Arthur ashe Stadium in New York with a retractable roof

There have been a lot of creative ways for duals to grab attention by placing them in non-traditional venues: football stadiums, baseball fields, barns, aircraft carriers and (my favorite) theaters. Wrestling is a unique sport that can drag a Wrestling mat just about anywhere. It’s a fun advantage that is being used more and more, and the only problem seems to be dew points (and of course rain).

One that I don’t believe that has been properly taken advantage of though is tennis stadiums. The dimensions gave me the idea one day. While football fields and arenas are cool, the floor seating is used to make up for the larger dimensions the arena needs for football/hockey/basketball. However, a tennis court and a wrestling mat are very similar. This got me digging as I don’t know all that much about tennis, but I do know it’s a big money sport.

I was immediately surprised about the size of these stadiums and the amount with roofs (permanent and retractable). The picture above is Arthur Ashe Stadium on Long Island. It seats 23,771 people and has a retractable roof! This could give an intimate view of a Wrestling mat with stadium seating while not being outdoors messing with elements of rain and dew.

The ideas come easy as the World Cup comes to mind (please bring it back!). Not sure why we don’t have more friendly duals anyways. USA vs Japan seems like something that should happen on the regular. I also believe USA vs Canada in women’s should be annual. Real American Freestyle would likely work except for maybe the stage with the walkouts. I also wonder about having a tournament and then having the finals at the stadium which also brings me to how I want the Olympic finals to be like the NCAA finals where it’s a show of all the gold medal matches.

What do you think? Is this smart or just dumb and crazy?

Here are some more: