Carver Hawkeye arena nearly sold out ahead of Olympic wrestling trials

Less than 2,000 tickets remain for the weekend U.S. Olympic wrestling trials in Iowa City. Nearly 12,000 tickets have been sold for each of the two-day events.

"Nobody draws like Iowa, there's no school in this country or community that brings the amount of wrestling fans that Iowa does," said Josh Schamberger, president of the Iowa City-Coralville Area visitors and convention bureau.

No venue has ever sold as many tickets to the wrestling trails, Schamberger said.

"We've led the nation in attendance just for the collegiate wrestling season and so we thought we'd get a good response," said Mike Osmundson, assistant ticket director at the UI ticket office. "The response we've gotten was even better, so we're pretty excited."

People from all over the country are expected to be in the Iowa City area for the event. There is not a single area hotel room available this weekend, Schamberger said.

About 1,500 tickets are still available, according to the UI ticket office.

"For our community to be able to host the best of the best and to have those athletes compete in front of the best fans in the country, it's just going to be a pretty special weekend," said Schamberger.