Buying a wrestling mat is probably one of the most important – and most costly things – that your wrestling team or club is going to buy. They can range from $4.50 a square foot down to $1.50 per square foot. Because it is measured by square foot, it is easy to see how you can get very pricey very fast. Think floor space, then wall space and if you have any support columns, you’ll want to cover those as well. An average high school wrestling mat is between 32′ x 32′ and 40′ x 40′. Plug in the cost for the smaller, cheaper, mat and your running $1,500. For the larger, new wrestling mat, it would be $7,200. That’s just for the floor. At those prices, you better know what you’re doing when you buy a new wrestling mat. To help out, we’ve written this up. Hope it helps!
Wrestling Mat Type
The first thing you’ll need to do is choose the type of wrestling mat you want. In North America, there are basically two types of wrestling mats. We’ll only focus on the more popular one in the wrestling world and the leading brand – Resilite polyvinylchloride (PVC) foam wrestling mats. These PVC foam wrestling mats are usually an inch to 1 1/4 inch thick, giving plenty of impact protection. They are nice and heavy, being made out of the PVC material. This also makes them very dense, which gives them their impact protection and shock absorption. Most of the time they are covered on both sides and around the edges, which the mat life and makes it easy to and possible to recondition and/or repair them. It also protects the mat from kids gauging it and picking at the foam. This extends the mat life even more. If you take care of your wrestling mat, you can easily get 10-15 years out of it. If you repair any gouges, marks and/or scrapes in the mat and recondition it when needed, you could double that life span.
Wrestling Mat Size
Most mats are made to order – aka CUSTOM WRESTLING MAT. In the case of high school and college, there are regulations that you have to follow about the size. The NCAA requires a 42′ x 42′ mat with a circle for wrestling of at least 32′. High schools, though, only require 38′ X 38′ with a circle of at least 28′. (Check these sizes in your state, because they may vary a little bit.)
Usually there are only two sizes for home wrestling mats: 10′ x 10′ or 12′ x 12′. Home mats are awesome for younger wrestlers that want to get a bit more practice on their own time outside of regular practice hours or during the off season.
* 10′ x 10′ (small home)
* 12′ x 12′ (average home)
* 20′ x 20′ (large home/small school)
* 30′ x 30′ (small school)
* 32′ x 32′ (regular school)
* 38′ x 38′ (regular school)
* 40′ x 40′ (regular school/small college)
* 42′ x 42′ (large schoo/average college)
For customized wrestling mats you’ll need to account for shrinkage because most mats WILL shrink during the manufacturing process. Usually, you’ll need to plan on between 2-6% shrinkage, especially if you are trying to lay the mat from wall to wall. If you fail to plan for the shrinking, you could up in gaps, which can possibly cause some twisted ankles and other injuries. Never fun. Check with the manufacturer for the exact amount when placing your order, because each mat type and manufacturer will be different.
Mat Colors
You can choose almost any color or combination of colors for your new mats. The standard colors include:
* Black
* Burnt Orange
* Cardinal Red
* Columbia Blue
* Chocolate Brown
* Dark Green
* Dark Maroon
* Light Maroon
* Gray
* Light Gray
* Kelly Green
* Light Gold
* Medium Green
* Navy Blue
* Old Gold
* Penn State Blue
* Orange
* Purple
* Teal
* White
Depending on the layout of the mat you can also choose to have multiple colors on your mat. For example, on a standard layout, you may choose Columbia Blue as the main color and white for the lines, lettering and insignia.
Mat Layout
Most mats come in a variety of layouts including the standard freestyle and international layouts. In addition, you can also choose to have a two tone, a three tone layout or smaller practice circles.
Mat Costs
WYou can expect to pay around $3.50 – $4.50 US per square foot for a new wrestling mat. Therefore, a new 40′ x 40′ wrestling mat will cost between $5600 – $7200. If your budget is tight you can get an old, reconditioned mat (PVC mats only) for around $1.50-$1.75 per square foot. Depending on your location and the distance from the manufacturer, the shipping costs can also add a substantial cost to the final cost. The good thing about WrestleFattie is we include the shipping costs in the price. (Continnental U.S. only – even for schools!)
Extras
Yes, there are accessories even with wrestling mats. The last step is choose letter and school insignias. Most manufactures will print your school name and or logo on one or both sides for an extra cost. Once you have the mat designed, however, start thinking walls and columns. Are you going to need to offer protection there as well or are you in a room big enough that wrestlers aren’t going to be hitting against the wall? If you have support columns for the ceiling, it would be a stupid move NOT to get them padded to at least 6′ high.
You’ll also want to look at mat carriers and mat cleaners. Ask the manufacturer what works best for your specific mat!
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