CLEVELAND — The MAC-tion got underway in downtown Cleveland with the opening of the Mid-American Conference Basketball Tournament on Wednesday.
A proud Miami fan, Stu Graff drove up from outside Cincinnati to cheer on both the ladies' and men's, red-hot, Red Hawk teams.
"Unbelievable we have never had a year where we had two number one seeds," Graff said.
He couldn't help but notice, though, the signs around the arena promoting the second half of the MAC's 11-day one-two punch, as host of the Men's NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships next week, March 19-21.
Yes, he knows basketball fans can be passionate, but "wrestling fans are die-hard," he said.
Graff continued, "They'll turn out. I'm sure it's a great economic impact for the city."
One of the biggest for a college sporting event, especially on the heels of the MAC said Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher.
"The economic impact will be probably $25 (million), $30 million between both events and I may be low on that," he said. "Last time we hosted the NCAA Wrestling Championships we set records for attendance and revenue," he said of the 2018 Championships. "We think we have a chance to maybe break the revenue record again."
That's because the Men's Wrestling Championships are comprised of six separate sold-out sessions, with the arena cleared in between each. So think of it this way, it's like having six sold-out Cavs games in only a three-day period. And unlike a Cavs game, where most fans are local.
"We expect somewhere between 90 and 95 percent of all of the people in the arena to be from out of market," said Greater Cleveland Sports Commission President & CEO David Gilbert.
Among the out-of-towners attending last year's championships in Philadelphia were President Trump and a lot of his senior staff.
One of the other things about wrestling, unlike an NCAA Basketball Tournament, where you have just four schools with two of them leaving after the first round, there will be more than 70 schools and more than 300 wrestlers represented here for the three days, each with its own very loyal fan base.
"This is a group that they come in and they are glued to their seats during the sessions when they're here and they are out partying when they are not," Gilbert said.
We found a few tickets available on the secondary market, carrying asking prices of around $700 on the upper level and around $2,400 just off the floor. Even without tickets, they found that fans want to be in town to be around the action.
"We hear over and over and over the number of private events you know Iowa fan club will rent out a place for days, and Penn State's fan club and on and on and it's just really exciting," Gilbert said.
The city is also putting on a three-day fan fest at Tower City, allowing everyone, ticket or not, to be a part of the action.
"So you can come down and get your merchandise, meet Olympians, watch some great wrestling, hear different talks. So if you're going to the event and want to come down early and see some of that. Even if you're not going in to the event, it's great for free to experience some of the excitement that that's going to bring to town."
