This week, the Twitter account of the University of Iowa wrestling program posted a visual of the date 11.14.15, with the lines of a football field visible behind the large white numbers ... which launched considerable discussion online -- and a couple news stories, too -- as to what this could mean. The general consensus: the mat Hawkeyes plan to have an outdoor dual meet that Saturday at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, which will be the site of an already-scheduled Iowa vs. Minnesota football game.
Kinnick Stadium has a seating capacity of just over 70,000Most likely, that's a reference to the college wrestling dual-meet attendance record, now held by Big Ten rival Penn State, when they drew 15,996 fans to a dual meet at Bryce Jordan Center vs. University of Pittsburgh in December 2013. Iowa had held the previous record of 15,955 for a dual vs. Iowa State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in December 2008. Kinnick Stadium has a seating capacity of just over 70,000 fans.
The Iowa sports website Black Heart Gold Pants pointed out 11.14.15 is indeed the date for the Iowa vs. Minnesota football game at Kinnick ... "but that game is also a night game (scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Central). Maybe we're looking at a day-night doubleheader with wrestling in the afternoon and football in the evening?"
K.J. Pilcher, who covers Iowa Hawkeye wrestling for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, did some digging to try to get to the bottom of the 11.14.15 tweet. As to whether that date might include a Hawkeyes vs. Gophers dual, UI sports information assistant director Chris Brewer and Director of Wrestling Operations Luke Eustice pointed out that the Minnesota dual is currently scheduled for Jan. 30 ... and that conference duals are scheduled by the Big Ten. "We are going to have a news conference to release our schedule next week," Eustice said. "With that, we will be talking about Iowa City Duals, any dates tweeted out, the (Olympic) trials, Big Ten tickets and all those things," referring to other events the Hawkeyes will be hosting during the 2015-16 season, including the Big Ten Championships in March, along with the USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials in April.
The idea of an outdoor dual meet in Iowa in mid-November is not without its issues. "There are more questions from an event standpoint," wrote RossWB for BlackHeartGoldPants.com. "Obviously, it can be a bit chilly in mid-November in Iowa. (InterMat did some checking -- average high in Iowa City that date: 50 degrees; low: 31.) That's probably not a huge deal for spectators -- they're already accustomed to sitting outside to watch football in chilly temps -- but what about the wrestlers themselves? On the other hand, they make heaters and big warm coats and, hell, guys could just hang out near the locker rooms until it was time to wrestle and then run out to the mat (I'm thinking of "the Swarm" here, only with one dude instead of 90+ football players, of course)."
After discussing other potential pitfalls, RossWB went on to say that it all comes down to creating a spectacle.
"Creating a big, splashy event that draws attention to wrestling. College wrestling has the tournament side of things down cold -- Midlands, the Southern Scuffle, the Big Ten tournament, and (of course) the NCAA tournament -- are spectacular events, chock-full of more great wrestling than anyone could possibly take in ... Dual meets are easy: two teams going mano a mano at ten different weight classes. Add up the points earned from each match and declare a winner -- boom. It's a format much closer to a typical sports experience than a tournament; it's also a much smaller time commitment."
Outdoor dual meets are not unprecedented. "Wrestling With The Devil", a memoir of Arizona State wrestler Tony Russo, described a sunbaked ASU-Arizona dual meet in the mid-1960s. Earlier this month, California Baptist announced it would host its second "Take It Outside" al fresco dual meet on the front lawn of its southern California campus, welcoming Cal State Bakersfield, after the success of a similar event last year vs. Stanford.
Most amateur wrestling events held outside are conducted in places that are perpetually warm. There are exceptions: earlier this year, there was "Salsa in the Square", a dual meet event featuring Team USA vs. Cuba in freestyle and Greco-Roman competition in New York City's Times Square. Then there's Melee 'til Midnight, an outdoor high school wrestling tournament held in on a high school football field in Vienna, Va. This event, held each June for the past five years, has welcomed participants from up to 15 states ... and, according to the website, is held rain or shine.
In raising the possibility of an outdoor wrestling event in Iowa, the Hawkeyes may be paying tribute to one Frank Gotch, pro wrestling champ of the early 1900s from Humboldt, Iowa, whose popularity helped fuel the establishment of amateur wrestling in colleges and high schools a century ago throughout his home state and beyond. Gotch did much of his training in the great outdoors -- including practice matches -- in a park in the heart of his hometown of Humboldt. Furthermore, Gotch's two epic title matches vs. world champion George Hackenschmidt held in Chicago were both outside -- in early April 1908 at Dexter Park Pavilion (essentially, an open-air, shed-like structure) ... and Labor Day 1911, on the baseball field at "old" Comiskey Park, then home to the Chicago White Sox (torn down in the 1980s for today's U.S. Cellular Field).
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