Back on the topic...this is bad for the growth of our sport IMO.
The leaders of this sport need to make cognizant decisions based on growing and exposure...followed by highlighting tradition.
The sites for our Mecca event should be placed in areas with low exposure and good to great amenities. Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Baton Rouge, Vegas, maybe even Seattle? Move the tourney away from March madness and closer to the doldrums of summer.
Change scoring!
If something doesn't happen, bad things will continue to fall on this sport.
I respectfully disagree. While putting the tournament in cities with little wrestling may give exposure of an event to the community, I don't believe this will generate more interest in the sport. Having the NCAA tournament in Phoenix, or any of these cities, is not going to make people there suddenly start following college wrestling. I think they should, make the tournament accessible to as many interested fans as possible and the selected cities will help do that as there are in areas where there is interest in wrestling. If NCAA Rifle championships were in my area, I would be happy for the benefit to the economy, but can't see myself following the sport.
Weather may not always be great, but it is an indoor event and yes, it is more convenient to not have to wear a jacket to the arena, but I can't see that keeping many people from attending.
Cost should be a consideration and while OKC and Tulsa are convenient for OSU fans, these cities are not easy to get to and can be expensive. I typically pay $800 for an airline ticket when I return to OKC and my couple tickets to Tulsa have ben similar prices. While this is not the superbowl, I can only seeing airlines raising prices when there is an event. Detroit and Minnesota are hubs for Delta, so most people can get there with a direct flight if you will fly delta. Pittsburgh is not as easy to fly to, but drivable for most in PA, Ohio, western/ upstate NY, WV and VA.
I will go regardless of where they put it and like St. Louis as a location, but think it is good to have it it different cities. I wold like to see the sport grow and am not opposed to rule changes to promote scoring,... or moving to a later time point making it a second semester sport. I don't think this will make a huge difference, but to this point, the powers that control NCAA wrestling don't
