Grapple on the Gridiron takes place Nov. 14 at Kinnick Stadium (Photo/(Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)Now, for some details. The mat will be positioned at the south end of the field, but won't be elevated, according to the Iowa sports website BlackHeartGoldPants.com. (Too difficult to construct then tear down an elevated platform on the day of a football game, according to Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta.) Tickets will be first made available to those who purchase season ticket packages, starting today. If there are any left available, individual tickets will be $10 each. If the weather becomes a problem -- after all, the average high in Iowa City in mid-November is 51 degrees -- there are contingency plans to let the first 15,000 ticket purchasers into Carver-Hawkeye Arena; others will be allowed to swap their Iowa-Oklahoma State ticket for any other Hawkeye home dual.
As you can imagine, this groundbreaking, news-making event didn't all come together in the week since that initial tweet. It took months to put together, Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands said in USA TODAY, but it's an idea that's been inside his head for seven years. "I said to our staff, 'If this gets broken again, we're going to Kinnick,'" said Brands, referring to the dual-meet record which Iowa had held for much of the past decade, until Penn State set the current record at its Bryce Jordan Arena vs. University of Pittsburgh in Dec. 2013.
"I called (Oklahoma State Coach) John Smith and he was on board immediately," Brands told Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. "It wasn't 'What are you talking about, wait a minute, let me get this straight.' It was 'We're in.' He's about doing this for wrestling."
"Oklahoma State and Iowa is a historical match. It's got a lot of excitement to it," said Smith in the press statement issued by his school. "We usually wrestle it in January, and Coach (Tom) Brands called and said he wanted to change the date and put it on the football field. I said, 'Let's do it.' It's a rarity to open up our season with one of the better teams in the country. I think it's something that will be fun."
What this means for college wrestling
The impact of the Iowa-Oklahoma State "Grapple on the Gridiron" outdoor dual meet this November will spread well beyond Iowa City. After all, it's the first NCAA dual to be held in a football stadium ... clearly calculated to break the attendance record. (Kinnick Stadium has a seating capacity of just over 70,000. That makes it possible for far more individuals to see a college wrestling event than ever before.)
Outdoor amateur wrestling events are nothing new; they have been held by colleges in Arizona, California and other warm-weather locations for decades. That said, while there was Salsa on the Square USA vs. Cuba freestyle/Greco dual in New York City's Times Square earlier this year, and Melee 'til Midnight, an outdoor high school wrestling tournament held each June on a high school football field in Vienna, Va., "taking it outside" in a place in a more northern part of the country such as Iowa in November is still incredibly rare, and, therefore, sure to lead to additional national media coverage for wrestling.
Don't underestimate the media-drawing power of "Grapple on the Gridiron" in purely collegiate sports terms, either. The two programs represent two of the pre-eminent college sports conferences: Iowa, the Big Ten ... and Oklahoma State for the Big 12. What's more, it's a meeting of the two all-time great college wrestling programs. Oklahoma State has 34 NCAA team titles, while Iowa has 23. Together, the Cowboys and Hawkeyes own fully two-thirds of those national team crowns.
If the coverage of last week's 11.14.15 teaser posted on Twitter -- and Thursday's official announcement -- is any indicator, the media will be all over "Grapple at the Gridiron" in the days leading up to the event ... and in reporting the results. Reporting on the initial rumor went as far as to make The Guardian, one of the major daily newspapers in London ... thousands of miles away from Iowa. As for coverage of this week's actual announcement, the news of the out-of-doors Iowa-Oklahoma State dual has been well-reported by TV stations and major newspapers within the home states of the two combatants, as well as in wire-service reports disseminated into states where college wrestling is not a major factor. Even USA Today -- the national newspaper that is often called out for its lack of coverage of the NCAA Wrestling Championships -- featured a story trumpeting the event.
And, not to put a political spin on things, but ... one can imagine additional media attention for "Grapple on the Gridiron" simply because it's being held in the state of Iowa, which is already in the media crosshairs because of the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses for the 2016 US presidential election early next year. The Iowa-Oklahoma State dual will be almost exactly one year in advance of the 2016 elections ... and it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that a Presidential primary contender or two (or more) might find their way to the University of Iowa on that mid-November 2015 Saturday afternoon.
Beyond media coverage, "Grapple on the Gridiron" appears to be generating an overall positive response in online amateur wrestling forums, indicating a wider buy-in from the college wrestling community.
"Wrestling subculture can be a cynical place," wrote T.R. Foley in his "Foley's Friday Mailbag" feature at InterMat Friday. "But with the Iowa-Oklahoma State dual everyone wins. We can all agree on the importance of the moment and the potential impact on the sport. This is a bright moment. A big moment. Thank you, Iowa. Thank you, Oklahoma State. And thank you, wrestling community. We deserve this."
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