After having attended the Missouri State Wrestling tournament the past 2 years, and then attending the Kansas State tournaments the next week, it is ridiculous that they are spread out over 3 different areas. I usually hit one on Friday and then another on Saturday, having to drive over 1.5 hours between them. Missouri puts all classes into 3 days, 1 venue. The Kansas Coliseum is suitable in size to do the same thing. This would save revenue cost for the association and make it much more fan friendly and more easily for coaches to recruit. What college coach wants to drive several hours, during different days to try and recruit. It hurts the sport.

Couldn't agree more!

100% on target.

Yes!

Someone needs to spearhead this operation!

Agreed! This is and always has been crazy. Having seen the Iowa state tournament for a number of years, I cannot understate that Kansas is still spread out like this. Revenue, excitement promoting our sport & cost are just a few factors that should jump out when looking at this. Not to mention wrestling in front of 15000 fans as a highlight of your High School career. Moreover the revenue generated at this event would certainly benefit KSHSAA. Joe Pratt

1000% on point!

Once the season is over I would be happy to write up/present/propose whatever needs to be done. I'll find out from my AD what avenues I need to go through to get this in the right hands. In the mean time, let's use this thread to discuss logistics for a proposal. After I write it up I will post here for input. So, let's get specific...

What's the venue?
What's the format? (all classes over 3 days? How many times do we weigh in, etc?)
et cetera

3 Days, 3 weigh ins, That is what other states do and might help to control some of the cutting.. Venue??? Any of the colleges have a big enough gym that would not be a arm and a leg? What is in Wichita? I thought the Coliseum was in moth balls?

Missouri State is run over the course of 3 days with I believe 7 sessions. It is at Mizzou Arena with 8 mats being used for 4 classes.

Day 1 - Thursday
Class 1/2 weigh-ins 8am
1 round/1st round wrestle backs from 10am-2pm
Both classes wrestle on 4 different mats
Class 3/4 weigh-ins 3pm
1st round/1st round wrestle backs from 5-10

Day 2
Class 1/2 in the morning session and wrestle up to the semis and bubble round
Class 3/4 in the afternoon session and same thing...both sessions are on 8 mats

All classes come together in the evening with Semi's and bubble matches being wrestled at the same time. Each class competes on 2 mats one for the semis and one for the bubble

Day 3 - IF you have to make weight this day you are a state medalist.

All classes together on 8 mats to finish consolation semi's and then 3rd and 5th Place matches. Finals start at 4:30 and are run on 4 mats.

Bad part about the finals is it takes 5 hours. I would like to see the state of Mo wrestle the finals through all 14 weights and then essential have all the medal presentations at the end in the four corners of the floor. It would force people to stay through the end of the finals instead of getting their medals and leaving.

Love the idea!! Can't use the KS coliseum, it closed for that type of use years ago. Intrust bank arena is the "big" venue in Wichita that replaced it and would great if you could get the date.

What about Topeka where kids state is held? 5 different age groups and several more weight classes in kids and they do it in two days? Could be done in 3 days, would be crowded until the first two rounds and 1 backside round is wrested but at least it would be full, which would be a great atmosphere.

So we need to list the options that can hold 8 full mats on the floor. Topeka EXPO, InTrust, Hartman (but it does not have the seating for 4 classes). Others? It would be great if a Wichita State, K-State or a Washburn would "donate" the facility for 3 days for support of the KSHSAA. That might be dreaming....

Regardless of what people will tell you, Intrust does NOT have enough parking. When they have an event of any size, they bus the attendees in from Lawrence Dumont stadium. While that works for a concert or symposium, it doesn't work for an event of this nature where people would like to be coming and going throughout the day. This is the reason Intrust does not make a bid for high school state and why the Expo Center magically under bids Intrust each contract for kids state. They are both managed by the same company.

The university venues are made entirely for that other sport and could only handle 4 mats on the floor. While the Expo could handle it over three days, I can't imagine how bad the hotels would gouge all of us considering what they do to us for kids state. There simply isn't a venue that meets all of our needs at this time.

Sprint - 18K+
Intrust - 15K+
Allen Fieldhouse - 16K+
Bramlage - 12K+
Expo - 10K+
BiCenter - 7K+
American Star Casino is 3,500-6K depending on arrangement.
Gross Memorial - 6K+

After those everything drops below 5K.

