Final Four - Cary,NC

[bhall123]

I have flown in from out of town for all three of the last Final Fours and your experience certainly impacts how you look at the venue. Baltimore certainly has more storied feel when it comes to lacrosse and has lots of local attractions including going to places like DC and Annapolis or the National Lacrosse HOF. However, it can be trying dealing with the inner city and everything that comes with it (including my car being broken into). Any of the big cities in the Northeast offer similar challenges and advantages. The Baltimore facilities, either Towson or Homewood, are the right size for this event, although the games were sold out in 2022 and I know people who travelled to the USA Lacrosse National Tournament in 2022 and couldn't get tickets.

Cary was also welcoming and the facilities newer and up to the task. The local fans I met were proud of their facilities, happy to host the event, and happy for local fans to be able to attend, while putting NC as a stop on the lacrosse map. Having said that Raleigh Durham is not a place that is easy or cheap to travel to. Many longtime lacrosse fans who attend the event every year from out west like me did not make the trip because of the exorbitant price of airfare and the schedule of flights. I had to fly into Charlotte and drive three hours to make the game. Also, waking up on a rainy Saturday morning in Cary, you find yourself with little to do other than go to the mall.

In conclusion, Cary was an excellent host and the facilities first class, but wouldn't be my first choice as a Final Four destination. As for growing the game, from a Texas perspective, putting the games in UNC and Duke backyard does nothing to bring the game to non-traditional spaces. I vote to send the game to Florida if not keep it in the traditional NE venues.

As a parting note, I have found lacrosse games being played in professional soccer arenas to be a much more intimate or right sized event than bigger football facilities.

[Essexfenwick]

Homewood
Navy Annapolis
Audi Field DC

Are the answer. No other venues will produce a higher quality event