I see they had 75-80 teams in the tourney. The Numbers were not down very much at all. That tourney has never been that big. Maybe 90 at the most. What are you talking about? They have a big draw from Ct. They obviously dont need the LI teams to play.
Given the overall strength of Long Island's lacrosse programs collectively, Long Island must establish itself as a stronger recruiting foothold across numerous clubs; it will do this only if the Long Island clubs completely support these types of local recruiting events. While we agree that the Elite Tournament might not "need" Long Island teams in order to fill its book of available team slots, the tournament would undoubtedly be a more valuable "property" (for want of a better word) if unilateral support across Long Island's top programs was avaiable. After all, there is value in a college coach being able to see player X from the Yellow Jackets, player Y from the Top Guns, and player Z from the Liberty in a single weekend and single location.
Earlier, we used an analogy from the Girls Soccer world. Albertson (Fury) and Paul Riley's program have walked around with a bulls-eye on their backs for sometime - the strongest girls programs on the whole and the most revered and hated for that reason. However, when Paul formed the National Elite Showcase (Thanksgiving weekend) the top Long Island premier teams came out to support the tournament. Why? Simply stated, it was a great recruiting venue for the local soccer programs.
Every day that Long Island teams drive the five hours down I-95 to Maryland to showcase (and eventually play each other while funding the Maryland programs) is another indication that the Baltimore beltway is gaining strength as a national power for recruiting at Long Island's expense.
Looking at this situation through any one team's prism will not work. The view just has to be on a Long Island lacrosse basis. The market will shrink given the direction currently being followed, not grow.
