The recent discussion currently taking place on the Long Island Express and Team 91 threads reminds BOTC strongly of discussions that we saw on our soccer sister site, Back of the Net, about ten years back.
Lacrosse is moving to (or already has become) a year-round sport and the existance of Elite or Premier Clubs is fostering the business side of that equation. The market is already ripe with parents and players having a tremendous appetite for the increased competition and training on a year-round basis.
The town team concept will eventually be completely relegated to instructional or developmental efforts in the younger age groups if it has not been so already. Players will begin migrating to the Elite Club structures at younger ages (perhaps Grade 3 or Grade 4 at the latest) and town players will most likely only come back together during their High School Junior Varsity and Varsity seasons.
This is precisely what we saw in soccer from 1998-2002 as regional "Premier Leagues" were formed to service the very best teams and those teams remained together throughout the calendar year to compete and showcase at the highest levels. BOTC fully expects that some type of regional league structure will emerge sooner rather than later to bring down the overall cost to parents in chasing tournaments while building a more consistent, competitive structure for the longer term. BOTC expects that a top premier league covering Maryland/Virginia northward through New Jersey/New [lacrosse] will happen in the next two to three years with state based feeder leagues introduced thereafter to build a proper promotion and relegation system.
Right now on the Long Island girls side, you have already seen some market consolidation with very few "super clubs" emerging. Interestingly from soccer, you saw the girls Elite Club pecking order emerge before the boys.
During the next three years, you can expect to see some consolidation on the boys side as the truly top Elite Clubs begin to emerge. The lesson here is that those of you hoping to see the re-emergence of the town team structure are going to be sorely disappointed. The genie is already out of the bottle.
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