sportsfan02,
You may be correct and there may have been other clubs involved with the tournament initially. I do not know all of the history past about 12 years or so.

I can say that in the last 12 years the Classic has never been inside the main arena.

From a financial standpoint it is not feasable to put the tournament inside the arena.

Here are the main problems with putting it inside the arena.

1)Size of the Arena: Under the current format (One Day Tournament) it takes 14 full size mats to accomodate the tournament with 21 wrestling surfaces. I believe only 9 or 10 mats fit inside the main arena? That would create a loss of between 5 and 10 wrestling surfaces. How would the tournament make up that lost wrestling time without getting done at 1 AM?

2)Time: The tournament would have to be atleast a 1 1/2 day tournament (Similar to JOC). I personally love the idea!!

3)Cost: I believe Coliseum charged KSHSAA around $15,000 per day to use the main arena. Because of Space it would require two days rent or $30,000. I do not see how the tournament would even break even at that point.
An example of what it would cost to put it in the main arena...

Outgoing Rent $(30,000)
Awards $(3,700)
Officials $(6,750)
Mats (Clubs) $(15,000)
$(55,450)

Incoming Entry Fees (20*1500) $30,000
Gate $9,600
Concessions $-
$39,600

Loss $(15,850)

In addition here are the actual numbers from the classic for the last two years: 2006: 1,151 2007: 1,098 (I beieve both of these numbers are over 1,000)

I can also say that there is a new manager over the Coliseum and he has been working with the GWSC to address issues.
A great example of this is internet service. The GWSC asked that internet service be placed inside the Pavillion so that the GWSC could possibly use TrackWrestling to manage the tournament and make the entire tournament available on-line. They are working hard to try to make that happen!
The previous manager of the Coliseum was legendary for his unwillingness to work with people (Just call KSHSAA and ask them about the high school tournament)

I very much want to see the Wichita Classic succeed and grow into a national caliber tournament, possibly even a 2 day event, that all of District 2 can be proud of!
However, I also believe that there are just certain things that are beyond the control of the GWSC!!

Let me offer some options for getting into the main arena:

1) Because each club is a non-profit organization, they should ban together and petition Sedgiwck County for a reduced fee to have the arena for two days!!!

2) Clubs from District 2 should volunteer their mats and their table workers to put on the tournament. The added savings would almost pay for the second day of renting the tournament.

We (District 2) should step up and work together to make the Wichita Classic better and work for positive change not bash each other or the organization that has kept the tournament alive for the last several years!

If we cannot change the building, we should still work together to figure out a way to make the situation better than it is!

I always look at the motivation for why people do what they do or say what they say.

Some people make choices because they want to bring about positive change (Jeff Smith- I appreciate your motivation, your intentions are honorable, not necessarilly the method).

While others make choices because they have a personal agenda or are angry.

I hope that I have not offended anyone but rather given people a positive motivation to make the situation better.

Thank You