Chad Richison has long been a fierce proponent of wrestling, encouraging new initiatives and funding different projects.
But now, the Paycom founder and CEO is launching a first-of-its-kind college wrestling event in his home state. The inaugural National Duals Invitational, sponsored by Richison's Paycom, will be held Nov. 15-16 at Tulsa's BOK Center with a total purse of more than $1 million.
Yes, a purse for a college wrestling tournament.
National Wrestling Coaches Association executive director Mike Moyer calls the new event a game changer.
"Due to the unprecedented challenges in NCAA Division I athletics today," he said in a release, "it is more imperative than ever to have more big moments in intercollegiate wrestling so we can substantially grow our fan base and viewership."
Half of the squads in the 16-team event, which OSU will serve as the host school for, will earn payouts with the winning team taking home $200,000. Second and third will earn $150,000, fourth $75,000 while fifth through eighth earns between $50,000 and $20,000.
Each team will receive $20,000 just for participating.
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Funding of that magnitude is rare in college sports outside of football and basketball. And they may continue to be the big winners when revenue sharing kicks in -- possibly even pushing schools to drop sports or sports to be cut entirely.
Wrestling is one of the sports with an unknown future, and that was the case before this current shift of the landscape. Over the past 50 years, the number of Division I programs has almost been cut in half, from 155 in 1975 to 79 this season, according to FloWrestling.
"Investing in student-athletes and non-income-generating sports is important in today's ever-evolving collegiate landscape," Richison said in a release.
Richison wrestled growing up in Tuttle, then in college at the University of Central Oklahoma. Through the Richison Family Foundation and Oklahoma City-based Paycom, he has supported upgrades to facilities at both places as well as pouring millions into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater and the wrestling programs at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Richison has done everything from throwing his support behind OSU's hire of first-year head coach David Taylor to providing endowments for coaches around Oklahoma. His Tech Fall Foundation gives endowments between $1,000 and $7,000 to four coaches in the state.
Now, his efforts to support wrestling are going even bigger and broader with the National Duals Invitational.
"Bringing a prestigious wrestling tournament of this magnitude to Oklahoma is exciting for the sport," OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a release, "and the winnings will be significant in helping universities build out their programs at an even higher level.
"We continue to be grateful for Mr. Richison and Paycom's support of wrestling in the state of Oklahoma and nationally."
Participating teams and ticket details for the National Duals Invitational will be announced no later than July 15.
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Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or [email protected]. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.