St. Louis, Minneapolis awarded D1 Championships in '27 & '28

[Jason Bryant]

Sites released today: 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2024-10-02/ncaa-announces-more-240-host-site-selections?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=VB_20240918_Future Site&et_rid=1331960451

[Camel Wrestling Fan]

St Louis! My favorite host site. Great access, great places to eat closeby, reasonably priced.

[Winners Circle]

51 minutes ago, Camel Wrestling Fan said:

St Louis! My favorite host site. Great access, great places to eat closeby, reasonably priced.

Did you go to KC? Blew STL out of the water. As a STL native, the city has gone downhill significantly.

[Fletcher]

KC was great. St. Louis is always great. Just wish they'd branch out to grow the sport.

AZ, GA, NC, TX. They'd still sell out the venue, expose the sport to new people, and give the rest of us somewhere warm to go.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Could the Gophers get back on the podium in 2028?

[Jason Bryant]

38 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

KC was great. St. Louis is always great. Just wish they'd branch out to grow the sport.

AZ, GA, NC, TX. They'd still sell out the venue, expose the sport to new people, and give the rest of us somewhere warm to go.

Once again, those places have to put in bids - and they have to make sense. I believe AZ and TX put in bids that involved baseball stadiums. I think before they get into the fray, the MPLS experiment should be given a fair shot to grow the sport by giving 3x the amount of people the opportunity to attend. ATL hasn't bid in a number of years. 

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, Jason Bryant said:

Once again, those places have to put in bids - and they have to make sense. I believe AZ and TX put in bids that involved baseball stadiums. I think before they get into the fray, the MPLS experiment should be given a fair shot to grow the sport by giving 3x the amount of people the opportunity to attend. ATL hasn't bid in a number of years. 

If you just sit back and wait for bids to roll in, you get the same cities every year. The NCAA could take a more active role, engage in outreach, and encourage/solicit new cities to throw their hat in the ring.

[Jason Bryant]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

If you just sit back and wait for bids to roll in, you get the same cities every year. The NCAA could take a more active role, engage in outreach, and encourage/solicit new cities to throw their hat in the ring.

You're assuming they aren't.

I don't have any reason to believe they're just sitting back and waiting for bids to come in. Based on how I've seen Anthony Holman bust his ass to make the D1 wrestling championships awesome, I don't doubt for a second he (and his staff) is putting in the time to encourage new places to bid. Lots of moving parts and the venues we typically get are dealing with NBA and NHL tenants, college hoops postseason tournaments AND the general other stuff these venues book. 

[killdozer]

NCAA wrestling in Minneapolis again during an Olympic/election year... What could go wrong.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

[billyhoyle]

The hottest tickets recently have been Philadelphia, Cleveland, and NYC. I get that a return to The Garden might not be feasible, but it would be great if they were to have another NYC or even NJ event. Cincy could be a great location as well. I think because of the dominance of PSU, the fanbase has become more based in the Ohio/PA/NY area than Missouri/Iowa/Minnesota. 

To channel Kinison and The Little Mermaid-GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.

Edited October 3 by billyhoyle

[Fletcher]

7 hours ago, billyhoyle said:

The hottest tickets recently have been Philadelphia, Cleveland, and NYC. I get that a return to The Garden might not be feasible, but it would be great if they were to have another NYC or even NJ event. Cincy could be a great location as well. I think because of the dominance of PSU, the fanbase has become more based in the Ohio/PA/NY area than Missouri/Iowa/Minnesota. 

To channel Kinison and The Little Mermaid-GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.

Given that it sells out and tix go for 2-4 times face value on stubhub every year, I think you could put it pretty much anywhere and it'd still sell out. May not get the high scalping ticket prices, but the NCAA doesn't get that money anyway.

[Dogbone]

Minneapolis was a no brainer.  I am nervous on how it will go in a football stadium but open minded enough to give it a shot.  

StL over KC is too bad. I think I am in the minority but I don't get the appeal of StL.  It seems more nostalgic since they hosted so many times previously and people are familiar with it but if you stray from the area between the arena and Ballpark Village, there isn't much going on.   

[Dark Energy]

KC > St Louis.  That said, we all need to read and appreciate Jason’s posts.

(holy crap it is getting hard to post in this forum with all the ads covering what I’m typing.  Must must use precision skills to x them out.)

[CHROMEBIRD]

3 hours ago, Dogbone said:

Minneapolis was a no brainer.  I am nervous on how it will go in a football stadium but open minded enough to give it a shot.  

StL over KC is too bad. I think I am in the minority but I don't get the appeal of StL.  It seems more nostalgic since they hosted so many times previously and people are familiar with it but if you stray from the area between the arena and Ballpark Village, there isn't much going on.   

Yeah, I think StL is almost a tradition by now. There are many on this board who could probably book travel to Nationals and get around to their go-to spots in their sleep. 

[Warm Up Champ]

3 hours ago, Dogbone said:

Minneapolis was a no brainer.  I am nervous on how it will go in a football stadium but open minded enough to give it a shot.  

StL over KC is too bad. I think I am in the minority but I don't get the appeal of StL.  It seems more nostalgic since they hosted so many times previously and people are familiar with it but if you stray from the area between the arena and Ballpark Village, there isn't much going on.   

I am also glad they are giving Minneapolis another shot.  However, I am really undecided at this point on what I think about the set-up/stadium.  My gut tells me it will be a sub par experience for the fans.  Anyone out there have any details to help me get optimistic about the venue?

