(05-17-2013 05:00 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  If I'm Delaney and Hopkins decides to join the ACC instead of the B1G, I'd ask Northwestern to look into starting a men's team with a little help from the conference. Their women's team is already a perennial champion and there is a ton of talent in the Chicago are and it would give them a chance to shine in another Big 10 sport.

If JHU does decide to join the Big Ten then I think NU would be best served to start a Men's Lacrosse team as well. Basically they should just get started on that right now because in any case it would serve their best interests to start a Men's Lacrosse team.

If the Big Ten gets an autobid I wouldn't be surprised to see atleast a couple more Big Ten schools start up programs in a few years.

I could defintely see Northwestern, Michigan State and Illinois all being able to field men's lax, maybe Wisconsin and one of the Indiana schools eventually too.

(05-18-2013 09:59 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  I could defintely see Northwestern, Michigan State and Illinois all being able to field men's lax, maybe Wisconsin and one of the Indiana schools eventually too.

AFAIR, when the Northwestern AD was asked about it, the answer was not immediately, but they might consider it in the future pending new revenues. So it didn't sound like NW would be the school that would be the 6th, if the Big Ten wants to start a competition the same year Maryland and Rutgers joins.

If the LAX schools were given BTN carriage revenue on a scaled down version of the $2m for the ice hockey schools, that additional revenue plus the NCAA autobid might well do it.

(05-18-2013 10:07 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(05-18-2013 09:59 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  I could defintely see Northwestern, Michigan State and Illinois all being able to field men's lax, maybe Wisconsin and one of the Indiana schools eventually too.

AFAIR, when the Northwestern AD was asked about it, the answer was not immediately, but they might consider it in the future pending new revenues. So it didn't sound like NW would be the school that would be the 6th, if the Big Ten wants to start a competition the same year Maryland and Rutgers joins.

If the LAX schools were given BTN carriage revenue on a scaled down version of the $2m for the ice hockey schools, that additional revenue plus the NCAA autobid might well do it.

Think Minnesota would like to sponsor LAX. In Twin Cities High Schools, LAX is growing in popularity yearly (probably the most extensive LAX cluster in the Midwest) with hockey and football players carrying over into that sport. Even the larger outstate high schools now have LAX, at least at the club level.

The new indoor Vikings stadium will actually have a configuration to be the home of Gophers baseball, so that stadium could also host early LAX games (with later lax games in the Gophers football stadium).

That would be great if the new conference networks could be an engine for growing mens sports like lacrosse to be viable options for power conferences.

The sport is really growing in the Midwest, South and West outside its traditional New England and Mid Atlantic home. Places like Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, San Diego and San Fran are all emerging hotbeds for it.

I see the ACC and B1G as the engines for growing it at the D1 level so it can move westward because having teams nearby to play can be just as much a challenge to adding it as funding and Title IX are.

Florida is another huge hotbed for the sport and getting FSU or Miami to eventually join the ACC in the sport would be a huge step for really getting D1 going in the South.

Keep in mind where the rest of the B1G lax schools are and factor the required travel for the new team. I'd guess MSU before anyone from B1G West

A big thing to remember is title 9. Schools might need to add 1-2 women's sports to add men's lacrosse.

Its partially Title IX but its really just $$$

A mens lacrosse and womens lacrosse teams have equal schollies which covers Title IX, but womens lacrosse is quite a bit less expensive because besides their sticks, women only wear eye protection (the goalie is the lone exception who can wear gloves pads and helmet). Meanwhile every male lacrosse player has to have helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads and gloves in addition to their stick (which needs to be replaced more frequently because mens lacrosse has lots of contact while womens has far less) which adds up to a large difference in the per player expense.

(05-18-2013 04:45 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  Its partially Title IX but its really just $$$

A mens lacrosse and womens lacrosse teams have equal schollies which covers Title IX, but womens lacrosse is quite a bit less expensive because besides their sticks, women only wear eye protection (the goalie is the lone exception who can wear gloves pads and helmet). Meanwhile every male lacrosse player has to have helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads and gloves in addition to their stick (which needs to be replaced more frequently because mens lacrosse has lots of contact while womens has far less) which adds up to a large difference in the per player expense.

