The National Duals Invitational was first announced about a year ago this month. Most who are on our website are probably already keenly aware that Paycom CEO Chad Richison has supported prize payouts for all teams competing and more for the overall winners. The event is going to take place in Tulsa at the BOK Center this Saturday and Sunday and will be streamed on FloWrestling with the finals on ESPN2.
To most wrestling fans in Oklahoma, this is a great opportunity to watch some of the best college teams in the country. But it can uniquely be a positive economic boost for the state and the city of Tulsa.
I was a finance major in college at OSU. I somewhat randomly fell into wrestling media as a way to give back to a sport that I feel has done a lot for me. I say that only to say that the business of sports and its economic impact has always been an interesting subject to me. I like listening to podcasts on the topic, reading articles, watching YouTube videos, and on and on. One I came across recently was a Forbes interview with OKC Mayor David Holt. I had looked it up with interest regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder and how their NBA Championship may have impacted the city and the state. The interview timing was in the middle of the championship run, so there were some unknowns about tax receipts and things of that nature, but it was obviously a positive for the OKC economy.
But what they went into that jumped out at me was the discussion of the softball Women’s College World Series and its impact on Oklahoma City. Mayor Holt is a huge proponent of all things sports and using them to grow the city and its economy. It’s clearly worked. Oklahoma City is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. Though the Thunder is the central sports focus of Oklahoma City, the softball World Series has a unique advantage for the city and state that the Thunder does not. A large chunk of the money for the softball World Series comes from outside the state. OU is a softball powerhouse, and its local fans flood Devon Stadium every year. Oklahoma State has quite the program in its own right and has a lot of local fans who come out as well. But where the real money is for the city is the fans that travel in from Texas, Texas Tech, LSU, UCLA, and other schools. They stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, go out to bars, and on and on. They wouldn’t otherwise be here if it weren’t for that event being hosted in Oklahoma City. It’s essentially sports tourism for the city and state, and has huge tax/economic implications.
Tulsa and the state have a unique opportunity to create something similar with the National Duals Invitational. Oklahoma State will probably have the largest crowd at the event, but there will be thousands of Iowa fans in Tulsa this weekend. Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State, and Northern Iowa all also traditionally travel well. Little Rock and Missouri have a short drive, and every other team in attendance will have their contingents. There are also several generic wrestling fans who are not affiliated with any specific program that will make the trip. Not to mention the media groups like Flo, USA Wrestling, and others. There’s this unique exponential impact from each one of these groups as they come to town. They pay for hotels, they spend at restaurants, they Uber or fuel their vehicles, and they may hit some tourist stops. All these things add up and help the city and state finances.
This event is unique in wrestling. We really don’t know how it’s going to go. This is the first of its kind under this format and with the payouts and support from Paycom. But if it works. If it becomes an annual pilgrimage of the wrestling community to Tulsa each year, it could become what Mayor Holt talks about that Oklahoma City has with the Women’s College World Series. It could be a big boost of tourism and money for the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma. Only time will tell, but the broader city and state outside of the wrestling community should be rooting for its success.
