TitleIX is ripe for reform

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you mean by that.

How have the Olympics fallen precipitously since the '70's peak? Viewership-wise? If so then perhaps viewership has simply morphed to online score-checking. By the way, as a kid, the Olympics prospects thrilled me considerably. I subscribed to the self-delusion that I could qualify someday if I trained hard enough while a young teen. It kept me involved with the sport, which I'd not begun to participate in until I was a young teen. The sport's other benefits helped me reach adulthood. By the way, Olympics raised the profile of our sport to the level of acceptable weekend party conversations with non-wrestlers. The Olympics tend to inspire folks to notice other sports that they'd otherwise not see. I'd be sad to see the Olympics no longer sponsor wrestling. I'm glad to see that we're taking the subject reasonably seriously, and hopefully in time.

Your points are all well taken. Thank you for them. Maybe L.A. represents growth potential for our sport, and Hollywood's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (if we can win Hollywood over enough to create more wrestling programs & movies that support our sport). Many residents of L.A. are Hispanic & Asian. Our sport has made considerable progress with such demographic groups over the decades. An NCAA D1 team in Los Angeles could lure in many potential fans from relatively nearby. That could eventually help us win over Latin America for wrestling, in time to get our sport's Olympics bid renewed. We need more countries to advocate keeping our sport in the Olympics. Cuba has shown that Latin Americans can be globally competitive in wrestling. I'm not aware that any other Latin American countries have though, have they? They love their soccer... but also (at least in Mexico) their martial arts. Tae Kwon Do has has various Mexicans win Olympic medals in it, for example. Anyway, public transportation has grown considerably in L.A., but I imagine that there's much space that is not yet covered. Anyhow there's lots of Los Angeles to go around, and therefore plenty of space for hotels to emerge and drive prices down for the rest of us. Or so one would hope, anyway. The danger that you mentioned, and the mental illness etc., are major issues though. It's not fun being stabbed by someone like that. Imagine the unsanitary exposure and the resulting infection. No thanks. But can you imagine how beneficial wrestling could be to parentless youth who live with a grandparent or uncle, out there? I was kinda that kid, decades ago. I was therefore late getting a start in competitive athletics. But I was just in time to become a reasonably worthwhile wrestler in high school. For each such person who doesn't wind up in prison, because wrestling inspired that person to become productive instead, that's a significant victory. By the way, the cost of flying out to L.A. is perhaps more manageable with sufficient advanced planning. I mean various universities compete in Los Vegas during the wintertime, with advance plans made to capitalize on discounts. I don't know if I'm comparing apples to oranges, though. I used to live in L.A. but never in Vegas (although I have an ex-gal friend in Vegas who has repeatedly invited me to visit).

Please feel free to share your candid views & opinions as to why.

In 1994, UNC hosted the NCAA D1 championships, a few years after the U. of Maryland Terps hosted the event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Wrestling_Championships I seem to recall that attendance was GOOD if not relatively VERY GOOD for back then. This was before one could view so much information online, so many eventual fans still didn't have the strong interest that they have now.

Los Angeles has its pricey areas, yes. I wonder if it might sufficiently help one economize now that Los Angeles county has an elaborate light rail (commuter train) system that makes it feasible to access more economical lodging options. Here's a website for L.A.'s metro system: https://www.metro.net It's been years since I've lived & worked in Los Angeles, and I definitely don't have an incentive to get the city chosen as a venue other than my desire for our sport to be able to tap into the media opportunities out there. I'm sensing that 2028 is the final year for wrestling in the Olympics unless we manage to extend that to 2032, etc. Our sport could use the media publicity...

Until when is wrestling guaranteed to remain in the Olympics, 2024? 2028 has Los Angeles hosting the Olympics and it seems that wrestling's part of the program. However, I don't see wrestling mentioned for 2028 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_Summer_Olympics More interfacing with Hollywood could seemingly help wrestling nationally and globally. Perhaps it's time to host the NCAA D1 championships out in L.A.? Cal. Baptist is NCAA D1 now, and could host the NCAA's in or near Los Angeles. So could new Big 10 members UCLA and USC, if they reinstate or otherwise add wrestling. Hollywood's in L.A. County. Wrestling's worthy of more movies and television shows. Such programs promote our sport globally... Hopefully more could emerge in time to help keep wrestling from eventually losing its status as an Olympic sport. Perhaps it's time for a re-make of Vision Quest, but with a female in the star role (i.e. Lowden Swain) and her superior nemesis (i.e. Shute) a female who does well in school, has guys admiringly flocking to her matches, but who hasn't yet landed the college wrestling scholarship that she most wants...

