At high school they allowed the teams to bring coolers that were in another area of the venue but items had to stay there. My son got stopped for taking a bottle of water in to the stands. Be ready because Kids State will be the same with no outside food and checking bags. Now that my son is in college we have not seen this in arenas. So the chamber needs to check again with other venues and what they do for these types of events. We were just at national duals and bags were not checked and teams had coolers in the stands. They also allowed an outside vender in to sell smoothies and added granala bars and fruit to the menu. Unless they only receive a handful of complaints they will not change. Start a petition and have the Salina club start looking for another sight that might get someone to wake up. There is a whole military base do they not have the space?

I agree with you Michelle.. we need to make this a big deal. My last post has the email adresses of those that have the ability to make the decisions. The more they receive the better... keyboard warriors mount up!!

They need to realize that the wrestling family is in attendance for 6+ hours not just the 1.5-2 hours most events take.

The following is taken from the Bicentennial Centers web site. Take note is says UNLESS AUTHORIZED. So yes they could authorize it. They just choose not to.


Unless authorized by Salina Bicentennial Center Staff, no person shall be admitted into the facility with any of the following items in his/her possession:

Alcoholic beverages or controlled substances (unless prescribed for the possessor) cameras, audio or visual recording equipment, radios, televisions or any other such electronic devices, except when authorized.
Pets (Excluding Service Animals)
Bottles, either plastic or glass
Shopping carts
Strollers
Cans or coolers
Fireworks
Weapons and dangerous devices of any type

Unless authorized by Salina Bicentennial Center Staff, the carrying of food and beverages into the arena is prohibited.

If I remember right, at Hartman (5A and 6A State) you could bring in coolers and they had to stay in a restricted area and only certain items could be brought in (fruit, sandwiches, and water). They perform a pretty throrough search through the coolers there too.

Last year they let us take empty water bottles in. Not even that this year. I can survive leaving the cooler in the car and going out there to eat. But I can't accept not being able to bring in an empty jug to fill from the water fountain. We will find a different tournament for that weekend next year.

I think it is fine for individuals to contact the arena, but the real impact will come from the larger and more successful clubs declaring they will not come back.

Those clubs that finished in the top ten carry the real weight. E. Kansas, Maize, Young Guns, Ark City, Brawlers, Great Bend, Abilene, Olathe South, MOKWC, you are the key to changing the food and drink policy (btw, they checked my binocular bag. Sheesh!! This is not a college football game with a fake bi-nocs filled with Jack Daniels.)

If your clubs declare now, that you will not return,the Salina club may be able to get the restrictions lightened up. Otherwise, the directors will simply wave goodbye to a few folks and welcome the other 1300 wrestlers that will undoubtedly return.

Also, I don't buy into the greed argument. This is America. Most of us are trying to maximize our profits based on what the market will bear. I don't begrude anyone seeing what they can charge until the market tells them its too much. Now is the time for the Kansas wrestling market, through the power of its largest and most successful clubs, to tell the Bi-Center that it is not meeting its needs.

When there is a real risk that the tourney will drop from 1400 wrestlers to 500 to 600, the Bi-Center will listen. Until then, this is all just Talkforum chatter.

Everything is negotiable. Get someone started on next year's contract.

Since this tournament is directed by Rich Zimmerman do we all agree that he is the one to take the lead in the negotiations with the Bicentennial Center and if needed ask members of USA Wrestling Kansas to sign a petition that can be presented to the committee that outlines our expectations. It appears that enough people are interested in helping that we could get this done in fairly short order.

Mr. Zimmerman, please let us know what we can do to help you.

they let me bring in my bottle of spit though. she did stop me and when i went to hand it to her she said oh yuck just take it lol.

Directly from Chris @ the Bi-Center

Good morning. I’m sorry you are frustrated. I’ve forwarded your comments and the other emails to the Salina Wrestling Club.

Our concessions prices are not higher than Topeka, Wichita, Dodge City, Independence, KC, Omaha, etc. mid-size facilities in the Midwest region. For kid’s wrestling, we offered healthy options including granola bars, water, Powerade, and box lunches with sandwiches. We will discuss with the promoter potential menu items that the wrestling community enjoys so we can offer more options in the future. We have not changed concession pricing in years FYI.

