‘Cow Palace’ to remain state wrestling home

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestlers set the mats — under the direction of coach Heath Eslinger — inside McKenzie Arena on Wednesday in preparation for the Southern Scuffle, the top national college wrestling tournament. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestlers set the mats — under the direction of coach Heath Eslinger — inside McKenzie Arena on Wednesday in preparation for the Southern Scuffle, the top national college wrestling tournament.

By Ward Gossett February 18, 2017 4 min read

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – There are no plans for the TSSAA to move the state wrestling events from the Williamson County Agricultural Expo, nor are there designs to split the tournament to different sites.

And for the record, the TSSAA, which had used the cow and pony arena for free from 2010 to 2015, began paying rent with the 2016 tournaments – to the tune of $2,000 per day.

“We started paying $10,000 for the use of the facility last year,” TSSAA assistant executive director Mark Reeves said this weekend.

While free use of the “Cow Palace” might have offset the lack of shower facilities and been enough reason to overlook possible health issues, Reeves surprisingly mentioned that the per-day cost was similar to what the state paid to use Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena.

“We’re always looking for possible (alternative) venues,” he said. “But we’re unlike other states in having access to big facilities, and I don’t think there is a high school facility in the state big enough to hold such events.”