Lacrosse to become Division I at Michigan

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Again I am talking about college sports and the data does not seem to match this comment </p>

<p>States with both D1 hockey and lacrosse = VT, MA, NH, RI, CT. PA, NY, MI, OH, IN, CO</p>

<p>States with only D1 hockey = ME, WI, MN, ND, AL, NE</p>

<p>State with only D1 lacrosse = MD, VA, NC, DE, DC(sort of a state), IL, KY, FL</p>

<p>College hockey is ahead in the northen midwest … and I see the bunch of the Big10 schools as the most likely significant adds to the college hockey D1 line-up which will further strenghten it’s precense in the midwest (and would be great!) … do you really see ACC, SEC, Big-12. or PAC10 schools picking up varisty hockey programs in the next 10-20 years? (BTW - I can see a bunch of WAC schools also adding hockey) Hockey may have precense in states like Florida, California, and Texas but it is a professional presence.</p>

<p>College lacrosse has already moved further into the mid-atlantic region than college hockey (which inludes 1/3 of the ACC schools). Youth lax has justed started to take hold in the midwest and is just starting in the south and west … to me it certainly seems much more likely more ACC schools, SEC, Big12, and Pac10 schools decide to pick up lax than will pick up hockey.</p>

<p>As far as the commerical viability of lax I think soccer is the best parallel … it’s taken 40 years for professional soccer to get established in the US … while pro lax is about 5 years into the same curve. Again, when the parents buying tickets grew up playing soccer and lacrosse I think the dynamics of attendence and what can be charged will adjust a lot. At the college level as youth particiaption of lax continues to skyrocket and there the number of admission slots and scholarships for lax match soccer and baseball (and way outpace hockey) I believe lax will arrive on par at the level below college football and basketball.</p>

<p>PS - this discussion is helping me procrastinate a ton!</p>

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<p>3togo, the PAC 10 and the Big 12 will actually pick Hockey before they pick Lacrosse. 8 PAC 10 universities already have club Hockey programs not unlike Michigan’s Lacrosse program. Colorado, Missouri and Nebraska already have successful hockey programs and a Hockey league being established there is also a possibility. It goes back to the popularity of the sport (which inspires far more passion than Lacrosse) and commercial viability. Hockey programs come close to breaking even. Some even make a tiny profit. Lacrosse programs, like any non-revenue sport, are considered a drain. </p>

<p>I agree with the ACC and SEC not picking up Hockey anytime soon. However, at schools that have both sports, Hockey is much more important than Lacrosse. Lacrosse can find a niche in many schools because it is relatively cheap (coaches and facilities cost nothing), but they will never be popular, not anymore than Gymnastics or Softball. Take the schools where Lacrosse is popular and compare those programs to the schools where Hockey is popular. Do you honestly believe there are Lacrosse programs that come close to inspiring the popularity and passion students have for Hockey are the top programs? I have been to Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Syracuse Lacrosse games back in 2003 and 2004 and it did not come anywhere near the atmosphere of Hockey games at Michigan or Cornell.</p>

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<p>well we’ve both been posting on CC for 5 years or so … so we might still be here to see how it plays out!</p>

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<p>True, we will probably be around in 5 years. Let us revive our conversation then! ;)</p>

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<p>I do not find college lacrosse boring at all, actually I think it is one of the great sports. It has exciting action and tempo similar to college hockey, in stretches , but there is more scoring. Yet not so much as basketball, where they are basically scoring every time they are running down the court. So scoring is still a big deal, yet not altogether so rare as soccer or pro hockey. To me it’s a good balance.</p>

<p>To me,as a student spectator it is basically irrelevant as to what sport is more prominent nationally, in aggregate. What is relevant is what sports are prominent, and competitive, at YOUR school, in the league they play in. </p>

<p>Some of the schools that are really good in hockey, or lacrosse are not really good in most of those “more nationally popular” sports; maybe only a couple, or none at all. On their campuses, hockey is the big thing, and they simply don’t follow those other sports as closely. Unless, by some fluke, they happen to get good at them for a while, which actually happened to my alma mater, but it was just a temporary fluke IMO. Lacrosse can get a following at such schools the same way.But it is played on a big field, not a contained rink, so it is difficult to get the same feel of fan intensity as one can get in a college hockey venue.</p>

