NCAA considering "non-traditional" cities/venues for NCAA Wrestling Tourney

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NCAA Eyeing 'Non-Traditional' Cities, Venues For Next Bid Cycle - FloWrestling

There’s a possibility the NCAA Championships could be headed to new territories after the next round of bidding for college wrestling's crown jewel.

www.flowrestling.org

NCAA managing director of championships and alliances Anthony Holman said he’s “inviting non-traditional sites” to enter the mix to stage the championships in 2027 through 2030 and he also expects the tournament will be held in a stadium sometime in the next decade.

This is a a few years off -- sites for the next three NCAA Wrestling Tourneys are set already.

2024: T-Mobile Center (Kansas City, MO)
2025: Wells Fargo Arena (Philadelphia, PA)
2026: Rocket Mortgage Field House (Cleveland, OH)

Minneapolis was on track to smash tournament attendance records with more than 42,000 tickets sold prior to the tournament’s cancellation at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We feel like we have unfinished business with what didn’t come to fruition in 2020 when the championship was canceled at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis,” Holman said. “I think there’s still interest in going to a venue like that to really demonstrate the power of the collegiate championship.”

One idea that surfaced at the NWCA Convention: LoanDepot Park, the 37,000-seat home of the Miami Marlins.

The 2020 tourney at US Bank Stadium was set to be quite a showcase for wrestling before it was canceled due to COVID. Would definitely be fun to see them try to do a tournament there in the future.

Miami would be a pretty left-field choice as host, but maybe wrestling fans up north would be excited to head south in mid-March for some fun and sun.

 

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