Final Four - Cary,NC

[lax410]

If all these coaches want to grow the game, then they should hold the D1 and D3 championships in the same location. That would help grow the game.

Agree. For 25 and 26 D1 and D3 are scheduled to be in the same state (Massachusetts) but not the same venue.

[njbill]

Yeah, unfortunately in 2025 in 2026 they’re going to play it in a big NFL football stadium. This North Carolina park is the perfect size. Grass as well which is a much preferable surface. Pretty sure the Boston stadium is turf.

[wlaxphan20]

If all these coaches want to grow the game, then they should hold the D1 and D3 championships in the same location. That would help grow the game.

D2?


I understand their final four is held the prior weekend but the men’s d2 tournament holds the semi finals on the weekend before MDW and has the championship MDW and are included on the men’s side.

[JustWatching]

If all these coaches want to grow the game, then they should hold the D1 and D3 championships in the same location. That would help grow the game.

Inside Lacrosse Instagram posts don’t even acknowledge that D3 women’s championship also happened yesterday. They mention men’s D1, D2, and D3, but only women’s D1.

[watcherinthewoods]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

[LaxDadMax]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

What other sport has all three tourneys in same location? With hotels, practice fields, etc, it would likely be a logistics night. One thunderstorm could wreck the schedule for everyone.

[hmmm]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

What other sport has all three tourneys in same location? With hotels, practice fields, etc, it would likely be a logistics night. One thunderstorm could wreck the schedule for everyone.

Men's lacrosse has all 3 divisions playing in same location on Memorial Day weekend. I'm pretty sure that's watcher's point on things not being equal. DII and DIII men get to play their finals in the same location as DI championship weekend, while DII and DIII women are in smaller more remote venues.

[Brownlax]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

What other sport has all three tourneys in same location? With hotels, practice fields, etc, it would likely be a logistics night. One thunderstorm could wreck the schedule for everyone.

Men's lacrosse has all 3 divisions playing in same location on Memorial Day weekend. I'm pretty sure that's watcher's point on things not being equal. DII and DIII men get to play their finals in the same location as DI championship weekend, while DII and DIII women are in smaller more remote venues.

I believe all three women's divisions need to agree to this to make it happen.

[tothedraw]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

What other sport has all three tourneys in same location? With hotels, practice fields, etc, it would likely be a logistics night. One thunderstorm could wreck the schedule for everyone.

Men's lacrosse has all 3 divisions playing in same location on Memorial Day weekend. I'm pretty sure that's watcher's point on things not being equal. DII and DIII men get to play their finals in the same location as DI championship weekend, while DII and DIII women are in smaller more remote venues.

I believe all three women's divisions need to agree to this to make it happen.

And they don't. Larry used to have a lot to say about this issue. I still say best weekend was when men were Philadelphia and D1 women at Villanova. There are plenty of places to play and you could easily have D2/D3 women within half an hour of each other in suburban Philadelphia.

[Bart]

Sad. Seems like a no-brainer to hold all three in the location, the same weekend. Not sure how the NCAA gets away with separate but clearly not equal treatment in 2023.

What other sport has all three tourneys in same location? With hotels, practice fields, etc, it would likely be a logistics night. One thunderstorm could wreck the schedule for everyone.

Men's lacrosse has all 3 divisions playing in same location on Memorial Day weekend. I'm pretty sure that's watcher's point on things not being equal. DII and DIII men get to play their finals in the same location as DI championship weekend, while DII and DIII women are in smaller more remote venues.

I believe all three women's divisions need to agree to this to make it happen.

And they don't. Larry used to have a lot to say about this issue. I still say best weekend was when men were Philadelphia and D1 women at Villanova. There are plenty of places to play and you could easily have D2/D3 women within half an hour of each other in suburban Philadelphia.

There’s a discussion on this somewhere on here but I am too lazy to find it. If I am not misremembering there was a push to put all 6 in Gillette but it was nixed due to worries about field time for the men. D1 women decided to go.

