Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/oklahoma-state-wrestling-finishes-6th-nationally-in-attendance/
Cowboys average 3,703 attendees per dual.
I think it’s an embarrassment to fall behind Iowa St and especially Rutgers.
OSU students need to get it together and realize the tradition they have on campus.
I agree, but I think it’s up to alumni to pay for tickets and get back to Stillwater to watch sporting events. Students don’t know any better and are usually broke AF. Alumni should appreciate what they had and have a few bucks to splurge on tickets. JS
I think the difference between the size of the fan base for Cowboy wrestling from 55 years ago to lately is because back then OSU wrestling was the only really successful sport on campus. It was usually dreadful watching football and basketball then. Henry Iba said he preferred to go fishing after the basketball season ended rather than go recruiting so he rightfully blamed himself for the decline of Cowboy basketball. And OSU during this period lacked good coaching and player talent with few exceptions. But wrestling still was a national success with a great winning tradition behind it and Myron Roderick knew how to recruit and coach so if you wanted to see high level success at OSU you had to become a wrestling fan. Now with the resurgence of Cowboy football and basketball, wrestling seems to be a bit of an after thought unless one of the top teams comes to town and we happen to have a really good team that year. It also is due to not having won a national championship in wrestling in I think the last 15 years, closing in on Tommy Chesbro’s record for the most years coached without a NCAA team championship from OSU. Mostly blame Dan Gable for that. I don’t think OSU should ever finish lower than third each year in attendance. We don’t have the culture to top PSU or Iowa in attendance but we should be ahead of the rest. Hire a sports marketer if that’s what it takes. Minnesota under J Robinson was up there in attendance but look at the Golden Gophers since J Robinson is no longer there. It just takes marketing know how. A few years ago I pointed out to Mike Holder that one reason that Minnesota had great attendance was because J Robinson excelled at marketing the sport. Mike replied that he never knew that about J. I suggested that Mike Holder contact J Robinson to see if he would be interested in consulting with him about how to market Cowboy wrestling in order to significantly boost attendance. I thought since J wrestled for OSU he might accept the offer for a brief consulting gig seeing that he likes to make big money on the side. But there was no interest in that suggestion.
If the world is a healthier place next season and we have wrestling, then Daton Fix and AJ Ferrari should be worth the price of admission and that alone should boost attendance. I also think watching Montalvo wrestle is also a big draw. He is unique and will keep getting better and better. With the roster we will have I plan to splurge and finally order ESPN+. And if I wasn’t married I would relocate to Stillwater to live out the rest of my retirement years just so I could attend Cowboy sporting events, most of all wrestling matches. Of course, I would have to find a local pizza joint other than Hideaway. I still recall that as the poorest excuse for a pizza that I ever had up to that point in my life, 1966-1970 in Stillwater.
Well said. And you’re obviously more knowledgeable about the wrestling history than I am. But how dare you slander hideaway. They’ve come along way, good sir. A long way!
What is Iowa doing to get such high attendance? They had a great team this year, but talent on the team does not necessarily translate to attendance. They have had high attendance for years even with less good teams. A quick look at their website doesn’t give me any insight on some amazing marketing strategy. One of us Pokes needs to go up to Iowa and hang out for a while to see how they’re doing it!