The NCAA has announced the three finalists who have a chance to host Championship Weekend for lacrosse from 2015-2018. The city of Chicago and the Chicago Bears’ Soldier Field is one of the finalists with Philadelphia and Boston being the other two. With the recent dip in attendance during Championship Weekend, the sport is looking for a venue that can re-energize the fan base of lacrosse.
With Chicago as a possible destination, to go along with Philadelphia and Boston, would the NCAA be wise in choosing the Windy City to host Championship Weekend for the next four years?
The reasons for Yes:
While Chicago isn’t necessarily a hot bed for lacrosse like Maryland or Long Island, it is an area that is growing in popularity and since lacrosse is trying to grow overall, it would make sense to move it to the Midwest to show off the sport more.
Last year, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis was used as a host site for the NCAA Quarterfinals which featured Duke, Denver, North Carolina and Notre Dame. Attendance for the event was 7,749 fans, so there is potential for the Midwest to be a good draw for lacrosse. In comparison, the quarterfinal in Maryland only drew 3,939 fans.
The move also makes sense because it allows lacrosse to use a more historic site for a lacrosse venue. Chicago’s Soldier Field is the NFL’s oldest stadium having been around since 1971 and sitting 61,500 people. Players and fans alike would love to play and watch lacrosse in such a historic venue. It will offer a more unique atmosphere to play in than past venues because of its smaller dimensions and allure of history behind it. Finally, since lacrosse is drawing anywhere from 28-45,000 fans over the past three years during Championship Weekend, it will offer a better opportunity to fill up the entire stadium.
The teams in the Midwest have also become more relevant during the past decade and new programs are starting to pop up. Notre Dame has played itself into Championship Weekend over the past five years and is routinely one of the top teams in the nation. Ohio State is building off one the best years in the history of its program last season before losing to Cornell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Detroit Mercy almost upset Notre Dame last season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament while Marquette and Michigan were both playing their first seasons in Division 1 lacrosse.
The reasons for No:
How will they draw a fan base? Technically, the area has become better lacrosse wise with the collegiate teams mentioned above as well as on the high school scene. High schools such as Brothers Rice (MI), Upper Arlington (OH) and Culver Academy Prep (IN) have all become more recognized as good lacrosse schools nationally. That being said, the sport has always been a “northeast” sport with the best high school and college teams residing in that region.
Taking all this into account, unless you are a family member of the team that is playing that weekend, within a four hour radius of Chicago by car or a true die hard lacrosse fan, it may be hard to get attendance numbers to be in the upper 30,000 to low 40,000 range. Most fans in the northeast will stay home and watch the games on television which doesn’t help. Therefore, you have the potential for this destination to be a boom-or-bust type of scenario for lacrosse, which isn’t necessarily the best thing, especially when last year Baltimore only brought in 28,000 fans.
For lacrosse to grow it will have to eventually venture out of the northeast for Championship Weekend and start to have host sites in other parts of the country. Personally, as a lacrosse fan I would view Chicago as a good risk for the NCAA to take. It could tap into a big media market and an area that is still growing in terms of lacrosse. Nothing helps the game grow more than having the best teams play on the biggest stage.
