Is Lacrosse one of College's major sports?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>a few people think so</p>

<p>**44,389 **fans showed up to watch the semi-final match between Duke and Virginia on Saturday:</p>

<p>NCAA.com</a> ? The Official Website of NCAA Championships - Men's Lacrosse</p>

2

<p>The problem with lacrosse is that not every big name sports school has a lacrosse program.</p>

3

<p>^ True ^</p>

<p>It is definitely a sport that has been constantly growing over the last fifteen or so years.</p>

4

<p>Yup, that’s why they hold the Final Four in Baltimore! :)</p>

<p>I love lacrosse - it ought to be a wildly popular sport, but it’s held back by its common perception as a sport for only privileged preppies from private academies. One nice response on behalf of the sport is the college Player of the Year trophy, the Tewaaraton trophy, which is named after the Mohawk word for the sport. The award is endorsed by the the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and each year recognizes one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The award foundation also provides college scholarships for native American high school lacrosse players.</p>

5

<p>Yes fully agree, the sport has been growing significantly over the last 15 years…</p>

<p>It is getting a lot of attention in high schools far away from the Long Island, NY/Baltimore, MD center of Lacrosse, such as Southern California.</p>

6

<p>It’s even getting to be decently sized in Arizona. But it’s a major college sport, IF you’re going to a college that has a team. I.e. are on the East Coast, at a major sports school.</p>

7

<p>Its a regional sport. Hockey is the same way. In Wisconsin, “Lacrosse” is the name of the 2nd best public school in the state, not a major sport. But Hockey is big-time, with Hockey as one of UWs biggest draws.</p>

<p>If Hockey and Lacrosse could ever combine (wouldn’t hockey with lacrosse sticks and balls be an awesome sport?) it would be huge. But it seems to me that either of those two sports tend to be popular in the places where the other is not.</p>

8

<p>hockey and lacrosse are close to being the best sports to watch in person…</p>

<p>here is little more about attendance at hockey games:</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_Stadium_(East_Lansing[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_Stadium_(East_Lansing)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>On October 6, 2001, a rink was constructed at the center of the stadium for Michigan State’s season-opening game against archrival Michigan. Dubbed “The Cold War”, **74,554 **watched No. 1 nationally ranked Michigan State and No. 4 nationally ranked Michigan skate to a 3–3 tie.</p>

9

<p>

Not. The Ivy League is a power in both.</p>

10

<p>Lacrosse is a regional sport, just like Water Polo, Volleyball and perhaps Softball.</p>

<p>And they already have a mix of Ice hockey and Lacrosse. It’s called Field Hockey, and it’s older than both of the others.</p>

11

<p>Lacrosse has seen a big climb over the last few years in Missouri, it was unknown a couple of years ago. I don’t play, but I think it’s an interesting sport that just caught on earlier in the east than other parts of the country.</p>

12

<p>when a school’s Lacrosse program funds the basketball and football teams, plus all the other minor sports, then it will be deemed a major sport. The reality is, at most schools the Lacrosse program only exists because of football and/or basketball.</p>

13

<p>BUT, at places like Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, lacrosse is able to bring in some money, because at those schools it is a major sport. On the west coast, though, it’s mostly club or DIII.</p>

14

<p>“some money” vs “funding the entire sports program”…hmmmmmmm</p>

15

<p>Some money meaning I’m fairly certain, given attendance at games and Duke and other merchandise sold due to lacrosse, that they manage at the least to fund themselves.</p>

16

<p>ha!</p>

<p>how true</p>

<p>

</p>

17

<p>“Some money meaning I’m fairly certain, given attendance at games and Duke and other merchandise sold due to lacrosse, that they manage at the least to fund themselves”</p>

<p>so, that would make it a break even sport, not a major sport</p>

18

<p>2009 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse
Average Home Attendance Leaders</p>

<ol>
<li>Syracuse 5,832 </li>
<li>Ohio State 5,762 </li>
<li>Navy 5,263 </li>
<li>Johns Hopkins 3,036 </li>
<li>Massachusetts 2,930 </li>
<li>Virginia 2,712 </li>
<li>Hofstra 2,455 </li>
<li>Cornell 2,317 </li>
<li>Towson 2,187</li>
<li>Loyola 2,084</li>
<li>North Carolina 1,769</li>
<li>Maryland 1,653</li>
<li>Princeton 1,599</li>
<li>Stony Brook 1,554</li>
<li>Duke 1,527</li>
<li>Georgetown 1,517</li>
<li>UMBC 1,333</li>
<li>Harvard 1,271</li>
<li>Brown 1,038</li>
<li>Rutgers 1,034</li>
</ol>

19

<p>Average attendance by sport:</p>

<p>Division 1 College Football—46,971
FCS College Football—8823
Div 1 Men’s Basketball—5277
Div 1 Men’s Hockey—3985</p>

<p>(those figures are for ALL schools in that category—2008 year)</p>

<p>So even the BEST HOME attendance at the most Lacrosse crazy colleges by and large don’t even exceed the average attendance for ALL schools in basketball, and are blown away by even the small schools football attendance. I think this pretty much definitively ends the original query.</p>

20

<p>Lacrosse is a great sport and is very exciting to watch, but it is not a major college sport. Who knows what the future may hold, but as of right now only football and basketball deserve to be characterized as “major” college sports.</p>