Intrust and Sprint center do not have much "onsite" parking. People complained to no end about parking when Intrust was built but it really hasn't stopped many going to events there and lets be honest we all could use a walk here and there. Lot's of options to get there if you can't walk far and don't qualify for handicap parking.

Topeka bids better for kids state because in part it has a much larger economic impact on the city than it would in Wichita. Better return. Intrust is almost too big for kids state when you consider price of rent and what they need out of blocking 3-4 dates on their calendar. And don't start on the hotel pricing....any city that host a event that maxes out the hotel capacity will increase rates, fact of life.

I don't support a one class site. Lot of reasons. But regardless, here are some possible negatives that would affect a lot of people:

*more missed class time, school admins will not support something that pulls kids out of school even more than they already are

*more expenses for schools (hotel, meal money, bus drivers, sub pay for coaches out of the classroom, admins travelling), again school admins are not going to support anything that hurts school budgets more

*lot of travel for lot of towns, you make the 321A teams travel to Wichita or Topeka, many less fans would be able to attend and they would have to spend lot more to do so

*overall less fans go, currently the sites are regionally located with proximity of the most schools in that class, this leads to more fans overall in attendance, which is a good thing for the sport

*more missed work time for parents/fans to watch, and they already have had to miss work for other tourneys throughout the year, Regionals, etc.

*more expenses for families, hotel, food, further travel...this isn't good for our sport.

*in Missouri, the entire day is only for 1 match per kid, right? I may be wrong here

*I like being our own show in Salina for 4A, less traffic, parking ease, less lines, ease of finding hotels/restaurants, fans can sit closer to the action, easier for floor space & maneauverability

*Would hate to see FHSU lose 321A, that tournament has been there for many years, and it is perfect arrangement for those towns & communities

Us die-hards can sit for 3 straight days & watch wrestling and we'll travel wherever we need to go. But if we REALLY want to grow our sport, I don't think we need to pursue ideas that only make it harder for the common fans/parents than it already is. Adding to that burden for parents, kids, schools does not make the sport for everyone, but more for the select few that love it like we do.

And personally, I probably wouldn't spend much time watching the other classes anyway. I occasionally pull up results on Track as I have time to check some results, when I get a minute. But that's about it.

Those are some of my thoughts to the idea, anyway.

The days where 4A, 5A, and 6A were combined were great/horrible. It was awesome to see the crowd and all the classes, finals were great, but the venue was a dump, security was horrible, and the time schedule was brutal. The move to split 4A allowed each site to have 4 mats per class (is it that way in Wichita for 5/6A), which allows teams to get out, eat, and get to their hotel before midnight. Saturday's schedule allows for the finals and travel time to get back home. It is what's in the best interest of the student athlete, at least that is the theory anyways. I agree with Kit in that missing more class time and more expense to schools, parents, etc...is a hard sell. It would be great to see the large crowds, but the trade offs have to be pretty convincing to persuade the powers that be. The same can be said to the weigh-ins in Kansas.

Sorry Kit, there's one reason alone that trumps any negative you can think of and that is college recruiting! We need to do it exactly like Missouri. Including not running our state tournament the same weekend as regionals for D2s and Junior College nationals.

Kit,

What kind of wrestling supporter are you? There are only a handful of states in the entire country that don't host all classes in the same building. Everyone is missing class on Thursday now so that class time argument is LAME... The fact is that most of your points don't even add up. I have been to the three class in one building many times and then the 4A in Salina as well as 5A/6A. The 4A tournament is about as LAME as the 4A rankings have been all year. Later I will pick apart all of your points.

I support wrestling, Will, it's a great sport. I just have some different opinions on few things like we all do. That's the great thing about this forum, we can discuss/debate these & create more positives for our sport & the kids involved, especially when we do it respectfully. We all benefit. I was just throwing my thoughts out there to contribute to the discussion.

Some of my points can surely be debated, maybe even proven wrong. That's ok. But others are just my personal preferences. And I am only speaking for me, I have no idea how many other coaches or parents feel. Maybe some agree, and surely others don't. It's all good to me.

I'm anxious to hear your replies. Maybe you'll change my mind on some things. I enjoy & value good discussion.

I am also not in a role as a decision-maker in this, I'm just one coach at one school.