NIAA’s wrestling tournament decision comes at the expense of Southern Nevada families

For decades, Nevada high school wrestling followed a simple tradition: the state tournament alternated between northern and southern Nevada. It was a matter of basic fairness. Wrestlers from every corner of the state had the opportunity to compete for a state championship without being required to travel hundreds of miles year after year.

That tradition has now effectively been abandoned.

The NIAA’s decision to hold the 2A, 3A and Girls’ State Wrestling Championships in Fallon means that, for the third consecutive year, southern Nevada wrestlers and their families will be required to travel north.

This isn’t a new issue. The NIAA has known for months exactly how southern Nevada coaches, athletes and families feel about this decision.

Last year, families traveling to Winnemucca experienced what happens when hundreds of wrestling families are funneled into a limited number of hotel rooms. Hotel prices increased dramatically, leaving families with few affordable options. Those who waited too long to book paid the price.

This year, Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite offered to host the 2A and 3A boys’ state tournament. Mesquite has significant hotel capacity, and Virgin Valley has two gymnasiums capable of accommodating a large wrestling event.

So the question is straightforward: Why isn’t the NIAA seriously considering a southern Nevada venue that is willing and capable of hosting the tournament?

The answer appears to come down, at least in part, to money.

Northern venues have been willing to provide facilities at little or no cost to the NIAA. That may look attractive on a spreadsheet, but a statewide athletic association cannot measure the cost of a tournament solely by the facility rental fee it pays.

The real cost is being shifted from the NIAA to Nevada families.

Southern Nevada parents will pay for gasoline, meals and hotels. They will take additional days off work, put hundreds of additional miles on their vehicles and rearrange family schedules. Fuel prices in Nevada remain among the highest they have been in years.

A free venue is not really free when hundreds of families are required to absorb the travel expenses created by that decision.

The expense doesn’t end when families arrive

Families will also have to pay admission to watch their children compete.

Consider what that means for a southern Nevada family traveling north for the third consecutive year: gasoline, multiple nights of lodging, meals, lost work time—and then admission just to enter the building and watch their child wrestle.

There is nothing inherently wrong with charging admission to a state championship. But when the NIAA receives a venue at no cost while families absorb the transportation, lodging and meal expenses, it is fair to ask whether the organization is considering the total cost of its decisions.

The venue may be free to the NIAA, but this tournament is anything but free for the families.

There is also a serious scheduling problem.

The NIAA chose to hold the 4A and 5A boys’ state tournaments at Las Vegas-area high schools this year. Most Nevada wrestling coaches coach both boys and girls teams. Consequently, a southern 4A or 5A coach may have to travel to Fallon on Feb. 19-20 to coach girls, then travel back south the following week and coach their boys. Northern 5A coaches face the exact opposite trip.

This is an unnecessary burden created by the tournament structure itself. This is also a question of financial planning.

The NIAA has demonstrated that it can generate substantial annual surpluses—$409,584 in 2022 and $123,596 in 2025—while maintaining significant financial reserves.

The question for the wrestling community is therefore not simply whether the NIAA has money, but how it chooses to allocate and preserve those resources when making decisions that impose substantial costs on participating families.

If a suitable southern Nevada venue costs six figures to rent, the NIAA should ask what that cost would look like with proper long-term planning. A multi-year commitment could provide a venue owner valuable certainty. Rather than negotiating a new location every year, the NIAA could guarantee several years of state championship events and negotiate a discounted annual rate in exchange. If the same venue were used for wrestling and basketball every other year, a long-term contract seems like a no-brainer. 

Instead of treating the state tournament venue as a year-to-year expense, the NIAA should treat it as a long-term statewide investment.

The NIAA should ask whether saving money on the venue actually saves money for Nevada families. In this case, it does not. It simply transfers the expense.

Moreover, if facility costs were eliminated in back-to-back years, what happened to those budgeted funds? An organization committed to competitive fairness should retain those savings specifically to fund a southern Nevada venue and balance the travel burden.

State championships should serve the entire state

There is nothing wrong with holding a state tournament in Fallon, Winnemucca, Reno or anywhere else in northern Nevada. Northern Nevada schools and families deserve equitable consideration just as southern Nevada schools do. But equity means both regions get that consideration.

For decades, alternating the tournament between the north and south recognized that a statewide championship belongs to the entire state. Three consecutive years in the north is no longer an alternating system. It places a significant burden disproportionately on one region.

The issue has been raised repeatedly by coaches, programs and the Southern Nevada Wrestling Coaches Association. A southern high school offered its facilities, and Mesquite has the hotel infrastructure to support visiting families.

In a poll conducted by the Southern Nevada Wrestling Coaches Association, 21 different southern Nevada programs identified “holding the state wrestling tournament in the south every other year” as one of their two most important issues.

The message could hardly be clearer: hold the tournament in the south every other year! They have explained why, offered solutions and provided a qualified venue.

The NIAA has nevertheless chosen to continue sending southern Nevada families north. At this point, it is difficult not to conclude that the NIAA’s cost savings have been given greater weight than fairness and geographic equity for southern Nevada families.

State championships should bring Nevada’s athletes together—not repeatedly require one half of the state to shoulder the travel burden because the other half can provide a less expensive building. The NIAA is capable of planning years ahead, negotiating contracts and maintaining reserves. It should also be capable of making decisions that recognize the costs imposed on the families it serves.

Nevada high school wrestlers deserve a state championship tournament that is truly statewide.

And for the families making the trip this year, my advice is simple: Book your hotel now. Do not wait until the last minute and hope reasonably priced rooms will still be available. Southern Nevada families learned what happened in Winnemucca last year when demand overwhelmed available lodging.

Your wrestler will have earned the right to compete at the state championship. Families should not have to earn the right to afford the trip there.

Ryan Anderson
Moapa Valley, Nevada