1. This article is from 12.21.16.
2. Money has changed a bit but title IX hasn't.
3. This is a bit of a long article but I highly recommend it. (Maybe I'm just a crazy lacrosse person).
4. While this is specific to Michigan State and the Big Ten in general, it probably applies to many P5 schools.

https://www.wkar.org/post/curious-case-m...y-lacrosse

"For MSU, remaining afloat financially is the main reason to not add lacrosse back to varsity. MSU is in the minority by being one of the 24 athletic departments that operate in the black, according to the 2014 NCAA Revenues and Expenses of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics Programs report."

"With the Big Ten’s announcement to sponsor lacrosse in 2014, Kimball saw a perfect window for MSU to join the conference with Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers and become the sixth team, which would give the Big Ten an automatic-bid to the NCAA tournament. But it was later announced that Johns Hopkins was accepted as the conference’s first sport affiliate member. Now that the Big Ten got the six teams they needed, Kimball isn’t hopeful for any more additions.

“The view of lacrosse people was, ‘What a great time to add one more team and who’s best to add then a school that’s already had it?’” said Kimball. “But adding Hopkins slammed the door on growth in the Big Ten for a long time to come.”

"Paul continued, “It’s easy to point to Title IX as well, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. The fact that Power Five football schools don’t need some of the things that non-Power Five football schools are looking for when they add a sport. They already have plenty of applicants, they have the demographic they’re looking for and they already have a ton of exposure because of football and probably basketball. If you’re not a Power Five school or you don’t have football, then adding lacrosse gets you those things.”

Great read! Helps a lacrosse newbie like myself understand the landscape a little better.

I might try to find (was going to say research but that implies a lot) some other articles on other Big Ten schools and their status/view on upgrading lacrosse. We'll see how it goes but I expect lots of no's because title IX and money.

(06-04-2019 12:08 PM)TerpsNPhoenix Wrote:  I might try to find (was going to say research but that implies a lot) some other articles on other Big Ten schools and their status/view on upgrading lacrosse. We'll see how it goes but I expect lots of no's because title IX and money.

Yeah and for no particular reason, I always felt like Illinois could be a good lacrosse school? I dont know why I think that other than maybe lacrosse is growing in the Chicago area through high school programs?

I'd have to look up stats for Chicago. But I would have expected growth to go to Northwestern. They already have a women's program and a strong one at that. If it continues to grow then *maybe* they add a men's program. Don't know if they're at a point to upgrade the competition level.

(06-04-2019 12:14 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(06-04-2019 12:08 PM)TerpsNPhoenix Wrote:  I might try to find (was going to say research but that implies a lot) some other articles on other Big Ten schools and their status/view on upgrading lacrosse. We'll see how it goes but I expect lots of no's because title IX and money.

Yeah and for no particular reason, I always felt like Illinois could be a good lacrosse school? I dont know why I think that other than maybe lacrosse is growing in the Chicago area through high school programs?

This thread is more about the men's side but I came across an interesting tidbit from an article about Illinois men's hockey.

https://247sports.com/college/illinois/A...132974025/

"Whitman said he has looked into adding women’s hockey but that costs are high because so few Division-I teams increases travel costs. He also has looked into women’s lacrosse and women’s field hockey."

Further up the article it says that Illinois does not *have* to add a women’s sport to comply with Title IX, so I see this more of a hey this could be a possibility rather than a serious look into adding either. But, it's something to keep ours eyes and ears on.

(06-18-2019 08:31 PM)TerpsNPhoenix Wrote:  

(06-04-2019 12:14 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(06-04-2019 12:08 PM)TerpsNPhoenix Wrote:  I might try to find (was going to say research but that implies a lot) some other articles on other Big Ten schools and their status/view on upgrading lacrosse. We'll see how it goes but I expect lots of no's because title IX and money.

Yeah and for no particular reason, I always felt like Illinois could be a good lacrosse school? I dont know why I think that other than maybe lacrosse is growing in the Chicago area through high school programs?

This thread is more about the men's side but I came across an interesting tidbit from an article about Illinois men's hockey.

https://247sports.com/college/illinois/A...132974025/

"Whitman said he has looked into adding women’s hockey but that costs are high because so few Division-I teams increases travel costs. He also has looked into women’s lacrosse and women’s field hockey."

Further up the article it says that Illinois does not *have* to add a women’s sport to comply with Title IX, so I see this more of a hey this could be a possibility rather than a serious look into adding either. But, it's something to keep ours eyes and ears on.

Great find, very interesting.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...e_programs

Not many options for expansion candidates if ACC schools are excluded, especially on the men's side.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...y_programs

Another sport with room to expand is hockey. Again, not too many options here.

I am really surprised that Colorado doesn't have either. It is my understanding that lacrosse is huge in the Denver area which I imagine bleeds into the rest of the state. Plus the state is synonymous with winter sports, at least in my mind. Texas, with all their money, doesn't have a men's lacrosse team though that may be a result of Title IX moreso lack of funds.

It may be a contingency of accepting a Big Ten invite that a new school is required to add lacrosse within X number of years.

(06-19-2019 07:53 PM)GE and MTS Wrote:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...e_programs

Not many options for expansion candidates if ACC schools are excluded, especially on the men's side.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...y_programs

Another sport with room to expand is hockey. Again, not too many options here.

I am really surprised that Colorado doesn't have either. It is my understanding that lacrosse is huge in the Denver area which I imagine bleeds into the rest of the state. Plus the state is synonymous with winter sports, at least in my mind. Texas, with all their money, doesn't have a men's lacrosse team though that may be a result of Title IX moreso lack of funds.

It may be a contingency of accepting a Big Ten invite that a new school is required to add lacrosse within X number of years.

Yeah, expansion eastward is probably unlikely in terms of lacrosse. Big Ten currently has Hopkins and they should hopefully be extending their contract soon. Other east(ish) options (again UNLIKELY) could be Notre Dame or UConn.

Notre Dame has their contract with the ACC and while the B1G is a good league, it probably doesn't make sense for them to leave a more high profile/historically greater league for lesser one. The travel probably wouldn't be all that different honestly considering who has lacrosse programs and so even that argument couldn't be made in favor of the B1G.

As for UConn, they'd have to upgrade/start their D1 program (play in the MCLA like many other D1 football programs). They could probably be successful but I think most of us know about UConn's financial issues. Another problem would be that the AAC sponsors women's lacrosse but not currently mens. There probably is a contract saying that if the conference gets enough teams, they'd have to play in the AAC rather than anywhere else. So theoretically you could have their mens team in the B1G and their women's in the AAC (don't know if this is actually possible). That'd be an interesting situation. Especially if later down the road UConn's mens team could be forced to leave to join the AAC.


As for Colorado, they could upgrade but it probably comes down to money and title IX. The main issue is more likely that they play in the MCLA but in Division II (list of MCLA teams D1 & D2). Upgrading would probably be extremely difficult. University of Denver does play and won the national championship a few years ago. Denver is probably claiming most of the talent and having a second program so close wouldn't help. In this case I don't think "if you build it, they will come" applies here. Throw in that Utah just started their program, just not seeing this as an option right now.

Speaking of Utah, they could be an option but...having just started their program, they have a good bit of work to do (think Michigan a few years ago/go look at their record). Here's Utah's 2019 lax schedule.

This is all to say, IMO, the best bet the B1G has is for one of the existing B1G schools to upgrade (look at the MCLA list from above). And we're back to title IX and money.