2006 IA Tournament will be in Dallas

[TexOle]

Sure, I just remember parking being a nightmere. HP to me was always a place that felt like it was hard to move in. HP is very exclusive, and I am not sure how open it will be to having a bunch of college lacrosse teams around. I also think the stadium might be a little small. I remember watching guys kick field goals out of the stadium, and this kicker couldn't hit an extra point. I am just not sure if it is where I would play. Just personal opinions. My guess is that I am wrong, but we will see. It has been almost as long for me.

[Andy Sharp]

Russell Creek Complex:

These fields don't look so green, I can start to hear the critics already.


Highlander Stadium:

I do like the fact that there is no track around the championship field, glad to see it has lax lines, but sad to see it has football lines.

Here is a description I found: "Excellent facility with multiple concession stands and restrooms. Nice visitor dressing rooms and officials dressing rooms. Large scoreboard and good sound system. Major overhaul of playing surface several years ago added Sport Turf and redid the crown of the playing field."

Wow 33 Minutes Apart!
Start address: Russell Creek Park
3500 McDermott Rd; Plano, TX 75025

End address: Highlander Stadium
4233 Grassmere Ln; Dallas, TX 75205

Distance: 22.8 mi (about 33 mins)

Personally I wish MSP would have gotten a second chance, let's hope DFW reads the reviews of last year and addresses those issues.

[Bluevelvet]

I see no bleachers and no clocks and no scoreboards in that aerial photo of Russell Creek Park. As a spectator, I hope they bring them in for the tourney, (big bleachers for each field and large, portable, electronic scoreboards and clocks).
I also hope that the pavillion has a snack bar and is open because I don't see any food places around.
I don't see a problem with the 2 venues being 30 minutes apart provided that there are no consolation games scheduled during or close to the time the semi finals and finals are played.

[yeagy]

I can't believe all you guys are complaining about coming here when 1 out of a 100 posting are coming....

[laxfan25]

Does anyone know if they typically sign multi-year agreements for hosting, or are they just one-year? I could see a facility wanting multi-year to help offset the cost of production. Just curious.

[univduke21]

In the press release it said that they 2006 and 2007 IA Championships would be held in Dallas

[LaxC21]

I wouldn't worry to much about the current complaints or concerns. I am sure if the concerns are voiced in the correct manner and to the right people, then everyone will do their best to address the issues before the tournament.

There are a lot of people, especially in the North Texas Chapter of US Lacrosse, not just in the US Lacrosse Headquarters, that are looking forward to this event and will do everything in their power to make sure it is a successful event. Also, this will not be the first event that US Lacrosse will be participating in this Spring. They will have a hand in 2 other major events in the Dallas area before the National Tournament (a 64-72 team H.S. tournament in Feb. and then the Big XII tournament in March).

I am not totally sure of how much direct involvement they will have in these events, but I do know that there will be a lot of representatives from the MDIA and US Lacrosse present recognize and iron out some things they might not have noticed in the original planning.

[mholtz]

It's also not 14-16 hours in a bus. Takes a day or so to get your legs back. You're probably not going to want to miss that extra day of school.

I'd fly.

Assuming unlimited budget, yes.

I went to Northwest.com and got cheaper flights that I was able to get for the entire team because I was only reserving 1 or 2 tickets.

I wish we could fly, but at $350/ticket * 50 (players/staff) you are already over double what a bus would cost, and you haven't even gotten transport while there.

The other truth of the matter is that we have to reserve a bus now, and we have 14 days before to cancel without loosing our butts on deposits.

I'm just glad it's set so we could get our bus reserved.

[Anderson]

Does anyone know if they typically sign multi-year agreements for hosting, or are they just one-year? I could see a facility wanting multi-year to help offset the cost of production. Just curious.

I believe that originally MN had a two year contract, but I have nothing but hearsay on that, just what I heard at Nationals last year.

[Sonny]

Does anyone know if they typically sign multi-year agreements for hosting, or are they just one-year? I could see a facility wanting multi-year to help offset the cost of production. Just curious.

I believe that originally MN had a two year contract, but I have nothing but hearsay on that, just what I heard at Nationals last year.

Correct. However, I don't think its a contract per se. Just that USL wants to award their events to host cities in 2-year increments. To my current knowledge, this is the first time they have changed that "unofficial/official policy."

[tamu33]

There are several members of NTX lacrosse that have attended multiple IA championships. Avoiding previous shortcomings of the tournaments are a major point of concern when planning the 2006 tourney. About 12 seconds after US lax announced that we had won the bid; there were numerous emails about volunteering and planning sessions.

Sure, I just remember parking being a nightmere. HP to me was always a place that felt like it was hard to move in. HP is very exclusive, and I am not sure how open it will be to having a bunch of college lacrosse teams around. I also think the stadium might be a little small. I remember watching guys kick field goals out of the stadium, and this kicker couldn't hit an extra point. I am just not sure if it is where I would play. Just personal opinions. My guess is that I am wrong, but we will see. It has been almost as long for me.

Highlander stadium seats about 7500 people. I don't mean to sound rude but the IA championships haven't had that many people attend in the past. I easily see this stadium being packed for the finals. The close proximity of the field to the stands will give these championships a unique right next to the action feel that has never been accomplished at any site. The field turf is in excellent condition for I just reffed there not less than a month ago for HP's alumni game. As for Parking, yes there might be a few problems with this aspect but I am sure that the parking garage across the street will be utilized like it does when HP plays football. Why do we care how far a field goal kicker can kick a football. This is lacrosse. As for HP being unfriendly, their lacrosse community is second to plano (site of the preliminary rds) in size around here and everyone of their parents and boosters are wonderful. At their alumni game they offered to my partner and I to take us out for drinks.

I see no bleachers and no clocks and no scoreboards in that aerial photo of Russell Creek Park. As a spectator, I hope they bring them in for the tourney, (big bleachers for each field and large, portable, electronic scoreboards and clocks).
I also hope that the pavillion has a snack bar and is open because I don't see any food places around.

Large food vendors usually bid to rent space at these fields. At a Highschool tournament in a similar location, they brought out one trailer (about 25 feet long) which had the usually assorment of drinks, hotdogs, hamburgers and nachos. I am assuming this will be the case. As for bleachers, they are way ahead of you.

[gogators!]

How's the lighting at night?

Dave

[tamu33]

At Highlander Stadium they are bit higher than standard football lights. I haven't been there at night in a very long time so I can't tell you if they are super bright.

[jessexy]

I have reffed soccer at Highlander stadium at night and its fine. there is an awesome sound system and I know they really do it up for each game during announcements and National Anthem.

Russell Creek does have a concession stand (an old-style house) and a pavilion under which to eat. there is a tournament-board area in which soccer tourneys post brackets and results and also put up a tournament HQ area. All of these things are located in the same area as the Competition fields that are fenced in (the greenest fields in the above photo).

These fields have hosted several National and Regional soccer and flag football tournaments, so surely they can host lacrosse.

[tamu33]

Russell Creek does have a concession stand (an old-style house) and a pavilion under which to eat. there is a tournament-board area in which soccer tourneys post brackets and results and also put up a tournament HQ area. All of these things are located in the same area as the Competition fields that are fenced in (the greenest fields in the above photo).

Jess, last time I was out there (this past summer) that concession stand wasn't open. I just assumed they didn't use it anymore. I figured they would bring in that truck that they had for the Richardson tourney.