<p>At the schools where lacrosse is big, it does get a decent following. Whether that is the case nationally or not, who cares, you are not going to school across some national aggegate, you are going to one particular school, and if it is big there, that is mostly what counts IMO.</p>

<p>Michigan may be in a different position than many of these of these other schools though, since it is actually competitive in all those more “nationally prominent” sports. Perhaps lacrosse can be a bigger deal at Johns Hopkins because Hopkins will not be playing Michigan in football any time soon.</p>

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<p>Relativity is fine Monydad, but those who support Lacrosse should acknowledge that it is not an important sport rather than claiming that it is more important than Hockey and significantly more important than Soccer. The fact is, Lacrosse is nowhere nearly as important as Hockey and is not quite yet at the level of soccer, although I agree that in a few years, it could match it. </p>

<p>This said, Lacrosse will never overtake Soccer or match Hockey. It just won’t happen. I have observed Lacrosse since my boarding school days back in 1986. In 25 years, it has not made a dent on the national level. In the meanwhile, the US has hosted the World Cup in soccer once and made a strong case for hosting it a second time. NHL teams have sprung in several cities around the US, increasing the profile of the sport. </p>

<p>If Michigan did not have football or hockey programs, we would be bragging about our gymnastics, field hockey, softball and swimming teams. Would that make them nationally relevant? Of course not. At most schools with strong Lacrosse programs, Lacrosse takes a backseat to another sport. At Syracuse, both Football and Basketball eclipse Lacrosse. At Notre Dame, Football, Hockey and Baskebtall do. At Duke and UNC, Basketball does. At UVa, Football does. At Princeton, Basketball does. The only school I can think of where Lacrosse is considered the primary sport is JHU. </p>

<p>I can see why some would like the sport. It is a popular high school game that many remimisce about, but it hardly can be considered a major sport, even at schools where . Let us face it, if a school sucked at Lacrosse, would anybody at that school even talk about it?</p>

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<p>“The fact is, Lacrosse is nowhere nearly as important as Hockey”
Not nationally. But a given student does not go to college nationally. He goes to school at a particular university. And its possible that at a particular university that you happen to go to, lacrosse could be more important there than hockey is. You might go to Johns Hopkins, for one. and if that’s the case, who cares about nationally, you go to Hopkins not a nation. I don’t hear much about the hockey programs at UVA or duke.</p>

<p>"The only school I can think of where Lacrosse is considered the primary sport is JHU. "
Perhaps so, but it is a followed, relatively prominent secondary sport at a number of other colleges/ universities. And if you go to one of these schools it is relevant. If you don’t, it isn’t. But IMO a student mostly cares about the sports that are relevant at the school he goes to. At least that’s how I felt when I was in college. YMMV.</p>

<p>Currently my alma mater is ranked #2 nationally and is playing a big home game this weekend, I’m thinking of going up there for it (and other things).</p>

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<p>I agree with all you that you say monydad. I never disputed that in some quarters, Lacrosse is a popular sport. Hopefully, it will add to the Michigan community.</p>

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<p>OK … wasting time while watching the NCAA Lax tournament (and NBA and NHL playoffs tonight) I checked out some other info about college lax … </p>

<p>In a previous post I compared the schools that had DI men’s hockey versus DI men’s lax … here is some information about DI women’s hockey versus DI women’s lax.</p>

<p>Among the 37 DI women’s hockey programs these are the BSC conference schools with DI hockey programs … </p>

<p>** Midwest
Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Syracuse, </p>

<p>** Northeast
UConn. Providence, BC, Maine, and the IVYies.</p>

<p>Among the 91 DI lacrosse programs (yes there are 2 1/2 times as many lax teams already) these are the BSC conference schools with DI lax programs … </p>

<p>** Northeast
BC, Syracuse, UConn, Ivies</p>

<p>** Mid-Atlantic
Villanova, Maryland, UNC, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, Navy</p>

<p>** South
Florida, Vanderbilt</p>

<p>** Midwest
Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Louisville, Cincinnati</p>

<p>** West
Stanford, Oregon, Cal, UC Davis</p>

<p>Women’s lax has already made much bigger inroads into the south and west than I realized</p>