Nike pays for all equipment at VT. I'm sure the schools in the Big 10 have similar deals. From footballs to tennis shoes are covered plus there is more money given directly to coach Beamer, the bball coach, and the school to pitch Nike.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily...mined.aspx

"Virginia Tech’s (VT) eight-year deal with Nike is worth $9.7M, according to Mark Berman of the ROANOKE TIMES. The deal, announced in October, calls for Nike to pay the VT athletic department $2.1M over the course of the deal, which begins in July and runs through June 2015; VT can order $7.6M in free products during the length of the deal. VT will receive $250,000 annually for the first four years, and $275,000 each of the final four years. VT AD Jim Weaver said that $200,000 of the annual amount will go to football coach Frank Beamer, men’s basketball coach Seth Greenberg and women’s basketball coach Beth Dunkenberger, because their “individual shoe-company deals are being absorbed into this contract.”"

Yeah, tell NW to get its a** in gear and start a men's LAX program.

(05-18-2013 03:27 PM)ohio1317 Wrote:  A big thing to remember is title 9. Schools might need to add 1-2 women's sports to add men's lacrosse.

That's why I would expect women's lax for MSU and maybe rowing for NW ~ rowing permits lots of scholarships and women's LAX allows slightly more scholarships than men's (NW can't use women's LAX as Title IX for men's LAX, since they are already using it as Title IX for other men's sports).

Its no accident that the three highest budget Big Ten athletic departments, the Buckeyes, That School Up North and Penn State, are the three schools that already have Lacrosse programs ~ I think one or more Big Ten schools that previously had Men's Lacrosse programs cut them to meet Title IX requirements.

Michigan State would seem to be a natural given the fact that it'd start out as a Big Ten East sport, and I guess also given what seems to be their orientation to recruiting in Chicago, where it is growing rapidly at a HS level. Plus it would be restarting LAX, since they once played the sport.

Prior to Maryland and Rutgers being added as B1G members, this article was out about Minnesota starting varsity lacrosse.

http://www.collegecrosse.com/2012/10/15/3501732/minnesota-lacrosse-division-i-gophers

Quote:Could Minnesota be the next BCS athletic department to make the next jump to NCAA lacrosse? As far as developing hotbeds are concerned, Minnesota is strong and the support that the Swarm has enjoyed is impressive. Further, hockey crossover was a huge hit in both Colorado and Michigan; Minnesota’s potential in that area could be even stronger. The Gophers' new AD Norwood Teague apparently has a lacrosse playing background and has been confirmed to have taken meetings with [Minnesota head coach Rich Limpert.] The Big Ten has even more incentive and reach to break into men’s lacrosse and as we saw in Ann Arbor, a zealous new AD can sometimes be the tipping point. The Gophers have already received advanced weight room privileges and will play at least one game this year in TCF Bank Stadium, Minnesota’s new football venue where they hosted St. Thomas last year.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gopher...er&refer=y

Quote:• On potentially adding or cutting from the list of 25 Gophers sports teams: "There could be a time that could change, but I think it would be more of an addition than subtraction. ... [Adding lacrosse] is mentioned all the time. We'll look at it, but it doesn't mean it will happen any time soon."

In areas with an existing hockey culture, lacrosse's growth is especially impressive. In Canada, the east and west coasts have had significant lacrosse followings, but now the middle of that country lax is also taking off especially in box (hockey rink/arena football) lacrosse.

For a number of years, have been a proponent of North Dakota starting lacrosse (and dropping baseball) as our facilities will be perfect for LAX (new indoor 100 yd practice facility plus 12,000 seat indoor football arena for lacrosse), plus our hockey recruiting areas include heavy lacrosse play (western Canada - where our visibility is already high - increasingly the west coast lacrosse markets (reciprocity with most western states), and now the Twin Cities), beat Minnesota to the punch, further collaborate with Denver U's athletics and possibly affiliate with PAC12 schools.