LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Well, those two teams won’t have great results for attendance figures on Monday

32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Who is the groundskeeper? I thought the point of using an NFL stadium got you a superior venue. The field looked TERRIBLE. Both creases and X were dirt after only two games. In fact, they were both that way after ONE game.

Emarrassing

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Look up numbers for semis in soccer ("College Cup") and baseball ("College World Series"), two sports that are both WAY more popular overall than lacrosse, and catch a glimpse of the future.

Announced attendance of 32k would’ve been more electric at one of those MLS venues

CU77 wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:51 pm

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Look up numbers for semis in soccer ("College Cup") and baseball ("College World Series"), two sports that are both WAY more popular overall than lacrosse, and catch a glimpse of the future.

Agreed, but there was a time in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium not too long ago (2007, perhaps?) where they had 52,000 on Saturday and 49,000 on Monday. Before greedy NCAA jacked the ticket prices and then then a pandemic.

Last two years at Rentschler Field were the right-sized stadium in the wrong location. That said, the groundskeepers there were light years ahead of the crew at the Linc.

ND has more fans in lax media than among alums & students?

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Who is the groundskeeper? I thought the point of using an NFL stadium got you a superior venue. The field looked TERRIBLE. Both creases and X were dirt after only two games. In fact, they were both that way after ONE game.

Emarrassing

In deference to the grounds crew The Linc features Bermuda grass, think of the fairway at a private golf club. It's hard to tell from TV but it looks like a pretty tight cut, less than .5 inch.
I would imagine all eight teams got practice time on the field which means 16 plus goalies warming up in those creases as well.
The field in East Hartford uses Kentucky blue grass which may have been longer.

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 8:21 pm

CU77 wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:51 pm

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Look up numbers for semis in soccer ("College Cup") and baseball ("College World Series"), two sports that are both WAY more popular overall than lacrosse, and catch a glimpse of the future.

Agreed, but there was a time in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium not too long ago (2007, perhaps?) where they had 52,000 on Saturday and 49,000 on Monday. Before greedy NCAA jacked the ticket prices and then then a pandemic.

Last two years at Rentschler Field were the right-sized stadium in the wrong location. That said, the groundskeepers there were light years ahead of the crew at the Linc.

2007 was the 52k. Right before HDTV was mainstream and big flat panel TVs got cheap. Just bought a 86" TV for $1100. Paid $500 for a used 55" rear projection 250lb TV in '01.

I went to the '03 and '14 final four at M&T, both memorable. But gambling on the weather, paying $$$ for tickets and traveling to Baltimore or Philly with kids during a holiday weekend isn't for the faint of heart. I'll take them a couple of times for the memories, but watching at home with cheap food and neighbors is almost as good of an experience nowadays.

Kismet wrote: ↑
32,000 today for semi-finals

That’s what it looked like at least, to me.

Keep in mind, a lot a lot of people don’t even bother going into the game, they just tailgate all day.

Last year’s semis were 22,000.

Kismet wrote: ↑
The field looked TERRIBLE.

No actually,

the field was in superb condition,
it may get worn down from constant play by the finals.

laxpert wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 9:50 pm

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Who is the groundskeeper? I thought the point of using an NFL stadium got you a superior venue. The field looked TERRIBLE. Both creases and X were dirt after only two games. In fact, they were both that way after ONE game.

Emarrassing

In deference to the grounds crew The Linc features Bermuda grass, think of the fairway at a private golf club. It's hard to tell from TV but it looks like a pretty tight cut, less than .5 inch.
I would imagine all eight teams got practice time on the field which means 16 plus goalies warming up in those creases as well.
The field in East Hartford uses Kentucky blue grass which may have been longer.

NMCS used to have beautiful long grass as well. So it must not just be a climate thing.

laxpert wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 9:50 pm

Kismet wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:29 pm 32,000 today for semi-finals. Meh.

Who is the groundskeeper? I thought the point of using an NFL stadium got you a superior venue. The field looked TERRIBLE. Both creases and X were dirt after only two games. In fact, they were both that way after ONE game.

Emarrassing

In deference to the grounds crew The Linc features Bermuda grass, think of the fairway at a private golf club. It's hard to tell from TV but it looks like a pretty tight cut, less than .5 inch.
I would imagine all eight teams got practice time on the field which means 16 plus goalies warming up in those creases as well.
The field in East Hartford uses Kentucky blue grass which may have been longer.

8 teams also needed to work out at Rentschler and the field looked 100X better than the Linc does right now
Seems like night and day to this observer.

Expectation is that the bare spots will be there for the final?

Frankly, it looks like Wimbledon after a week of daily play.

Needs to be in Maryland every year.

Centrally located. Nations capital area. The lacrosse state.

Gets the biggest crowds. A consistent yearly event will lead to growing crowds and marketable tradition.

How did Drexel manage to get its logos on the field?

