Lacrosse is a sport that hasn't been able to budge its way into American popularity, even though it had a 100 year head start on many popular American sports, like baseball. Being the optimist I am, I believe that now more than ever lacrosse is making its way into the spotlight. The following are what I believe to be the top things lacrosse has to do to reach the popularity of baseball, basketball, football, and hockey.
1. Expand! Move away from the comforts of the East Coast!
One main problem lacrosse has is that it is glued to the east coast. I live in New York and my high school lax team is decent, usually .500ish. The varsityteam was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play against the Beverly Hills High School Varsity team. We won 14-2, playing our back ups almost the whole game. It wasn't because BH wasn't good, it was because the sport isn't popular on the west coast.
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2. More Pro Lax, Please
I like the fact that there are two professional lacrosse leagues, the NLL being a box league and the MLL being a regular league, but there aren't enough games to get into it! The NLL has an average of 15 games per season and the MLL has an average of 12 games (for each team). The Yankees play more than that in 2 weeks! So if it means sacrificing one league to make a ligit league with a real schedule, I'm all for it. But please, give me a real season to look forward to.
3. Sticks, gear, prices, OH MY!
Lets look at this situation-a kid wants to pick up the sport of lacrosse. He goes to Lacrosse Unlimited to get his stick and gear. He picks out the "beginners" stick and pads. The "beginner" price is over 300 dollars. In the mothers mind she says 'Lacrosse-too expensive, lets try something new.' Lets be realistic, its shaped plastic on a piece of metal, it shouldn't cost you that much and its moving kids away from the sport.
4. College lax, keep up the good work
College lacrosse has become one of the exciting college sports, due to the lack of popularity from college baseball. Thanks to the Duke lacrosse scandal (which was totally false, Mike Nifong, your an embarrassment) college lax has actually gained popularity. The amount of people attending the Final Four College Lacrosse Tournament continutes to rise year after year.
In conclusion, lax is slowy but steadily making its way into Americas sport spotlight. The only problem, is there enough room in the spotlight? Is America open for another sport? Only time will tell.
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4 months ago
The key to lax's sucess will be whether or not a succesful pro league can be formed. If not kids have nothing to look forward to in a lacrosse future past college.
4 months ago
I totally agree with you. Lacrosse though is becoming more mainstream, seeing in commericals more often and more people are starting to follow it.
4 months ago
i agree with Matt if their isn't a legitimate professional league then after college their isn't allot to do with your lacrosse ability. If the pro league gets more popular then it will be a completely different story.
4 months ago
I see what your getting in all these points and if i didnt play soccer my second sport would be lax because its a real fun sport. I think that people are starting to see that thts why ppl do it. Also there is an ability in lax where you can completely demolish and wack the opponent which i think attracts ppl also. good article
4 months ago
I agree with everything that you guys are saying. Until people start to realize the true potential of sports like soccer and lacrosse in America. you are not going to see much of a rise in popularity. But dont forget that it will be hard to make a very good lacrosse league, because it takes money to earn money, and many people are just not into forming a lacrosse team. And also remember that the 4 major sports already have seasonal slots, so for lacrosse to become big, it needs to find a good place, and time to play.
4 months ago
I agree with the prices part. If any of the sports in America want to become big, prices need to lower. If you want more people to pick up lacrosse, hockey, and baseball the prices need to lower. The price for a good hockey stick is almost 200, and the price for a very good baseball bat is over 300, and when it comes to lacrosse its just around the same prices as ice hockey, not including gloves, etc.
4 months ago
Sean that is a key part that I didn't want to break open in my article simply because it would bore people. Is there even space for another popular sport in America? Maybe I'll have to write one about that...
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