The city is in the process of upgrading the computer technology at the facility so our patrons can enjoy tablets, laptops, and the like. We look forward to remedying this issue so please be patient as we get these items addressed.

Security has been directed not to allow outside food and beverage into the facility. Salina Wrestling Club also sends this information out in their registration packets. It would be our goal to not have to employ professional security to enforce this rule that has been in place for years. I apologize the security guard approached your situation below in that manner and I will address it personally.

Our staff works tirelessly with the Salina Wrestling Club to make this event happen. We spend weeks preparing and everyone in the community enjoys hosting the event. I am not comfortable with your language via email that makes personal judgments like greed or desiring justification to your satisfaction. Make an appointment with the Salina wrestling club to discuss and if they feel necessary, we’re happy to meet to discuss. Please channel future correspondence through the Salina Wrestling club.

Sincerely,
Chris

From: Jimmy Moison [mailto:jimmy.moison@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 4:40 PM
To: Chris Bird; dlauver@salinakansas.org; dweiser@salinakansas.org; lpowell@salinakansas.org; ebrown@salinakansas.org
Subject: Salina Kansas TOC
Importance: High

I know you have heard from several people at this point regarding last weekend’s tournament about concessions and the strictness of the security staff. The Salina Wrestling Club did an outstanding job as always, but this year, the concessions were outrageous and the security staff was rude and treated kids as if they were adults. Let me share a personal event that went on in the lobby area:

My son just wrestled a hard match and I took him to the lobby area where we both opened a bag of Peanut M&M’s, a minute or so passed and an armed security guard approached us and said there is no outside food or beverages allowed, I told him that we haven’t been outside, He was quick to remind me that there were no arena food or beverages allowed either and that I should have read the sign on the way out. He turned away and I said it said the arena food and beverages will not be allowed back in after the doors, he said, excuse me, then quickly said “a rule is a rule, everyone else has to follow them as well” The fact of the matter is he was dead wrong. Read the signs and tell me what they say.

My whole point, is that we were paying rock concert prices for concessions that were not fit for a healthy day of wrestling. We were there for 12+ hours and all we had to eat/snack on were hot dogs, candy, pop, NOS energy drinks (that should not be sold to 10 year olds), and more junk food. This is an armature event and it seems as though it was just being a money maker, not even worrying about the sport of wrestling or the people footing the bill. The wrestling community as a whole will begin a petition soon if something doesn’t happen to have the tournament moved elsewhere. I have seen some of the responses from the board and it seems as though nobody really cares. I would like a follow –up regarding this matter please and will not back off until I get a justified and acceptable answer from someone. This weekend was ridiculous

Regards,

Jimmy Moison
785-224-73649

Yesterday I emailed Chris at the Bi-Center. I got the same copied email back from him this morning. It seems to me that he really does not want to listen to what his customers have to say. He is trying to pawn it off to the Salina Wrestling Club as the ones that need to get it fixed.

With 4A State happening here in a couple of weeks he needs to wake up and realize what he has doing. It would be a pure shame for both tournaments to move away from this facility because of the management trying to make the easy dollar and not provide customer service.

I know personnel I would pay a gate fee for reasonable prices and food at the concession stand. This past weekend I paid over $50 for 4 chili pies because that’s all that was left when I had a chance to get there and 4 sodas again that’s all they had. The chili and cheese sauce were cold and did not taste good so that was $50 that went in the trash.

They might as well post in advance when you enter the gate empty your wallet into the trash.

I received the same email this morning which shows they are not taking us very serious. We do have the power as a wrestling community to make this happen.. but as mentioned above we need some of the larger clubs to step up and voice their frustration as well (assuming they had the same experience as we did).

Here is a place to voice your opinion.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/bicentennial-center-changes-for-youth-wrestling.html

Here's what he said:

Our staff works tirelessly with the Salina Wrestling Club to make this event happen. We spend weeks preparing and everyone in the community enjoys hosting the event. I am not comfortable with your language via email that makes personal judgments like greed or desiring justification to your satisfaction. Make an appointment with the Salina wrestling club to discuss and if they feel necessary, we’re happy to meet to discuss. Please channel future correspondence through the Salina Wrestling club.