[killdozer]

Dogbone, I am from St. Louis and I loved Kansas City. But I will say that yes Ballpark Village is close by. But there have been a few more restaurants/bars that have opened up near to Enterprise since 2021 cause they finished the Soccer Stadium that is essentially across the street from the Enterprise Center.

Will it be as convenient as KC...NO way. Lots of places you could go with a cheap Uber and 10 to 15 minutes ride. The Hill (best food, The last Italian Neighborhood around. Families have been living in the same houses for over 100 years), South Grand (lots of ethnic food), Dogtown/Maplewood (bars/restaurants), Central West End (You can take the metrolink train to this), Cherokee District. Washington Ave (Which is only like 4 blocks over). 

Edited October 3 by killdozer

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

in regards to the stadium - The mats will actually fit the field fairly well, it should be a crazy fun experience!!
 

 

[Warm Up Champ]

35 minutes ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

in regards to the stadium - The mats will actually fit the field fairly well, it should be a crazy fun experience!!
 

 

Looks like a TON of dead space.  Going to difficult to really see or follow the action on mats that aren't in close proximity to your seats.  Maybe they will include a pair of binoculars with each ticket?

Edited October 3 by Warm Up Champ

[skandar]

13 hours ago, billyhoyle said:

The hottest tickets recently have been Philadelphia, Cleveland, and NYC. I get that a return to The Garden might not be feasible, but it would be great if they were to have another NYC or even NJ event. Cincy could be a great location as well. I think because of the dominance of PSU, the fanbase has become more based in the Ohio/PA/NY area than Missouri/Iowa/Minnesota. 

To channel Kinison and The Little Mermaid-GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.

Cincy?!? A city that isn’t central, has an even smaller airport than KC, and isn’t a great tourist destination…lol what a terrible suggestion. What venue would you suggest in Cincinnati? Indianapolis is in the same area and a much better host. Your ideas are all great if your goal is to kill the sport.

The event sells out no matter what. Why would the cities mentioned having the “hottest”(highest resale prices) tickets be good for anyone other than resellers?

If we want the sport to stick around long term, we need exposure in new places. Holding it in the NE every year would make it even more niche and shorten its lifespan.

[MNRodent]

1 hour ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

in regards to the stadium - The mats will actually fit the field fairly well, it should be a crazy fun experience!!
 

 

On the right side of your picture, I think they should slide the first row to the back of the endzone and do a row of 3 mats, then a row of two, finally a row of 3 at about midfield.  Then put in some more lower level seating around the 40 yard line on the left, and hang a curtain behind that at around the 30-35 yard line.  Use the space behind the curtain for warm-up space and/or a fan congregating area.  You could still have 40,000+ ticketed seats and a lot closer viewing.

 

[billyhoyle]

6 hours ago, skandar said:

Cincy?!? A city that isn’t central, has an even smaller airport than KC, and isn’t a great tourist destination…lol what a terrible suggestion. What venue would you suggest in Cincinnati? Indianapolis is in the same area and a much better host. Your ideas are all great if your goal is to kill the sport.

The event sells out no matter what. Why would the cities mentioned having the “hottest”(highest resale prices) tickets be good for anyone other than resellers?

If we want the sport to stick around long term, we need exposure in new places. Holding it in the NE every year would make it even more niche and shorten its lifespan.

You're right about Cincy not having an indoor arena suitable for NCAAs. I overlooked that, so it wouldn't be an option. Great city though if you've never been.

But I don't follow the logic of purposefully having the event in places where fewer people want to attend. The tickets being difficult to get isn't just good for resellers-it shows that the sport itself is popular and it allows the NCAA to get more revenue for the event by charging more for the tickets. I'm not saying hold it in the northeast every year (I like cleveland, and it should still be in the midwest sometimes), but I do think it is currently in Missouri way too often. Minnesota isn't a great location, but I understand the idea of using it as a testbed to have it in a football stadium like NCAA basketball does. 

The highest density of NCAA wrestling fans is now located on the east coast, so I think the event should be on the east coast more than it currently is (although not every year).  NJ would be great, so would having it in NY again.  There are many options for both.  Boston or Washington could be good as well to try and see the interest. The single best location is probably Philadelphia though. Hopefully it's back there in 2029 and remains a mainstay. If this year is anything close to last time in terms of popularity, it should probably be there more than every 4 years. With all that said, it's possible the east coast stadiums are too expensive to rent and Missouri just offers a great price so the event is more profitable even with the decreased attendance and lower prices. 

 

I think something like this would be great assuming they don't want to repeat in the four year cycle:  Rotate between  1. Philadelphia, 2. Cleveland, 3. New York/NJ, 4. St. Louis or test out new locations like the Minnesota football stadium or maybe a west coast/south option.

 

 

Edited October 4 by billyhoyle

[nickp91]

  us bank stadium really cool design and a great place to hold super big events

[Hank]

football stadium still feels like a bad idea.  feels like the people with farther seats won't be able to see anything

[Floggingsully]

On 10/2/2024 at 1:45 PM, Jason Bryant said:

Sites released today: 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2024-10-02/ncaa-announces-more-240-host-site-selections?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=VB_20240918_Future Site&et_rid=1331960451

Any idea what's up with the 2027 DIIIs not be awarded yet?

[Fletcher]

17 minutes ago, Hank said:

football stadium still feels like a bad idea.  feels like the people with farther seats won't be able to see anything

I'll still go because I love the atmosphere, but I'll have to re-watch all the matches when I get home (like I don't do that anyways).