Plans for the Dan Gable Donnybrook wrestling tournament were unveiled by Xtream Arena and GreenState Family Fieldhouse. The 32-team individual format will include some of the best high school teams from Iowa and the surrounding states on December 4-5, 2020.  It will include both a boys and girls division and marks the first announced sporting event for the facility.

“A ‘donnybrook’ is a free-for-all brawl,” said one of the new event’s key sponsors, Josh Schamberger, President of Think Iowa City. “Our hope is that through exceptional event production and top level competition – both attributes that are required with an event that boasts Dan Gable as its namesake – that wrestlers from the Midwest and ultimately the country will put this tournament on the top of their list. My goal as a sponsor and supporter of this event is nothing short of making the Dan Gable Donnybrook the high school aged equivalent of the Yarygin in Siberia.”

“I am excited to join Josh, Nathan and their teams to help develop this new annual tournament here in Coralville. Josh and his team have played significant roles in producing the Olympic Wrestling Trials and UWW World Cup events so I know it will be a top notch event,” said tournament namesake and wrestling legend Dan Gable.

Any/all annual proceeds of the Donnybrook will be split between two area non-profit efforts. The first is the Veteran’s Liberty Center in Iowa City. This non-profit provides assistance to Veterans with counseling, job assistance, mobility, transportation, and food and clothing assistance. The second beneficiary will be in the form of establishing a fund to better promote and grow women’s wrestling in Iowa.

“The new facilities set to open next August in Coralville are perfect for this event,” said Nathan Eichorst, chief event organizer. “We’ll be utilizing both Xtream Arena and the GreenState Family Fieldhouse. The atmosphere that weekend will be awesome!”

The tournament format is a team individual invitational. Teams are invited, but wrestlers will be seeded and bracketed to compete individually and earn points for their team.

“This tournament has my name on it. So you better come to compete,” added Gable. “Anyone who wins this tournament will have accomplished something special.”