Sincerely,
Chris

The Bi-C folks are happy to meet with the Salina Wrestling Club, which I assume is who they have a contract with...so the door is open. If the host club wants changes, the host facility is willing to talk. Can't ask for anything more than that.

And its a negotiation, for a contract, so don't expect it to be one way.

Another option would be the Salina city commissioners. I wonder if they feel "Chris's" responses are appropriate. From what I have seen on this talk forum they are not. I would think the city has some stake in this event as well. As someone already stated, this event brings mega dollars to the City of Salina. We have wrestled big tournaments before, and have never had a negative experience like the ones mentioned here. I can understand them wanting the food left outside, and I’m sure we would all abide to that, HOWEVER, not allowing outside drinks is another story to me. These are young, and in some case very young (5-6yr old) boys that are wrestling VERY hard. 3 dollars a lick for Gatorade and water is simply outrageous. In a sport that demands so much time, energy, dedication , and not to mention dollars from parents I think the complants about the facility should be addressed. (As do you guys) So here’s the Salina City Commissioners email, and maybe with ALL the efforts we can get something changed. It would be sad to see this tournament fail, its GREAT competition for all of our boys, and ultimately that’s why we all do this- for our boys.

citycommission@salina.org

Not allowing people to bring in empty water bottles so they can't fill up from the free taps speaks volumes to me. Not as if the Salina water is all that palatable to begin with. We stopped going to this one years ago due to the nonsense with getting into a proper Wt/Class/age issue and also the expense of a wannabe nationals, when the real ones don't give you grief at all for this type of stuff. Tulsa Kickoff & Nationals, USJOC @ OKC, Amarillo Nationals TX, Liberty Nationals KCMO, Reno Worlds NV, USAW Nationals Uni Dome, IA, USAW FS/GR Nationals Des Moines, IA etc.. not one has this issue. Only in KS do we punish people for trying to be frugal and conscious of what we eat. These other places I mentioned aren't perfect but they are at least a little more flexible.

Guys, I can tell you that the Bi-Center staff and the Chamber of Commerce are taking your concerns seriously. We've had a meeting earlier this week with the Bi-Center staff to go over these issues. I also have been in contact with both the Bi-Center staff and the Chamber of Commerce several times since, and they have been forwarding me the emails they are receiving from you.

Some of you may have feel by the response that you have received from Mr. Bird that you are not being taken seriously. I can tell you from the discussions we have had that is not the case.

Currently I've been asked to provide the Chamber and Bi-Center with more information on the tournament and I'm working on putting that together now. I hope to have more information for you in the future.

Rich Zimmerman
Tournament Director
Tournament of Champions

Hossus, the "nonsense" that you experienced getting into a proper age and weight class are covered under the Kansas Kids Bylaws Rule 4-4-2 which is on page 22. If you would like that rule changed you would need to follow Article IX, which covers getting Amendments to the Bylaws passed. This is on page 8. These weren't rules that we put in place, just rules that we had to follow.

http://www.usawks.com/Kids/KidsBylaws2012.pdf

Rich Zimmerman
Tournament Director
Tournament of Champions

Rich, At this point I would not start quoting bylaws in an attempt to save face. Hossus made a comment about the past that really has nothing to do with the price gouging and "Fort Knox" style armed security we encountered last weekend... those I know you HAD no control over. The officiating tho you do have control over and after speaking with several officials, you were turned down by many GREAT officials because the compensation did not match the competition level or the extended hours your event brings.. this post is addressing the venue's issues however, I would recommend reevaluating the wages you are offering so we can get quality officials at this tournament next year if all other issues are resolved.

That's OK we were successful in other venues with a lot more clout than TOC and in the right age/weight/class, go figure. Guess there are a lot of scared folks in KS as the weight spreads in OK and elsewhere are often 100 lbs or more. Nobody has died yet from a wrestling match with my son. However, someone might get beat and that is apparently more tragic in KS. To be the best you have to wrestle the best and we have done that in spades.