Cedar Rapids loses wrestling tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS - The NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships originally scheduled for March 9-10 2012 at the U.S. Cellular Center won't be held in Cedar Rapids because of conflicts with the facility's renovation and expansion schedule.

Upper Iowa University had been selected to host the national tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center by the NCAA Championships Committee for the second time in four years. It was expected to generate about 1,200 room nights from 160 visiting athletes and their coaches for the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel. Referees and Upper Iowa University staff were to stay at the Marriott in Cedar Rapids.

The event also was expected to attract about 1,600 spectators.

Upper Iowa University has indicated it is interested in hosting the national tournament at the center after expansion and renovations in 2014, the next available opportunity for the Waverly-based university to host the event, according to Mary Lee Malmberg, director of sports tourism for the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Malmberg said Cedar Rapids encouraged Upper Iowa University to relocate the event to the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, but the NCAA nixed the idea. A major issue was that the ice arena did not have attached hotel facilities.

“That's the experience they wanted to provide for their student athletes,” Malmberg said.

The success of the Upper Iowa University-hosted 2008 NCAA Division II Wrestling tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center and Crowne Plaza Five Seasons in Cedar Rapids appeared to narrow preferences for tournament venues, according to Howie Thompson, director of sports communication services at Upper Iowa University.

Thompson said athletes found that returning to their hotel rooms between matches could help them stay focused, and tournaments since that time have been held in similar arenas attached to hotels.

Malmberg took the loss of the tournament philosophically.

“Any time you are going to get something new and wonderful, you are going to have some growing pains,” she said, referring to the expansion of the city's events center.

---- The events center currently known as the U.S. Cellular Center is expected to close in August 2011 and reopen in time for the state girls high school volleyball tournament in November 2012. The Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel is expected to close at the end of February for about six months. Thompson said he's heard no word on where the 2012 tournament will now be held.