CLEVELAND — Cleveland Hopkins Airport was busier than normal for a Wednesday afternoon as plane after plane of wrestling fans descended upon The Land for the NCAA Division 1 Men's Wrestling Championships.
Many, like Gabe Gibbs, are coming up from Lakeland, Florida, as part of a group that has been traveling to these championships for 15 years.
"We've all coached or wrestled down in Florida and in college, and we're just excited to be here and have a good time," Gibbs said.
Mike McCarty flew in from Rumson, New Jersey, anxious to run into the people he's met over the last decade of doing this.
"There's people I've met from the first one I went to about ten years ago that I still text and keep in contact with from rival schools, not from my own school," he said. "It's really something, so it's a great level of camaraderie."
Darren Halford and Mike Smith flew in from Hartford, Connecticut, together celebrating a friendship forged over wrestling.
"We met at Detroit five years ago at the wrestling event. Yeah, so we come every year for the wrestling together," the men said, finishing each other's sentences. "We became great friends, and now we come every year to the wrestling wherever it's located."
With such a loyal following, many make their plans well in advance. Cleveland, for example, was first awarded this particular NCAA event in 2020, so there's a lot of time to plan, but as is the case, there are inevitably last-minute hurdles for the host city to overcome. One such obstacle arose in January when the Double Tree Hotel on Lakeside downtown closed its doors.
"Lot of hoops to jump through," said Greater Cleveland Sports Commission President & CEO David Gilbert as they scrambled to move the reservations of the schools and athletes slated to stay there this week.
"The NCAA worked with us well; some other hotels were able to move the groups that were in that Double Tree somewhere else, and it was not easy."
But he believes it was a headache that actually helps Cleveland in the eyes of the NCAA in the long run.
"Oftentimes, what groups will look at when they are thinking of Cleveland is not what problems arose but how we dealt with them," Gilbert said. "Problems happen everywhere, and when that happened, we were able to immediately jump on and work on a resolution that they were fine with."
"Certainly, long term, the Double Tree, taking 280-plus rooms out of market, is not insignificant, but who knows if there's a chance that could get renovated, other hotels that are being discussed that may come online so long term we'll be fine," Gilbert said.
