Collegiate Lacrosse Coverage is Lacking

[1766]

Attendance at games is around 3k for most venues? Not enough revenue in the sport. When commentators continuously explain the rules (it's not where the ball goes out of bounds etc, etc), It will remain niche for a while.

There needs to be a whole sale change in the people commenting particularly at ESPN. It's a bro fest and makes the game seem smaller than it is. A few personal stories here or there are cool but those guys are way to chummy. No one cares how big another guys biceps are or what Kessenich doesn't eat.

Get real professionals in the game.

[BigTom5]

Just out of curiosity... what are people looking for in terms of better lacrosse coverage? I'm just curious what the ideal looks like.

Many years ago, when I was more closely involved in both lacrosse and field hockey on a regular basis I recognized there was a gap and explored the possibilities around creating some freelance outlet that did reporting and podcasts. I had a couple of ideas at the time, but I think the reality is that there just isnt really a huge audience for someone to put in the time and effort to create content for so few people to read/listen to your content, which would make it really hard to monetize.

Maybe I am in the minority, but I’d love a podcast that goes deep in breaking down the key factors that determined the outcomes of the biggest games each weekend. Talk about schemes, personnel matchups, in-game adjustments, what performances were sustainable/repeatable vs fortunate, how results may impact the teams going forward, etc.

I think Deemer Class and Matt Dunn do a good job of this on youtube, as does Jon Donville. I think Larken Kemp does a great job at this when he guests spots on other peoples podcasts. I think Andy Towers was great at it (and supremely entertaining while doing it).

I understand that not everyone wants a podcast that goes that deep into the x’s and o’s, but we are oversaturated with really bad content from people who just read the box score or at best watched the 10 min youtube highlights. I would pay a monthly subscription fee for quality content, just give me something decent to listen to as I drive my kids to school on Monday mornings!

[MDlaxfan76]

. Forget the Memorial Day weekend format, go into June as needed.

That is never going to happen as long as the games are being shown on ESPN. If you will look at ESPN right now, it is all college baseball and softball. Why, because it gets better numbers than lacrosse. Move the FF into June and you might as well move it to July, because it won't be on TV. Now, maybe that isn't the worst thing in the world - it would certainly drive up attendance at the games but likely not going to grow the sport.

Let’s assume you are correct, though I’m not so sure that ESPN would not do the Championship a week or two later.

But let’s assume. Fine, do all levels of the Finals on Memorial Day weekend. Women, Men, D1, 2 and 3, heck club. One location, make it an event. Do the women and men Semis together in one venue over a weekend, different venues by level.

We picked up a weekend by eliminating the superfluous league playoffs.

The NCAA prioritizes tv revenue not the sport.

[1766]

. Forget the Memorial Day weekend format, go into June as needed.

That is never going to happen as long as the games are being shown on ESPN. If you will look at ESPN right now, it is all college baseball and softball. Why, because it gets better numbers than lacrosse. Move the FF into June and you might as well move it to July, because it won't be on TV. Now, maybe that isn't the worst thing in the world - it would certainly drive up attendance at the games but likely not going to grow the sport.

Let’s assume you are correct, though I’m not so sure that ESPN would not do the Championship a week or two later.

But let’s assume. Fine, do all levels of the Finals on Memorial Day weekend. Women, Men, D1, 2 and 3, heck club. One location, make it an event. Do the women and men Semis together in one venue over a weekend, different venues by level.

We picked up a weekend by eliminating the superfluous league playoffs.

The NCAA prioritizes tv revenue not the sport.

Move away from ESPN in that case. MD weekend was great for a long time but it's time move on from that hard date and play into June. The game will be better off, particularly the front end of the season. Seeing more than half of the teams in the North play in cold crappy weather isn't helping the sport.

[MDlaxfan76]

. Forget the Memorial Day weekend format, go into June as needed.

That is never going to happen as long as the games are being shown on ESPN. If you will look at ESPN right now, it is all college baseball and softball. Why, because it gets better numbers than lacrosse. Move the FF into June and you might as well move it to July, because it won't be on TV. Now, maybe that isn't the worst thing in the world - it would certainly drive up attendance at the games but likely not going to grow the sport.

Let’s assume you are correct, though I’m not so sure that ESPN would not do the Championship a week or two later.

But let’s assume. Fine, do all levels of the Finals on Memorial Day weekend. Women, Men, D1, 2 and 3, heck club. One location, make it an event. Do the women and men Semis together in one venue over a weekend, different venues by level.

We picked up a weekend by eliminating the superfluous league playoffs.

The NCAA prioritizes tv revenue not the sport.

Move away from ESPN in that case. MD weekend was great for a long time but it's time move on from that hard date and play into June. The game will be better off, particularly the front end of the season. Seeing how more than half of the teams in the North play in cold crappy weather isn't helping the sport.

I’m also not so sure ESPN wouldn’t find a channel to run the premier games live regardless of which weekend. Maybe less $ paid, but enough for a USILA tournament process.

I quite agree about moving calendar back. I’m fine with playing some early season out of conference matchups in a round robin setting in a southern clime, and some midweek local out of conference games , but most of the attention should be on weekend daytime contests in conference. That’s where the rivalry matchups make for great in person viewing and if ESPN or Fox or Amazon or whoever wants to screen those games later instead of live, fine.

[Hooz123]

Inside Lacrosse doesn't even keep their recruiting archive public. You can't even go back two years to look at recruit summaries or commit lists etc. Why? Makes no sense.

