Support for the dual tournament!?!?

[Alces Alces Gigas]

Great event but where was the support for national duals back in the early 2000s?  I have been reading plenty on social media  on how the NDI is what wrestling needs and how awesome it was. What makes this event any different (for the fans) than what the NWCA had 20 years ago?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

2 minutes ago, Alces Alces Gigas said:

Great event but where was the support for national duals back in the early 2000s?  I have been reading plenty on social media  on how the NDI is what wrestling needs and how awesome it was. What makes this event any different (for the fans) than what the NWCA had 20 years ago?

Timing and money.

[Alces Alces Gigas]

18 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Timing and money.

What does money have to do with the fans?    Timing is a good thought but I don't buy it.  

[Gene Mills Fan]

the fans did not kill it.   if you build it,   they will come.  but the real quote and in this case was "If you build it, he will come"   and he said I'm not coming.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

11 minutes ago, Alces Alces Gigas said:

What does money have to do with the fans?    Timing is a good thought but I don't buy it.  

What do fans have to with your initial question?  They were never mentioned.

The old event, which I am very familiar with it, fell apart because coaches didn't want to do it.  It is actually still held btw, at least it was last year. Fans had ZERO to do with it.

You asked why the support.  I think coaches, and wrestlers, liked the monetary aspect.

 

[Alces Alces Gigas]

3 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

What do fans have to with your initial question?  They were never mentioned.

The old event, which I am very familiar with it, fell apart because coaches didn't want to do it.  It is actually still held btw, at least it was last year. Fans had ZERO to do with it.

You asked why the support.  I think coaches, and wrestlers, liked the monetary aspect.

 

Read it again.   

[Dark Energy]

A few additional reasons

1) absence makes the heart grow fonder.  

2) the lack of other awesome early-season events - Once amazing tourneys have been diluted.

3) a lot of discussion over last few years on how duals really are more fan friendly

Combined, the above have created a hunger.

This was awesome.  Created a ton of story lines.  The quad broadcast was very cool by Flo.  

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 minutes ago, Alces Alces Gigas said:

Read it again.   

Fans liked it before, revisionist to think otherwise.  You had to change things for the coaches, not the fans.

Edited November 17, 2025 by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[Pinnacle]

Listening to the coach hype, this was all about the Benjamins. 

If there was a real hunger it did not manifest in attendance. How many were actually there watching the placement matches? Don't know, but there were over 18,000 for Saturday morning at the NCAA Tournament. 

[Alces Alces Gigas]

Ok then, several high profile coaches are saying that wrestling needs this and that duals are where its at, etc.    Is that really the case or is the hype from the coaches all.about the cash?

 

I know when I was involved in the NWCA duals, schools had to pay for travel and lodging.   Was it the same over the weekend?  

[Pinnacle]

9 minutes ago, Alces Alces Gigas said:

Ok then, several high profile coaches are saying that wrestling needs this and that duals are where its at, etc.    Is that really the case or is the hype from the coaches all.about the cash?

 

Every time I heard any of the coaches speak towards "needing this kind of event", they mentioned money. That makes it about about the Benjamins. 

I think they know with Penn State there the audience gets larger and that makes it likely more checks come in the future. This ensures more paydays for them.

[alex1fly]

It was different than the event 20 years ago in a lot of ways. Multi mat streaming for one, so it had massive fan accessibility. Discussion forums and social media so people can talk about it. Excitement because of those two things. Pushback against the latest approach of "only NCAA tournament matters", duals are indeed more fun and more consumable than tourneys. $ of course. A sign of solidarity from a big backer for the entire sport, not just its darling team.

[2001Hokie]

2 hours ago, Pinnacle said:

 

Every time I heard any of the coaches speak towards "needing this kind of event", they mentioned money. That makes it about about the Benjamins. 

I think they know with Penn State there the audience gets larger and that makes it likely more checks come in the future. This ensures more paydays for them.

Given that sports exist as we know it because of money, why is that a bad thing?  If a sport were to move from non-revenue to revenue generating, that's a massive move.  Every dollar pushed into Wrestling can help grow the sport overall.  If consumers are willing to pay into (directly through ticket sales or indirectly through subscriptions), we should be happy about that.  

Either way, it was a fun event and one that drove a boatload of killer matchups that we normally don't get to see this early.  

[Pinnacle]

9 minutes ago, 2001Hokie said:

Given that sports exist as we know it because of money, why is that a bad thing?  If a sport were to move from non-revenue to revenue generating, that's a massive move.  Every dollar pushed into Wrestling can help grow the sport overall.  If consumers are willing to pay into (directly through ticket sales or indirectly through subscriptions), we should be happy about that.  

Either way, it was a fun event and one that drove a boatload of killer matchups that we normally don't get to see this early.  

 

Never said it was bad, just that they spoke about money being the key ingredient. 

[2001Hokie]

4 minutes ago, Pinnacle said:

 

Never said it was bad, just that they spoke about money being the key ingredient. 

Understood...for better or worse, money is definitely the key ingredient to growing the sport!  More money also may keep high level athletes in the sport vs a revenue generating sport.  That one of the reasons why I pay into our RTC instead of earmarking money to the school.  I like to know it's going to impact this sport specifically.

[Scouts Honor]

how many of our posters were there

I was there for all but the finals.

nice event. sparse attendance.

I thought it would be empty for the finals... did they just move everyone into the middle sections? to make it look crowded?

[ionel]

1 hour ago, Scouts Honor said:

I was there for all but the finals.

same