Cal. Baptist is NCAA D1 now, and could host the NCAA's in or near Los Angeles. So could new Big 10 members UCLA and USC, if they reinstate or otherwise add wrestling. Hollywood's in L.A. County. Wrestling's worthy of more movies and television shows. Such programs promote our sport globally... Hopefully more could emerge in time to help keep wrestling from eventually losing its status as an Olympic sport. Until when is wrestling guaranteed to remain in the Olympics, 2024? 2028 has Los Angeles hosting the Olympics and it seems that wrestling's part of the program. However, I don't see wrestling mentioned for 2028 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_Summer_Olympics At any rate, more interfacing with Hollywood could help wrestling nationally and globally. Perhaps it's time to host the NCAA D1 championships out there?

Thanks for sharing that interesting article. The company mentioned in it remains active: https://www.templehillent.com/films/

Once I overcame my initial nausea regarding your idea, I realized that it has some merit. Talk about a competitor's having to overcome major odds in taking on someone like that... Texas had a real-life situation like that a few years ago. I think it's illegal for more such situations to emerge in Texas, though. But part of the charm of Vision Question (the original) was that most of the viewers envied Shute. He was freakishly dedicated but not a freak. It made it all the more understandable why Louden Swain wanted what Shute had... greatness. I don't mean for my response to seem insulting to transgendered folks but rather to help explain pushback on the idea. Our society doesn't rush to admire one's exploiting physiological advantages in violent ways against women. Personally I'd rather that the female Shute be the kind of woman that men swoon over, who does well in school, and is likely to get a scholarship but hasn't won one yet, thereby raising the stakes between both competitors. That would make it easier for spectators to understand why a contender would want to be more like Lady Shute. But thanks for your admittedly very interesting idea.

I meant of our sport, and subsequently as opposed to contemporaneously (that is, if we can inspire them to devote resources to making more programs and movies and songs that are relevant to wrestling)...

There are some good, insightful writers among us, as these forums show.

With the writer's strike underway, perhaps it's time some wrestlers stepped up and invited the movie & music studios to revisit Vision Quest, this time with a female in the lead (wrestling) role? Plenty of wrestlers are capable of creating a quality script. Those will be in comparatively scarce supply for the foreseeable future, right?

With the writer's strike underway, perhaps it's time some wrestlers stepped up and invited the studios to revisit Vision Quest, this time with a female in the lead (wrestling) role?

Might hosting in Los Angeles (which contains Hollywood and significant music studios) achieve that goal even better? Their audience is global.

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.

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

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).

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?

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

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...

I like, I mean love the idea...but it's worth noting that I seem to recall that the SEC only requires a school to have somewhere around 7 male sports, along with the corresponding equivalent for females... That's among the lowest quantity in the entire national D1 circuit, right? Meanwhile it's an equation which can mean the existence of more female programs than what men have if roster counts are low for the women. That said, Florida's got travel expense & logistics issues. Most teams drive most of the time, and they have to go a long way just to get outta Florida. Then it takes a while to reach Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee or North Carolina where most (if not all?) of the nearest D1 competition is. But what if various SEC schools added wrestling simultaneously? Then wrestling would be back in business in the SEC... Here's a discussion of what the SEC used to have going for it on the wrestling front before they dropped the sport: http://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2017/09/solving-mystery-that-was-sec.html That said, here are the decision-makers within the SEC organization itself: https://www.secsports.com/article/11285694 They now have two wrestling programs (Oklahoma's Sooners & Mizzou's Tigers). Any thoughts?

Princeton Review recently ranked Ga. Tech. #1 in the nation in terms of the best value for public universities: https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=top-50-best-value-colleges-public-schools

FYI: https://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2020/08/gone-lost-forgotten-their-best_14.html

What's in Longview, Texas nowadays? LeTorneau U.? Unfortunately they dropped their program back during the 1980s. They'd consider reinstating if there were more teams in their conference or at least their region of Texas with which to compete.