[user1020]

https://usalaxmagazine.com/college/wome ... her-spring

TC makes a great point in here about final 4 locations and I fully agree with her. Growing the game is great, but IMO the biggest weekend of lacrosse shouldn’t be in a non hotbed. You want a great atmosphere and sellout crowds and Homewood field gave that to us. Cary just didn’t have the same atmosphere as last years final 4

[njbill]

If we are going to talk about holding the final four in lacrosse hotbeds, what about upstate? Has it ever been there? I don’t think anybody would argue with the fact that it is the third hottest of the hotbeds, after Long Island and Maryland (listed alphabetically).

Philly is centrally located between all the hotbeds, which is a big advantage.

Not understanding why Boston is in the mix as that is not a hotbed at all. If you are going to select another area, D.C. would be logical.

And Long Island needs to get a regular turn in the rotation.

Interestingly, the attendance figures this year were about the same as they were last year. Homewood is a smaller venue so it looked like there was a bigger crowd, when in fact it wasn’t. Also, Maryland was in the final four last year, which certainly contributed to the enthusiasm. I’ll bet that if North Carolina had been in the final four this year, we might’ve seen a similar level of enthusiasm.

[user1020]

If we are going to talk about holding the final four in lacrosse hotbeds, what about upstate? Has it ever been there? I don’t think anybody would argue with the fact that it is the third hottest of the hotbeds, after Long Island and Maryland (listed alphabetically).

Philly is centrally located between all the hotbeds, which is a big advantage.

Not understanding why Boston is in the mix as that is not a hotbed at all. If you are going to select another area, D.C. would be logical.

And Long Island needs to get a regular turn in the rotation.

Interestingly, the attendance figures this year were about the same as they were last year. Homewood is a smaller venue so it looked like there was a bigger crowd, when in fact it wasn’t. Also, Maryland was in the final four last year, which certainly contributed to the enthusiasm. I’ll bet that if North Carolina had been in the final four this year, we might’ve seen a similar level of enthusiasm.

Some good points made. I guess it’s all about perception. When you look as the packed stands at Homewood it looks better than this years stands, even if they are the same amount. I agree all of NY needs to host more

[hmmm]

If we are going to talk about holding the final four in lacrosse hotbeds, what about upstate? Has it ever been there? I don’t think anybody would argue with the fact that it is the third hottest of the hotbeds, after Long Island and Maryland (listed alphabetically).

Philly is centrally located between all the hotbeds, which is a big advantage.

Not understanding why Boston is in the mix as that is not a hotbed at all. If you are going to select another area, D.C. would be logical.

And Long Island needs to get a regular turn in the rotation.

Interestingly, the attendance figures this year were about the same as they were last year. Homewood is a smaller venue so it looked like there was a bigger crowd, when in fact it wasn’t. Also, Maryland was in the final four last year, which certainly contributed to the enthusiasm. I’ll bet that if North Carolina had been in the final four this year, we might’ve seen a similar level of enthusiasm.

Some good points made. I guess it’s all about perception. When you look as the packed stands at Homewood it looks better than this years stands, even if they are the same amount. I agree all of NY needs to host more

Was the announced attendance at Homewood 8500 last year? If so that's only because that's the seating capacity and it was a sellout. In truth in those situations, there are many more people there when you add the number of people standing around the field as well as the large group up on the deck of Cordish. Typically the actual attendance for a "sell out" at Homewood is actually around 10k.

[njbill]

I looked at the numbers several days ago. Without checking again, I believe the numbers last year and this year were about the same: around 7900, perhaps a few less for the finals as you would expect. I assume those numbers are either ticket sales (probably not) or actual attendees (more likely). Actual attendees, I would think, would include people who choose to stand. I would guess attendees are determined by the number of tickets scanned at the gate.

I understand that Homewood is the preferred location for the Baltimore-ites. But in fairness, the final four should be moved around to different locations.

Edit: checked the numbers again. Last year: 7694 for the Maryland game in the semis. 8500 for the finals. This year: 7709 semis. 6705 finals.