Good luck finding anything on the internet about lacrosse recruitment classes going back to 2021, 2020, etc. Yea right. There is no comprehensive database or website that has any of this information.

[norcalhop]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/team/commits/duke/2019

[LaxPundit07]

. Forget the Memorial Day weekend format, go into June as needed.

That is never going to happen as long as the games are being shown on ESPN. If you will look at ESPN right now, it is all college baseball and softball. Why, because it gets better numbers than lacrosse. Move the FF into June and you might as well move it to July, because it won't be on TV. Now, maybe that isn't the worst thing in the world - it would certainly drive up attendance at the games but likely not going to grow the sport.

Let’s assume you are correct, though I’m not so sure that ESPN would not do the Championship a week or two later.

But let’s assume. Fine, do all levels of the Finals on Memorial Day weekend. Women, Men, D1, 2 and 3, heck club. One location, make it an event. Do the women and men Semis together in one venue over a weekend, different venues by level.

We picked up a weekend by eliminating the superfluous league playoffs.

The NCAA prioritizes tv revenue not the sport.

Move away from ESPN in that case. MD weekend was great for a long time but it's time move on from that hard date and play into June. The game will be better off, particularly the front end of the season. Seeing more than half of the teams in the North play in cold crappy weather isn't helping the sport.

If you go into June, you are asking ADs to dig even deeper into their pockets for non revenue sports to play beyond the school year. At that point, you have to feed them, house them, etc.

I don’t see that happening.

[LaxAllStars]

Quint Kessenich weekly podcast at laxallstars.com

This weeks guest is Devon McLane of Notre Dame

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show ... ne-e2k9qdk

[gmen1986]

while inside lacrosse is the "voice of the sport", I feel like its a very bland and uneventful. I've listened to the tailgate which is OK, and the dixon podcast ( while good, but is boring) my opinion is theres really not a singular show that encompasses all of lacrosse. if lacrosse media can create their own "spitting chiclets" version i think that would be good. that team does a great job of focusing on the nhl, but also the other levels of hockey (juniors/ncaa/womens). thats something i believe lacrosse needs create... its all seasons now- fall/winter = ncaa fallball/box/NLL.. spring= M/W NCAA, summer= PLL/HS recruiting/OLA box/ post collegiate circuit (LP,OCMD,VAIL,WATS). actually going to these events, doing the show or experiencing them would be ideal for content. I also think it was dumb to get rid of laxconn... could've used that as a media day for the college lax season.

I think lacrosse is going to grow more in the next 20 years, but at a slow and methodical rate. i think theres opportunity for someone/group to put their stamp on it as the go to source now and in the future. if you look at lacrosse/college lacrosse overall, theres really only 1 real generation of fans, and a large majority of them are under the age of 35, and probably don't have kids yet. The good news is more people are tuning into TV to watch ,and more people are watching/experiencing the game in person, over 550K people attended D1lacrosse games in person this year. in the past 10 years thats the 2nd highest.. 2017 was #1.

As for TV coverage, at the min, i'd like to see the natty final moved back 1 week to the next weekend and played at Navy. allows for media build up, and promotion in addition to actual rest for student athletes. play it that saturday/sunday at noon/1pm as a lead in for College softball WS. Do i think it will get moved back 1 week, No. Espn will never give up the 400K-800K viewers its gets on a very slow holiday weekend for next to nothing $$ wise. for the regular season, I'd be nice if there was variation of game times between leagues.. why do they all play at noon/1pm on a Saturday?

[PizzaSnake]

Couple of thoughts on this.

when there is nobody at games during February and early March, playing in some venues surrounded by snow banks, does not make for good tv
why is it the most important game, the ncaa championship finals, played on one days rest but during the season it's one game a week.....revamping scheduling for a midweek game would make for better crowds and weather....all pluses for tv

playing on a lined football field is very confusing for the viewer....does not make for good tv....notice how nice it was to watch the semi and finals on a real lacrosse field.....if you want to be major sport, you need to have your own fields....not sharing a confusing football lined field.

the ball very seldom comes out of the stick.....it's ridiculous.....free up action with ground balls, these sticks need to changed so the ball comes out when checked..

get rid of the fogo, does not make for good tv in my opinion for the new viewer and only midfielders during faceoffs, no defense sticks on the wings

provide better commentary during games and every once in a while let somebody hit somebody without a ridiculous whistle

put a radar gun behind the goal so people can see the speed of the shot.

just my thoughts

These.

"the ball very seldom comes out of the stick.....it's ridiculous.....free up action with ground balls, these sticks need to changed so the ball comes out when checked..

get rid of the fogo, does not make for good tv in my opinion for the new viewer and only midfielders during faceoffs, no defense sticks on the wings "

Long possession, "stall ball" is nonsense. Need to return to "fastest game on two feet."

[LaxAllStars]

QK on ND 2024 Championship

Looks ahead to 2025

https://laxallstars.com/back-to-back-gl ... pionships/

[wahoomurf]

IMHO, lacrosse coverage has made amazing strides. I remember a time when a chap named Leif Elsmo (?) had a half-hour highlight show. He referred to a shot as a "Rocketship".

While the yada yada is at times very annoying and repetitive I'll keep on keeping on until something better. come along.

[camskidamski]

Is a PrepLacrosse subscription worth it for Ty Xanders’ content??

[coda]

Is a PrepLacrosse subscription worth it for Ty Xanders’ content??

I have not seen it, but his coverage and rankings were not inspiring at IL. Not sure what has changed