[Lone Star]

I've posted in this thread a few times regarding MLL, and how it might help MLS (or hurt it). Today I ran across this article that has a couple of interesting quotes:

http://www.connpost.com/Stories/0,14...770001,00.html

First of all, MLL is aiming to be the 5th major sport in the US, just like MLS hopes to be. However, the MLL Championship match is being held at Columbus Crew Stadium on Sept 1st with the hopes of maybe putting a franchise there soon......which in a lot of ways could help the Crew make more money (I would think).

So my question is this......would MLL and MLS make a good partnership? Is professional lacrosse a sport that would work as tenants of any SSS's that pop up? I don't recall the field having many lines, like gridiron, but you never know. I just wonder that if MLL were to someday want to play in Columbus Crew Stadium, or the upcoming LA stadium, or hopeful ones in NY or Dallas....should MLS take the money and run since it would help the league's bottom line? I believe the Rochester Rattlers already coexist with the Rhinos, so I guess it might work.

http://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/

And sorry if this has been posted already, I couldn't find it.

[crewcrazy17]

One thing that I have noticed in my hometown is that lacrosse is harder on the field than soccer. We used to have a gorgeous field that only hosted soccer games. Now they play lacrosse there as well and the condition of the field has definitely been affected. It would bring more money into the fold but how much would it affect the quality of the product for MLS if the field is in poor shape.

[Soccerski]

Originally posted by crewcrazy17
One thing that I have noticed in my hometown is that lacrosse is harder on the field than soccer. We used to have a gorgeous field that only hosted soccer games. Now they play lacrosse there as well and the condition of the field has definitely been affected. It would bring more money into the fold but how much would it affect the quality of the product for MLS if the field is in poor shape.

Lacrosse has a tendency to be played around the goal mouth. You can go behind the goal like hockey, and there is not much midfield play. As a result the goal area has a tendency to wear out very quickly.

[Etienne_72772]

"We're exposing the sport to people that have never seen it before. Americans love hitting, scoring and speed, and this game has it all," Steinfeld said. "It's all about the product. If the product isn't exciting, sexy, cool, hip, fast, hard, then you don't have a professional sport.

This is interesting--and I think he is dead on when it comes to sports fans in this country. MLS should look at this very closely--because soccer does, indeed, have all of these elements. They should try as hard as they can to make soccer "exciting (on-field play), sexy (keep making them take their shirts off), cool (keep the young players coming up--Landon Donovan, etc.), hip (see previous comment), fast and hard (more on-field play). We all know soccer is all of these things, they just need to tell the rest of the populace what we already know.

I suppose this is a very long-winded way of saying that soccer needs to market itself like mad to appear like all of these things...

[Colin Grabow]

I know that we have (had?) a MLL franchise here in DC but I read that the owner was threatening to move it because their attendance was so horrible.

[Cabral]

I don't see how any lacrosse league has enough influence to make an MLS "partnership" worthwhile. Most MLS fans haven't even heard of lacrosse. That is, there are a total of four MLS teams in markets where lacrosse exists: NY, DC, maybe Boston and extremely marginally Columbus.

Everywhere else, lacrosse is a zero to fringe sport played by a handful of private academies.

MLL has not been very successful either. In its best markets like Rochester, Baltimore and LI, it is drawing about 3-4,000 fans per game.

- Kevin

[BenchRobSmith]

Originally posted by Lone Star
So my question is this......would MLL and MLS make a good partnership? Is professional lacrosse a sport that would work as tenants of any SSS's that pop up?

Will professional outdoor lacrosse be around in two or three years?

MLL averaged 3876 fans a game last year, that's down nearly 6% this season to 3666 fans a game. The league's television coverage consists exclusively of time-buys. There's very little room for successful expansion because lacrosse is such a regional sport. It's not like MLS - there really isn't a huge upside.

At some point, Steinfeld, Robertson, and the sponsors are going to get sick of losing money.

I like lacrosse - used to play, watch it on TV when I can, even went to the MLL showcase event at Crew Stadium. Don't think for a second I don't want MLL to succeed.

But I think it would be a bad idea to hitch our wagon to MLL. It's just too much of a niche product. There's just not enough guys like me out there.

[Brownswan]

It's just a strange looking game. How do you challenge a guy with the ball in his basket? I've watched it and there is no dribbling -- in the football or basketball sense -- or takling in the gridiron sense. I guess you can block with the sticks. It's kind of like aerial hockey, only it preceeded hockey because it was played by the northeast Indian tribes.

It still seems to be a game of the northeast, mainly.
I don't think it has much of an international dimension like soccer. This promoter is very enthusiastic, and Columbus offers an attractive venue. The wear and tear on the field is not encouraging, period.

[falcon6]

MLL would kill to have the attendance and exposure that mls has. If people say soccer is a niche sport, then lacrosse is a glitch sport. I live in NJ and even here hardly any high schools even have teams and there's hardly any youth leagues. Jayson Williams of the Nets I know owns the NJ franchise. He was saying they get like 2000 a game. I personally have nothing against lacrosse or anything, but I don't really see how teaming with them could help MLS much.

[BenchRobSmith]

Originally posted by Brownswan
I don't think it has much of an international dimension like soccer.

International play is pretty much confined to the USA, Canada, Iroquois, and Australia. Other countries try to play, but it's a bit like watching the Japanese national ice hockey team or the Russian national baseball team.