[hmmm]

I looked at the numbers several days ago. Without checking again, I believe the numbers last year and this year were about the same: around 7900, perhaps a few less for the finals as you would expect. I assume those numbers are either ticket sales (probably not) or actual attendees (more likely). Actual attendees, I would think, would include people who choose to stand. I would guess attendees are determined by the number of tickets scanned at the gate.

I understand that Homewood is the preferred location for the Baltimore-ites. But in fairness, the final four should be moved around to different locations.

Edit: checked the numbers again. Last year: 7694 for the Maryland game in the semis. 8500 for the finals. This year: 7709 semis. 6705 finals.

Yeah, that's what I thought. If they're saying 8500 it was more than that.

[Wheels,Wheels!]

Homewood was maxed out with the logistics. Parking challenges, etc… I was at Townson years ago and liked that stadium better if the tournament is to be located in Baltimore. But ideally the soccer stadium (Union) outside of Philly was the best. Great field, only lined for women’s lacrosse, fans close to the field, great lot to tailgate, easy access back onto 95.
Softball is on right now and it seems to work for them to have a single destination field complex for their championship event.

[Wheels,Wheels!]

Homewood was maxed out with the logistics. Parking challenges, etc… I was at Townson years ago and liked that stadium better if the tournament is to be located in Baltimore. But ideally the soccer stadium (Union) outside of Philly was the best. Great field, only lined for women’s lacrosse, fans close to the field, great lot to tailgate, easy access back onto 95.
Softball is on right now and it seems to work for them to have a single destination field complex for their championship event.

[tothedraw]

If we are going to talk about holding the final four in lacrosse hotbeds, what about upstate? Has it ever been there? I don’t think anybody would argue with the fact that it is the third hottest of the hotbeds, after Long Island and Maryland (listed alphabetically).

Philly is centrally located between all the hotbeds, which is a big advantage.

Not understanding why Boston is in the mix as that is not a hotbed at all. If you are going to select another area, D.C. would be logical.

And Long Island needs to get a regular turn in the rotation.

Interestingly, the attendance figures this year were about the same as they were last year. Homewood is a smaller venue so it looked like there was a bigger crowd, when in fact it wasn’t. Also, Maryland was in the final four last year, which certainly contributed to the enthusiasm. I’ll bet that if North Carolina had been in the final four this year, we might’ve seen a similar level of enthusiasm.

Some good points made. I guess it’s all about perception. When you look as the packed stands at Homewood it looks better than this years stands, even if they are the same amount. I agree all of NY needs to host more

Syracuse and Rochester are closer to hot bed than most think. 4-5 hours. Plenty of small colleges to host. St John Fisher and Nazareth in Roc are 5 minutes away from each other. Cornell and Ithaca College also stones throw away from each other. Finger Lakes region, ton of accomodations and lots of breweries and wineries!!

[NotFromMD]

With all due respect to Ms. Cummings, this elitist attitude is EXACTLY the problem with the "growth" of the game. I normally respect her use of her platform, but in this case, I think she is way off base. As others have commented, the numbers were about the same. She didn't say if she was actually at the game. We were, and we were also at Homewood last year. The weather SUCKED this year. I can guarantee you that the number difference was because of the weather. In the first half it was cold and raining. The girls and parents in town for USA lax National tournament and NGLL had been in the cold rain for 2 days. Despite that, the energy in the stands was amazing. If we want to actually grow the game outside of LI, MD, Upstate, Philly, and all of the other places people have suggested, Bring the nice things to the emerging markets (because like it or not, there is serious talent out there). Or maybe my understanding of "growing the game" is wrong and we only really want to grow it where is is already established so that they can continue dominating the conversation? WakeMed (the Cary facility) capacity is 10k, Homewood is 8500 (according to a quick google search) Cary was a much easier experience as a fan. It is probably a little less convenient for the MD folks who have all of the nice lax things, but, if the lax voices really want to grow the game, as they claim, they would have headed down.