The state and Atlantic City finalized a new three-year deal as announced on Wednesday. Also in the mix to host was the IZOD Center in East Rutherford. When the IZOD withdrew from consideration, the NJSIAA and executive director Steve Timko where left with one alternative. One choice.
Additionally, the dates for this year's tournament -- March 8-9-10 -- are two weeks after regions conclude on Saturday, Feb. 23. This is not unprecedented, but it's certainly not an ideal situation for quite a few in the wrestling community.
"We had no choice [between two venues]," said Timko when reached at his office in Robbinsville on Thursday afternoon. "It's not the week we were hoping for. It's tough being locked in."
One question has been answered, but there a ton of others left to be solved.
Timko said he is trying to meet with his wrestling committee -- including Coaches Association president Dan O'Cone -- in the next few weeks to go over multiple issues and concerns, such as moving dates for districts and regions back a week -- leaving a one week gap between the Groups and districts -- and the possibility of leaving the existing gap between regions and states.
If the committee decides to push districts and regions back one week to close that gap, will schools be allowed to compete during the off-week before districts and will match limits be raised to do so? As of now, schedules and match limits have been satisfied for the most part, leaving schools no margin to work with. Furthermore, how does this impact the spring sports season with later wrestling dates in March?
The new dates in AC also conflict with the EIWA Tournament scheduled to be held at Rutgers that same weekend. A move that isn't sitting well with college coaches, including Scarlet Knights head coach Scott Goodale. The former Jackson coach voiced his displeasure Wednesday via his Twitter account:
"NJ wrestlers don't grow up dreaming of AC they dream of winning a state championship. The venue doesn't matter
"There are multiple problems." Timko said. "I'm aware of them. The other issue is having kids hold weight for two weeks [between regions and states]. It seems like we'd be affecting less kids by keeping the dates as they are for this year. These are decisions I wasn't looking forward to making."
Timko dismissed the possibility of creating a Tournament of Champions to fill that week void should they decide to move districts and regions back one week. He said such a notion would only be possible this year since the dates revert back to the first weekend in March for 2014 and '15.
"It would not work for next year, so why make it a one-year thing?," he said. "I would have to renegotiate a new contract ... and I'm not about to do that."
It's not an ideal situation across the board. So, how did we get to this point? Timko said he submitted a proposal to both Boardwalk Hall and IZOD back on June 19. Yet, somehow, Lady Gaga was booked in AC for Saturday, March 2 -- what would have been the second day of the state tournament.
It's something that puzzles Timko -- who also said this was the first expired contract with Boardwalk Hall. In years past, new and old contracts overlapped so there was never a point where both sides had no agreement for the following year(s) in place.
"Boardwalk Hall has treated me very well," Timko said. "We sent out [proposals] nine months before the event and we put in dates for the next three years. IZOD got the dates right. Somehow, Lady Gaga won out over wrestling [at Boardwalk Hall]. It was probably a business decision."
However, Timko said he received a call from Boardwalk Hall in the interim asking if the NJSIAA would be willing to move the dates back a week. Timko stated at the time that they were not interested in changing dates.
Another interesting tidbit is that Timko was asked by the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference -- in a unanimous vote among 42 athletic directors -- to investigate finding a new venue following the expired agreement with AC in 2012.
So, not all are in favor of keeping the status quo in AC. Travel concerns across schools statewide are also a consideration for a move. The northern half makes annual trips to Toms River for the Group championships and Atlantic City for the State championships.
"[A lot of] people seem happy we're back in Atlantic City," Timko said. "We did investigate the possibility of finding another site. I will argue that there are 160-something exits [actually 130] on the Garden State Parkway and Toms River is No. 82 [Route 37 exit]. The IZOD favors North 1 and North 2. And it's probably not a bad idea since about 66 percent of the wrestlers [in the state tournament] come from Middlesex County and above."
Would IZOD have won out if it hadn't pulled its proposal at the last minute? Timko didn't offer a direct response.
"IZOD withdrew, and that makes it a moot point and a moot question," he offered.
So, now the real work begins.
"I really care about the sport and I've supported the sport," said Timko, who can often be seen attending the District 17 and Region 5 events. "Now I have a situation and I have to deal with it."
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