Wrestling Fans Prefer Events Center At Arena

SIOUX FALLS, SD - For the last few months Sioux Falls has debated where a new events center should go, downtown, or by the arena and convention center. 

With the state wrestling tournament in town this weekend KELOLAND News decided to ask the spectators who come to Sioux Falls their opinion on the events center location debate.

"Forty years we've been coming here," Wanda Dilley of Pierre said as she watched the wrestling matches Friday night at the Sioux Falls Arena.

Dilley is one of the fans who has been coming to the arena for decades and she knows about the importance of location because she's a real estate agent in Pierre.

"I really prefer that it should be here," Dilley said about the location for a new events center.

The same can be said for fans from the western side of the state.

"We'd probably prefer it here," Jim Montieth of Spearfish said at the Sioux Falls Arena Friday night. "It's pretty spacious. I know when we come here it's real close to the interstate so if you stay in a hotel you can get to the center easier and stuff."

Montieth thinks a new events center should be built by the arena because it's easier to get in and get out. 

"Easier access, I was expecting traffic after this first session and there wasn't any," Montieth said about the wrestling tournament. "A lot of outlets to get away from and stuff."

Even Sioux Falls fans are still wrestling with issue of where the facility should go.

"I think it should be some other place. I think out by that new Marion Road interchange would be a real nice spot where you've got good access to both interstates and plenty of parking, and be able to get traffic in and out," Mark Schoenfelder from Sioux Falls said. 

Easy access for traffic and parking is the one thing that most out of town fans had on their mind when it came to where a new events center should go.

"When you come out from out of town this is very easy to find, just very easy. You don't have to meander through going to the eastern part of the city," Dilley said.

But, while these fans have their opinion in the end Sioux Falls will pin down the final location.