I don’t know if all the big programs will be fine. Let’s face reality. Colleges are losing millions of dollars over this crisis. Lacrosse brings absolutely no revenue to a college. Networks don’t have bidding wars to televise a lax game. Maybe 2000 people attend the actual games, some of these stadiums seat 80 to 100,000 people. Some places don’t even charge for tickets. I hope this doesn’t happen, but colleges are businesses. People who need to cut costs running a business, non revenue parts of the business are the first to go.
while I hear you re revenue, I would love to see donations broken down by sport at the school by their alumni base. I am willing to wager that by in large lax programs are heavy donors and they have 40-50 players per team. I have always said this and thought this was a good impetus to grow the sport. Unfortunately I have never seen any study.
12.6 scholarships for a team so the majority pay full (yes I know about academic scholarships and financial aid) but in general lax players pay for their way to go to college and then if they donate in a large amount its fresh money for the school.
What's occurring at this moment is the reason why there isn't any substantial force at the collegiate level to grow the sport. Big money donors will always support revenue sports, where TV, merchandise rights, etc all come into play. NBA, NFL have their eyes on Duke basketball, LSU football, can care less about lax. Give Paul Rabil a few years to age. No longer will he be able to run around in his skinny jeans, and tight tee shirts, he will be come a thing of the past very quickly. Further, Lax will never become more than what it is now, period.
