The Beavers announced before Sunday’s dual win over Bakersfield.
Last weekend I pointed out the Oregon State wrestling team’s tough sell, and the problem wrestling has in general drawing fans.
The No. 22-ranked Beavers are in the midst of a stellar 14-1 season, but drew only 667 and 753 for the two Pac-10 duals last weekend.
Wrestling fans chimed in with good comments about the sport’s lack of visibility and and Title IX hurting funding, while general sports fans said the typical of not liking dudes touching dudes. You can check it out here.
One person commented about the success of mixed martial arts. Millions are made on pay-per-view to see two people beat the crap out of each other. A good fight is interesting to watch.
You know it’s true because if you are watching a basketball game, and a fight breaks out in the standings all your attention goes to the fight.
I know this is going to make wrestling purists mad, but the sport needs to evolve. Volleyball and football change to improve viewing the game, making it more exciting with rally scoring or timing rules so the event runs faster.
There are too many rules with the point structure of wrestling to allow it to reach peak interest. College wrestling needs submission holds and strikes. Yes, be more MMA.
Start with the submissions and then add the strikes later if needed to spice things up. If college programs want more money, change wrestling with the times to MMA rules and there will be packed houses.
TV will want to broadcast the events, so colleges can sell TV rights. They can share the growing UFC audience just like college football and the NFL both draw well during the time of year.
This change won’t happen over night, and probably won’t ever happen. However, it’s something the NCAA should look into to be progressive.
Until then, you have college wrestling as it is, going along with dwindling interest with the exception in the Midwest. To survive, something radical must happen.
The final Beavers home meet of the season is 2 p.m. on Sunday against Nebraska. For the OSU diehard, the team is on a 13-dual winning streak and could be a source of pride.
6 comments
Ted0 says:
Jan 21, 2010
I think that would be really cool if the NCAA tried to make wrestling more like MMA it'd probably just take a while for the wreslters and the coaches to adjust to it.
aaron_ says:
Jan 21, 2010
I dont know if I would go as far as Cliff says, but i do agree that it needs to be speeded up a bit. Ease up on the rules and it may become more fluid with less break in the action.
Cliff: More on wrestling « Cliff Kirkpatrick | Sport Weblog says:
Jan 20, 2010
[...] more: Cliff: More on wrestling « Cliff Kirkpatrick Share and [...]
kersting13 says:
Jan 21, 2010
Did people really complain about "dude's touching dudes?" That's pretty weak.
I have never been a big wrestling fan, but I have seen a couple of wrestling meets in my time and it's actually pretty enjoyable and interesting IMO.
Heck, I'm not a big basketball fan, either, but I will watch OSU when they're on TV, same as I'd watch OSU wrestling if it were on.
I bet a lot of self-described sports fans have just never watched a wrestling match before.
I honestly don't believe it has to go all MMA to find an audience. There's a structure to the fight, and rules within it just like there is in MMA. The rules are pretty simple and it shouldn't take anyone of reasonable intelligence long to figure it out, even if they've never seen the sport before.
PorcupineBeaver says:
Jan 22, 2010
Well, "angry" said he was 'uncomfortable' with it (one can draw conclusions from that admission regarding his security with certain aspects of his life), but it is no surprise he tried to be "shocking". He's just plugging his blog with every post because he is desperate for attention and his one trick is trying to play the "pay attention to me because I say edgy, unpopular things".
beeverluv says:
Jan 21, 2010
This is an interesting discussion on a deeper level than presented thus far. There are just too many distractions to the main point though. The idea is that wrestling is a tough draw for fans. It doesn't exist for the fans, and neither do a lot of other sports. But it's always nice to be known and appreciated for your endeavors no matter what you do.
First, the Title IX canard is just playing into the hands of the institutions who want us to think that wrestling and other Olympic sports are not as valuable as football and basketball. There is more money, and there are more male athletes in college sports than there were in the early 70's. The problem is that all the focus has been extended to football, basketball, soccer and, to a certain extent, baseball. When Title IX starts to limit women's sports give me a call. That will be the day you know that colleges are truly strapped. They will actually be cutting monies across the board rather than shifting it around to what they deem are more important endeavors.
If a family of four spends their auto budget equally amongst genders, the dad drives a $50K car, the mom drives a $35K car, sister drives a $15k car and brother is left out in the cold… then why does brother blame the females in his family? Now consider that dad's car eats more gas and costs more to insure than the two other cars combined. Brother's arguments is even more silly. Imagine that argument if it held fast after his car was taken away just because dad wanted a flashier car.
The MMA/evolution argument is interesting. But I think it misses the mark. Most MMA matches end up being a violent "EAT MY CROTCH!!" festival. At times I can see the draw due to the skill necessary to compete. But it really bores me 95% of the time. But that doesn't mean many others aren't drawn to it. So what makes it viable?
It's strictly a marketing problem. Boxing fell off the face of the earth when they took it pay-per-view. Promoters took it away from the blue collar guy's television set, and the blue collar guy gave boxing the finger. Other Olympic sports suffered when Wide World of Sports left the weekend airwaves for infomercials. And the Midwest has youth wrestling leagues that are as popular (and less expensive) as baseball and football leagues. I still remember my junior high science teacher's recruiting speech… in class.
"In my town, when you walked down the street the dogs would bark at you if you played basketball or hockey."
It was true for all I know. Let's hope Les Gutches does a good job in his new position with USA Wrestling. It speaks directly to this issue, and it's funny that an OSU alum will be the one to take it head on.