Over the years, I finally figured something out. Lacrosse people are not necessarily great lacrosse fans. Now, before you get too excited about that comment, look at the numbers. Growing up in Ontario, playing the game of lacrosse, let’s face it, we did not play in front of big crowds. In Junior, the crowds were not great. In Major, they were not much better. Don’t take this the wrong way. I did play in packed arenas, in Peterborough, Owen Sound, Brooklin and so on. But when we are talking packed, I am talking, 1000 to 4000 people. Hardly enough to build a pro franchise on. And these guys were the best box players in the world. Even today, you can go to Brampton, and Peterborough all summer and see the best in the game right now, but the crowds are relatively small. WHY?? That is my first question. If you knew that Sindey Crosby and Alex Ovechkin were playing “summer Hockey” in Brampton, would you go and watch? Would the arenas be packed? I am thinking yes.
The crowds across the NLL http://www.nll.com/ have been decent through the last number of years. Certain cities seem to do better, Toronto, Buffalo and Philadelphia, to name a few. However, some cities have just not been able to make it. They have franchises come and franchises go. Attendance seemed to peak in early part of this decade. Here are some examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Lacrosse_League_records
Why? Why can we not get lacrosse to continue the growth part?
What I am asking is (for example) - Why is the Air Canada Centre not sold out every single game? If our game is so good, then where are the people? Attendance in 2010 for the Toronto Rock was over 11,000 only once. There seems to be a decline in interest, and I really want to get to the bottom of this and figure it out. All lot of my friends that are lacrosse players and fans have not renewed their season tickets over the last few years. Why? Too expensive, I would say no. I think ticket prices are very fair. So why are we not going? When you go to watch the Toronto Rock, do you enjoy it? Could it be better? What is it? Note - NLL Championship Game 2011.... 14,488....great crowd./but almost 5000 under a sellout in a market surrounded by lacrosse and a city starved for a champion. No sellout. Why?
My personal opinion? Next Blog.
Feel free to add comments.
The crowds across the NLL http://www.nll.com/ have been decent through the last number of years. Certain cities seem to do better, Toronto, Buffalo and Philadelphia, to name a few. However, some cities have just not been able to make it. They have franchises come and franchises go. Attendance seemed to peak in early part of this decade. Here are some examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Lacrosse_League_records
Why? Why can we not get lacrosse to continue the growth part?
What I am asking is (for example) - Why is the Air Canada Centre not sold out every single game? If our game is so good, then where are the people? Attendance in 2010 for the Toronto Rock was over 11,000 only once. There seems to be a decline in interest, and I really want to get to the bottom of this and figure it out. All lot of my friends that are lacrosse players and fans have not renewed their season tickets over the last few years. Why? Too expensive, I would say no. I think ticket prices are very fair. So why are we not going? When you go to watch the Toronto Rock, do you enjoy it? Could it be better? What is it? Note - NLL Championship Game 2011.... 14,488....great crowd./but almost 5000 under a sellout in a market surrounded by lacrosse and a city starved for a champion. No sellout. Why?
My personal opinion? Next Blog.
Feel free to add comments.
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