Waiting on Bids

The NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships are on a 4-year bidding process again, with the years 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 up for grabs. This announcement is supposed to come in December of 2016, but as I write this it's getting awful close to the holidays to expect an announcement. 

While Wrestling fans seem to be more self-loathing than what it necessary or appropriate, the D1 NCAA Wrestling Championships are actually a big deal.....as in very successful. Sold out arenas for a three-day event will peak the interest of any city that likes revenue (aka all of them). It could be badminton or a rabbit-farming convention if you are talking about close to 20,000 people coming to town for a weekend, the local commission is interested. 

St Louis, the usual suspect, will host this season's finale. Cleveland will be the host in 2018. The next four years could be announced any day now. 

There is not an official list (at least that I know of), but some cities have announced that they have submitted bids. St Louis sounds like they will want a couple more years. Detroit is finishing up a new arena and has stated they had bid for it.

Madison Square Garden was met with mostly positive reviews when it hosted this year. It'll be interesting to see if they made another bid and will/won't get one. 

Sometimes you get some non-traditional cities involved. There is a September article where Orlando wants to greatly increase their participation in hosting marquee NCAA events. The NCAA Wrestling championships were mentioned. Atlanta & Louisville are also cities from "non-wrestling tradition" areas that articles seemed to point to their interest in the event. 

Of course, don't be surprised that tradition-rich areas like Minneapolis, Des Moines, Piitsburgh, Oklahoma City and more bid as well. 

Hopefully, this announcement comes soon. As a fat kid, I like to plan out my eating way ahead of time.