Best place to hold a State Tournament, period

[barbwire]

The ultimate choice for best place to hold the state tournament would not be UTC or the Pig Palace, it would most definitely be the Bridgestone Arena. Before everyone piles on with their views, I fully realize that without some sort of major corporate sponsorship/donations, this will never happen. The TSSAA needs to step up and do what;s right for the kids, not what's the least expensive.

Do what many other states do, put out your state championship venues for bid, but that may just be too much forward thinking for them to handle.

 

Please look at this article from GA and see how much they work together to do things right:

 

http://www.gpb.org/blogs/gpb-sports-blog/2012/02/14/arena-preps-for-states-best-wrestlers

 

Some examples of surrounding states venues for their State wrestling tournament:

 

Illinois - Assembly Hall in Champaign, (U of I)parade and finals are under a spotlight

Georgia - Gwinnett Arena similar to IL - spotlighted parade and finals

Indiana - Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Missouri - Mizzou Arena

Kentucky - Alltech Arena

 

Most if not all of these examples have an electric atmosphere, the arenas are full of energy and these kids work too hard all year to wrestle on dirt.

Edited February 15, 2012 by barbwire

[trickk]

The Bridgestone Arena would cost nearly $100K for 3 days, the cost of your hotels would be roughly 25% more due to downtown locations and parking is $10-$15 per day for parking and none on site. Logistically for all involved it would be a nightmare. What is best is a central location in the state that provided adequate lodging at reasonable costs for the schools, onsite parking and a facility that has enough floor space to accommodate 14 mats.

 

Although I can understand why a flashy venue seems attractive, but imagine having to manage those costs with your High School Wrestling budget, which is typically pretty depleted by the end of the year.

 

The other issue is support of the event with patrons. TN does not even do 5,000 ticket sales for the entire event, we don't have the demographics to support an event of that magnitude. Those states you speak of have I would imagine (being from Michigan and seeing how large the events are) 10,000-15,000 in ticket sales.

 

If you have ever been at the finals for the state meet its pretty sad even when it was in Chattanooga, maybe 1000 people in the stands..

 

Just my opinion

[barbwire]

trickk,

I hear your points, but the overall cost would have to be paired down by the major corp sponsors footing the majority of the cost for venue. There is no reason why this has to be a 3 day tournament, I have never been to a regular season tournament with a 32 person bracket that needed a 3rd day to complete.

But all this is a moot point, the TSSAA will never move out of the Ag/Expo, in their minds, they could never do better than FREE.

 

The point of my post was for those who love wrestling in TN to somehow band together(also might not ever happen) and loudly voice their opinions and wishes to the powers that be to initiate a change of venue.

 

Again, it is all about the experience for the kids. and if it is to remain at the Ag/Expo then it is our responsibility to improve the experience. As was stated in a thread last year, bring in platforms(like NCAA's), bring in lighting, etc, this is Music City USA, there are enormous resources for these type of things.

Edited February 15, 2012 by barbwire

[reftn]

Let's petition the Sports Council to make an aggressive bid for The NCAAs.

[bradley08]

The Bridgestone Arena would cost nearly $100K for 3 days, the cost of your hotels would be roughly 25% more due to downtown locations and parking is $10-$15 per day for parking and none on site. Logistically for all involved it would be a nightmare. What is best is a central location in the state that provided adequate lodging at reasonable costs for the schools, onsite parking and a facility that has enough floor space to accommodate 14 mats.

 

Although I can understand why a flashy venue seems attractive, but imagine having to manage those costs with your High School Wrestling budget, which is typically pretty depleted by the end of the year.

 

The other issue is support of the event with patrons. TN does not even do 5,000 ticket sales for the entire event, we don't have the demographics to support an event of that magnitude. Those states you speak of have I would imagine (being from Michigan and seeing how large the events are) 10,000-15,000 in ticket sales.

 

If you have ever been at the finals for the state meet its pretty sad even when it was in Chattanooga, maybe 1000 people in the stands..

 

Some good valid points but Im afraid you are way off on the people in the stands. Did you ever go to a tournament in Chattanooga? There are 1000 people on one side of the lower level alone. We have 4-5 dual meets in Chattanooga that have 1500 plus people in attendance. also, do we really need a three day tournament or is this just used by the Tssaa to charge more gate fee's?

 

Just my opinion

Edited February 16, 2012 by bradley08

[maj]

trickk,

I hear your points, but the overall cost would have to be paired down by the major corp sponsors footing the majority of the cost for venue. There is no reason why this has to be a 3 day tournament, I have never been to a regular season tournament with a 32 person bracket that needed a 3rd day to complete.

But all this is a moot point, the TSSAA will never move out of the Ag/Expo, in their minds, they could never do better than FREE.

 

The point of my post was for those who love wrestling in TN to somehow band together(also might not ever happen) and loudly voice their opinions and wishes to the powers that be to initiate a change of venue.

 

Again, it is all about the experience for the kids. and if it is to remain at the Ag/Expo then it is our responsibility to improve the experience. As was stated in a thread last year, bring in platforms(like NCAA's), bring in lighting, etc, this is Music City USA, there are enormous resources for these type of things.

 

 

If there are " major corporate sponsers " out there I would much rather see some the money used to develope new programs and shore up the ones that are currently operating on next to nothing than some lavish tournament. What would this sport look like in TN if there were 4 or 5 more guys doing things like Jones has been doing in Cleveland ? I don't really think many of these well heeled sponsers exist. If they do they they likely have a tie to wrestling, either as a former athlete or father of a current one. Sponsers aren't going to throw away money and for most there are much better returns on investment than dumping a 100k into a state tournament when we have a building that while not great does get the job done practically free.

Edited February 18, 2012 by maj