State Tournament venue change

[underhooks123 0]

Could the state tournament be moved to Louisville and take place in the KFC Yum! Center?? I just watched the Louisville game and figured let's start a discussion about it.

[dscicle 6]

no because after this year it is suppossedly moving to the Horse Park in Lexington. 8 mats going down.

[Ranger123 43]

no because after this year it is suppossedly moving to the Horse Park in Lexington. 8 mats going down.

Is that seriously being considered?  I thought the $ made it unreasonable.

[underhooks123 0]

Is that seriously being considered?  I thought the $ made it unreasonable.

I did not hear that.. But would it not make sense to move it to Louisville?

[Savage 5]

I did not hear that.. But would it not make sense to move it to Louisville?

While the Yum Center is VERY nice-I think that it is a bit too large to hold an event for wrestling. The venue needs to be somewhat like the Frankfort Convention Center (only a little bit larger) in order to keep the great atmosphere that is generated at the State Tournament in my opinion. I think that an arena the size of Louisville's would lose a great deal of that atmosphere.

[Jacketcoach 19]

Although it would be nice for the tournament to come back to Louisville, it probably will not.  The cost for the Yum Center is ridiculous.  They say that the Frankfort/ Lexington area is more neutrally located.

[polo 0]

The YUM center brochure lists wrestling as the first type of event they plan to host.

I personally vote for YUM center for the state tournament!

[Jacketcoach 19]

Yeah, WWE.  :wink:

[underhooks123 0]

While the Yum Center is VERY nice-I think that it is a bit too large to hold an event for wrestling. The venue needs to be somewhat like the Frankfort Convention Center (only a little bit larger) in order to keep the great atmosphere that is generated at the State Tournament in my opinion. I think that an arena the size of Louisville's would lose a great deal of that atmosphere.

I do not think you would lose the atmosphere at all. If they keep the rafter seats closed it will not cause conflict. It is a 3 level arena. Open the first 2 levels for everything.. Open top for finals. The KHSAA Directors table in the north end of the court and 6-8 mats covering the floor. Only thing that could be an issue is $$$$.

[ridge44 0]

i think that since we cant do state at the yum center then JCPS should have the county tournament there instead of a high school

[wolfpackwrestling 0]

Indiana has their individual state tournament at Conseco Field house and it is a fantastic atmosphere so I think the Yum center wouldnt detract from the atmosphere at all.

[grappler-of-old 44]

The only way you keep the atmosphere is if you can fill it up.

Considering we can barely fill The Civic center during the finals, (And the seats behind the head score table are not used), there would be many empty seats at YUM.

And if you can't get 8 mats down and cut the state to a 2 day tourney then it is not even a consideration. 

[Has Been 11]

Could the state tournament be moved to Louisville and take place in the KFC Yum! Center?? I just watched the Louisville game and figured let's start a discussion about it.

What we need is for the NCAA to hold the D1 National Championships at the KFC Center, "MAKE LOTS of money" locally and  draw attention to wrestling.

Then maybe, Louisville will see the interest and opportunity to add wrestling to the big East!!! :wink:

[Zeus 117]

What we need is for the NCAA to hold the D1 National Championships at the KFC Center, "MAKE LOTS of money" locally and  draw attention to wrestling.

Then maybe, Louisville will see the interest and opportunity to add wrestling to the big East!!! :wink:

Now this is a good idea.  Since the YUM center is so big it could host the NCAA tourney and therefore bring all that exposure to KY.  Honestly I think this might work out because of our proximity to the rest of the wrestling world... we're kind of in the middle.  However for the state tourney the best venue is the Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center because we cant' fill it now anyway and its kind of centrally located.  It provides a great atmosphere for wrestling because the fans are so close to the mats.  If you move to a larger arena the fans won't be so close and for wrestling I think that's one of the special things about the sport.

[Charger Coach 14]

Indiana has their individual state tournament at Conseco Field house and it is a fantastic atmosphere so I think the Yum center wouldnt detract from the atmosphere at all.

It's different in Indiana.  There's a lot more interest in wrestling therefore you have a lot more fans to draw from.  Other differences between Indiana and Kentucky are the Indiana state tournament is 1 day not 3 days.  In Indiana it's a 16 man bracket not a 32 man bracket and if you lose your 1st match at state in Indiana, your done.  There is no wrestle back for you.  That's partly why they can have it in 1 day.  Try moving the Indiana state tournament to 3 days and a 32 man bracket and I guarantee you Conseco Fieldhouse wouldn't be nearly as packed for anything but the finals and that's in a state with over 350 high schools that have wrestling and numerous middle school programs (more middle school programs than Kentucky has high school programs)

[CoachBrown 12]

What we need is for the NCAA to hold the D1 National Championships at the KFC Center, "MAKE LOTS of money" locally and  draw attention to wrestling.

Then maybe, Louisville will see the interest and opportunity to add wrestling to the big East!!! :wink:

From what I have read and been told, the Louisville Sports Commision is trying to get national wrestling championships in a couple of styles.

[Has Been 11]

From what I have read and been told, the Louisville Sports Commision is trying to get national wrestling championships in a couple of styles.

Great to hear someone is thinking bigger.  Thanks for the post.

[Merkel203 0]

Jullian Tacket of the KHSAA really wants to move it to EKU and their area. The problem so far has been scheduling conflicts with EKU.

The idea of moving to Louisville is that you have to pay to use the yum area and the state tournament does not draw enough people to pay that kind of money.

[grappler-of-old 44]

what about parking for YUM?  One of the othe concerns is not the amount of parking but the cost of parking.  At Frankfort parking is free and this allows for more to attend.  Could get to be a huge cost if you had to pay each time you left and entered the parking lot.

[Mr Granby 0]

I doubt they would use YUM! even if they moved the tournament to Louisville!  However holding a national tournament there would be awesome for wrestling.  I think it would help the sport in Kentucky grow because of simple exposure to high quality wrestling.

[8224 17]

Indiana's state tournament is two days not one day. Its been that way going back to at least 1988. I can't say what it was before that but I began going to the Indiana state tournament in 1988 and it has been two days every year of the last 22 years.

[Josh_Claywell 52]

The YUM center brochure lists wrestling as the first type of event they plan to host.

I personally vote for YUM center for the state tournament!

That's not the type of wrestling you're used to seeing, however.

[cornbreadnky 2]

What about Freedom Hall

[old140 4]

What about Freedom Hall

Seems like a decent idea with it not being used anymore for UofL sports.  Should be able to get a much better deal on it now.  Still may be to much to be feasible though.  I like the idea of moving the state tourny around so that different regions get a liitle home field advantage at times.  This would be hard to acomplish because most places probably want some type of multi year contract.  If it stays at the Civic Center, thats fine by me as well.