to rock & roll in the NCAA.   Thank you for pointing this out, Fishbane.   For those who don't know, Riverside is not far from Hollywood... If we can grow the sport there, it could reverberate in movies and t.v. programs that get circulated globally... 

It would seem that Cal. Baptist would prefer to host the NCAAs in their own backyard than in Vegas, though.   Folks could nevertheless invite UNLV officials to the tournament in southern California, hoping that they'll someday see fit to (I seem to recall) reinstate wrestling.     

[fishbane]

4 hours ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

 

Did the NCAA accelerate Cal Baptist's entry into the NCAA for wrestling, or has time simply flown by quickly?  I had thought they'd have at least another year or more to wait to get to compete in the NCAA but my independent search just now suggests that they're ready to rock & roll in the NCAA.   Thank you for pointing this out, Fishbane.   For those who don't know, Riverside is not far from Hollywood... If we can grow the sport there, it could reverberate in movies and t.v. programs that get circulated globally... 

It would seem that Cal. Baptist would prefer to host the NCAAs in their own backyard than in Vegas, though.   Folks could nevertheless invite UNLV officials to the tournament in southern California, hoping that they'll someday see fit to (I seem to recall) reinstate wrestling.     

This was their first year competing in the postseason at the D1 level.  They scored a single team point at the Big 12 championships.  They had last competed in the D2 championships back in 2018.  I don't know what the timeline usually is for moving up a division, but this seems slower than I'd expect.  This was their 5th year in D1 and they participated in the postseason for the first time.  Being post season eligible in the third season would be closer to my expectation, but maybe COVID slowed things down, they had trouble finding a conference, or I am just wrong.  

Mesenbrink transferred from Cal Baptist to PSU.  I wouldn't expect a recruit of his stature to commit to a program that wouldn't be eligible for D1 postseason competition by his second year in college, so if they moved up the timeline it was at most 1 year.

[MPhillips]

2 hours ago, fishbane said:

I wouldn't expect a recruit of his stature

His "stature" came after the commitment. He wasn't highly recruited.

[Tripnsweep]

If they held it in Phoenix, Chase Field would be a great place to hold it. They could really make that setup very fan friendly. 

[Fudge Tunnel]

On 7/18/2023 at 10:03 AM, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

Utah Valley University (Orem, Utah: population nearly 100,000) and Northern Colorado U. (Greeley, Colorado: about an hour's drive from Denver and also Boulder) also come to mind.   They're on the frontier.   U.V.U.'s president is notorious for inspiring fan turnout at home duals...  Her Wikipedia page says she's a "super fan" of their wrestling team:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_S._Tuminez

As a Denver-area resident, I would love to have the NCAA's here.  Unfortunately, the Ball Arena cannot host the tournament - the floor space is too small.  There are no other venues in CO that could host.  

[Jason Bryant]

39 minutes ago, Fudge Tunnel said:

As a Denver-area resident, I would love to have the NCAA's here.  Unfortunately, the Ball Arena cannot host the tournament - the floor space is too small.  There are no other venues in CO that could host.  

All you need to do is go to the Colorado HS state tournament to understand why. Sure, they can get 10 mats on the floor, but the mats are right up against the dasher boards and the scoring tables are in corners or in penalty boxes. The 200x85 NHL-sized ice sheet makes the new arenas pretty tough too. St. Louis had the Olympic ice (200x100) for a short time, so their floor space is wider, which is why head tables and scoring tables at the Enterprise Center were optimal. New arenas that have hockey aren't going wider than NHL boards with their floors as much as they used to. 

[insidecradle]

Vegas every Year baby! No need to ever worry about restaurants, flights, hotels or things to do. Ton of cabs and ride shares.