They’ve sponsored the last several Linc NCAAs.

ggait wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 1:58 am Look at Lacrosse and Soccer....enrollment matters. Lacrosse is down 23%

Interesting that the helmet sports (football, lax, ice hockey) are showing the biggest declines at the youth level. Not that surprising to me.

HS participation levels are holding steady -- for now.

We'll see if it is parents holding the kids out of those sports just for the youngest ages, or if you will start to see the HS numbers drop as the youngest crop of non-players get older.

It does seem like the youth lacrosse boom has cooled off somewhat in the last few years out here in CO. Not sure if the numbers have leveled off or whether they might actually be declining. Could be a lot of factors to that in addition to head injury concerns.

You may have seen this but a lot of info on youth sports participation

https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth- ... tion-rates

IDHen wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 9:15 am How did Drexel manage to get its logos on the field?

They are the NCAA school of record sponsoring/operating the event.

Gorilla Fan wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 7:11 pm Announced attendance of 32k would’ve been more electric at one of those MLS venues

Mercedes Benz Dome- home of the best MLS franchise but ironically in a terrible spectator sport town outside the Falcons.



We saw a strong close at the gate on the 2022 MLS attendance front in Week 34, led by good crowds for Orlando City, DC United, Houston Dynamo and New York Red Bulls matches.

These are not the final 2022 MLS attendance numbers, as numbers for seven six two matches over the course of the season are not public, and we’ve reached out to team PR officials for the results.

Overall, MLS attendance is up 25 percent over 2021 attendance. The trend toward normalcy continues, as this year’s numbers reflect the state of things in 2018 and 2019, when 21,873 fans per game attended MLS matches.

These 2022 MLS attendance numbers are current as of Oct. 11, 2022. They are based on the MLS website, in-game announcements and media reports.

https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2022-mls-attendance/

Team Av. Total Gms 2021 YOY W34
1 Atlanta United FC 47,116 800,966 17 43,965 0.07 43,312
2 Charlotte FC 35,260 599,428 17 N/A N/A 34,122
3 Seattle Sounders 33,607 571,318 17 25,125 0.34 33,910
4 Nashville SC 27,554 468,419 17 19,172 0.44
5 Toronto FC 25,423 432,190 17 8,733 1.91
6 Portland Timbers 23,841 405,305 17 21,285 0.12
7 LA Galaxy 22,841 388,302 17 13,400 0.70
8 FC Cincinnati 22,487 382,274 17 21,175 0.06
9 LAFC 22,090 353,441 16 20,204 0.09 22,205
10 Austin FC 20,738 352,546 17 20,738 0.00 20,738
11 Real Salt Lake 20,470 347,991 17 15,253 0.34 21,333
12 NE Revolution 20,319 345,418 17 18,861 0.08
13 Minnesota United 19,555 312,879 16 14,326 0.36 19,941
14 Columbus Crew 19,237 327,027 17 16,344 0.18
15 Sporting KC 18,365 312,199 17 18,757 -0.02
16 Philadelphia Union 18,126 308,146 17 12,903 0.40 19,228
17 Orlando City SC 17,261 293,441 17 15,418 0.12 21,693
18 NYC FC 17,180 292,057 17 5,429 2.16
19 New York Red Bulls 17,002 289,035 17 13,161 0.29 23,672
20 FC Dallas 16,469 279,965 17 13,063 0.26 19,096
21 Houston Dynamo 16,426 279,240 17 11,732 0.40 21,284
22 Vancouver Whitecaps 16,399 278,790 17 10,741 0.53
23 D.C. United 16,256 276,355 17 12,715 0.28 19,325
24 CF Montreal 15,905 270,383 17 5,000 2.18
25 Chicago Fire 15,848 269,410 17 10,443 0.52 14,357
26 San Jose Earthquakes 15,260 259,416 17 13,171 0.16
27 Colorado Rapids 14,473 246,049 17 11,551 0.25
28 Inter Miami CF 12,637 214,833 17 13,847 -0.09 30,863*
TOTALS 21,006 9,956,823 474 16,910 0.24 365,079
WEEKLY AV.

The NCAA selects the site based on the proposals they receive. I was told College Park got tired of hosting and Baltimore must consider the Orioles schedule. Years ago, a link to the Request for Proposal was posted on the Laxpower site, an industry professional who viewed it stated the incentive for hosting is in the economic impact, bed tax and sales tax generated by those who visit, the NCAA receives the majority of the venue revenues. Consequently, you see Philly and Foxboro submitting winning bids, locations wanting to attract visitors on a Memorial Day weekend. I imagine Kraft would be willing to break even at the stadium to bring 30,000 plus visitors to Patriot Place. With the addition of the Women DI championships in 2025 and the potential of 10,000 additional attendees I do not see smaller venues in the future.

The men’s national championship game on Monday on ESPN did a monster rating, the biggest in at least 10 years.

757,000 total viewers and 0.22 in the 18-49 demo.

https://twitter.com/college_crosse/stat ... _jxZLgpS5g