crazyUCfan23
Long live the Civil ConFLiCT
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Very few if any players get full rides for D1 lacrosse. D1 lacrosse teams have 13.1 scholarships to give out per year with 45+ on a lacrosse roster.
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OT: UConn Mens Lacrosse Program
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How come every time people post about adding lax they want to do it at the expense of some other programs. A few years ago it was baseball because you can’t have good baseball in the northeast doncha know. Until we did. Then it was we should duo hockey because nobody goes and we aren’t any good. Despite the fact that even in the AHA UConn hockey outdrew most college lacrosse programs in New England. And now we’ve shown we can be pretty good. Now it’s swimming and golf. It is mostly s friends and family sport. Even good teams regularly play in front of a few hundred fans. So no way will it “pay for itself” any more than swimming and golf do. It will require a heavy subsidy. If someone is willing to commit to that over the long term plus the 40 new women’s scholarships that go with it, have at it.
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The stupidity on this board knows no bounds. Adding lacrosse given our dire economic reality is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen posted here.
crazyUCfan23
Long live the Civil ConFLiCT
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Division 1 Men's lacrosse teams don't have 40 full scholarships as your suggesting. They only get 13.1 to distribute amounts 45+ players.
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On what grounds? Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport on the planet. I'm not sure you did any research regarding the demographics of lacrosse families but they tend to be higher level income families. In addition of getting some new donors and utilizing our beautiful facilities UConn should be able to quickly climb to the top of the men's lacrosse world.
All it takes is 1 donor. I challenge you to look into how Richmond lacrosse was started.
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My top 3 reasons (in no particular order):
We have no money.
We are broke.
We can’t afford it.
Those reasons aside:
Lacrosse is terrible. Slightly more exciting than soccer.
It’s a niche sport played predominantly by rich white kids.
There are probably 20 people who would care and half of them already posted in this thread.
Have I mentioned that we don’t have the money?
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With that attitude nothing will get done.
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This is true, I remember it was 12 full rides per team, but that was a few years ago when I kept current on that stuff.
It's how SUNY Albany built a program - go to hopkins, SU, etc. and come out with X debt, go to Albany, play good comp and come out with something significantly less than X as a debt. Scott Marr is very transparent about how he started to build the Albany program and that was the way - then he got some transformational players and they play a fun style and they've now been a part of any recruits conversation.
Lacrosse is growing, but it is growing in similar places to where it's already popular - meaning upper income suburbs - still very little diversity in the game. One the surface lacrosse is very inexpensive (helmet, gloves, stick, cleats), but in reality parents have been sold a bill of goods and routinely shell out $2000-$3000 or more for club teams and showcases. So much so that HS coaches in some area are seeing kids care more about those than their varsity teams. It's a racket in fact I recall reading somewhere that a guy left Goldman-Sachs to run some lacrosse organization and is now banking over $1mm a year - true or not, I don't know, although seems unlikely, but more than a few guys are making very good livings running clubs and showcases.
I say a bill of goods because VERY VERY few college lacrosse players are on full rides (see the scholarship limits) - you're better off being a smart kid, you'll get more money to go to school - but parents and kids want to feed their own egos.
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Let’s hope!
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I think in the article Benedict said there would be 12 scholarships required for
Jeff Jacobs: Lacrosse at UConn makes sense, but don’t hold your breath
lacrosse allows 12.6 scholarships I’m not sure how many are in those sports but I’m might be close.
Will it happen? Doubt it. But I think it would be a championship caliber program.
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It’s not stupid to say our region breeds lacrosse players and UConn would benefit from having a program. Will it happen now? Nope. 5 years? I doubt it.
Stupid is as stupid does. Would it be stupid to replace programs with lacrosse? Right now it would be, you are correct. I don’t believe the costs would weight out the athletic budget... unless big time doners come marching through with their sticks in hand
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That would work out perfect with Title IX. Both men's lacrosse & women's gymnastics are about 12 schollies. ... Adding sports would have to be all donors.
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Lacrosse does tend to have more well-off douchy kids playing the sport, which is too bad considering it's beginnings and how much fun the sport actually is to play. I didn't grow up with the game but played a little on the junior level before playing a couple years in high school. I was good enough where the game helped me get into better schools than I would have gotten into without it but you basically aren't getting a full 4 year ride for Lacrosse unless you're an All-American type player.
ConnHuskBask
Shut Em Down!
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Who on here would buy season tickets or donate meaningful money to a lacrosse program?
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This is the best part of this whole folly.
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You are the one who said it would be a good investment. Not me.
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Would it really cost that much? If so then you can forgetaboutit!
whaler11
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Well if you need 2 million a year to operate it’s at least that much. It’s 26 scholarships + everything else that goes into running a program.
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It would be a great investment. Similar to Utah or Richmond the cost can be taken care of by a generous donor. Do we have a donor that is interested? Perhaps.
In the year 2030 where will lacrosse be? The past 7 years lax has been the fastest growing sport among participation for HS athletics. It continues to grow. New D1 teams are popping up every year. Utah, Bonnies, Akron, Kent State, etc.
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Everyone was saying it's the the fastest growing sport when I was in high school 20 years ago. I haven't followed it closely but from what I've seen it really hasn't changed all that much.
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It would be. Not tomorrow.
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I can only speak from my personal experience, but it is definitely a growing sport. I say that because of what I've seen with my kids, but also just what I've seen with clubs in the last few years (which I don't think is a positive trend). The sport has exploded in the suburbs. Lax has done a pretty good job of making it a lifestyle. Are some of the kids douchy as referenced above? Sure, but that's just a term because they are wealthy. My son's soccer team gets into it with lower socioeconomic teams in soccer in every game. You just don't call those kids douchy. Boys in competitive sports can be d!*%$ at any wealth level.
My understanding of lacrosse (not growing up with it as an option in the late 80's in my town) is that it used to attract a lot of football players for a spring sport. Now (in my town) kids are skipping football altogether or some wait to pick it up in high school. It has really hurt our small town football program, and rec baseball (travel baseball is still doing well). We are a soccer family and I didn't want my son to be a one sport kid. He didn't take to basketball or baseball and chose lacrosse. He likes it, and I like that it's a different set of kids from soccer. But it is an expensive sport and getting much worse with the proliferation of clubs. A new club pops up every few months in our area. They charge a lot, plus they sell all of their extra gear (including $400 helmets). A couple of them are taking kids that have no business playing at a high level, and then they cut them the next year if they find someone better. What was a primarily spring sport for most players is extending through the summer and casually in fall and winter. I'm glad my son decided to quit his club even though I think it means he'll stagnate a bit. He wouldn't be playing in college anyway (soccer or lacrosse).
I'm not sure why UConn having a D1 team would be all that great. It wouldn't be a bad thing, but the sport doesn't pay for itself and I can't imagine that UConn could fund a D1 lacrosse team without harming football or men's basketball. Some would probably have no problem hurting football, but I don't believe that would be desirable for realignment attractiveness.
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If you look at the schools adding it, it’s mostly d1aa or lost level D1 schools. Utah being the exception. And if you look at attendance it is laughable to even think it will somehow help offset costs. Might someone give a few million to start a program? Sure they might. After the first game will anyone care? Players friends and family will but that’s it.
As far as the fastest growing youth sport stuff goes I guess that makes it the soccer of the 2010s. Remember when that was going to replace football/baseball/name it as America’s game of choice? How’d that work of?