Another Sport Leapfrogs Lacrosse on ESPN

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

heres the schedule

http://majorleaguelacrosse.com/tv/

[KnoxVegas]

If you want to know about production cost and tv, pm me. Here is a brief list of reason that lacrosse is not on 24/7:

Rights fees
Production costs
Crew costs
Travel costs
Equipment costs
Satellite costs

Poker, Scrabble and spelling bees are a lot cheap to package than traditional sports. CSTV, ESPN2 and ESPNU each show games. Blame your cable company or springfor the dish package. Honestly, B.A.S.S. is more attractive to sports networks than lacrosse.

[Sonny]

Some of those other sports like billards pay for ESPN air time too, correct Mr. Ritz?

[cgarrigues]

If you want to know about production cost and tv, pm me. Here is a brief list of reason that lacrosse is not on 24/7:

Rights fees
Production costs
Crew costs
Travel costs
Equipment costs
Satellite costs

KV,
You don't say anything about how difficult it is to make field lacrosse a compelling event through the medium of television. Other than the notable exception of the Hopkins game from last year's semi finals, it seems that even the most exciting games don't translate well to the small screen. Like soccer, the action seems to fast over too large an area.

[KnoxVegas]

Time-Buys do happen, quite frequnetly. I have worked serveral. Billards is a perfect example. That is why there are so many on-air mentions for the hotels, the manufactures, etc.. not to mention the credits at the end.

As for making a field sport compelling, you have a point. Lacrosse is akin to hockey when it comes to TV. Small ball. Everyone is dressed alike, etc... But there is always plenty of action and scoring. Much more say than soccer. We as Americans like physical sports. Football, hockey, sliding and plays at the plate. Soccer, while beautiful in its ismplicity to the hardcore fan, is too slow for the average American.

Lacrosse is a niche sport and say all you want about the growth of the sport but soccer is largest participatory sport amongst tweeners and teeanagers in this country. MLS ratings and college soccer ratings are minimal at best.

I have typed it before on this board: We all love this game and are biased. You have to step outside that every once in a while and get some persepctive.

[gobblerlax05]

and they have good coverage of it/!its paintbrawl!

[SMSlax]

Perhaps the most engaging broadcast I've ever seen was a couple years back on ESPN. The National "Magic: the Gathering" card championships. You want to talk about the modern athlete; I don't suppose steroids will be a problem for this sport for at least 2 or 3 years.
We lost out to the dungeons and dragons demographic. I think its time we re-evaluate.

[Gregg Pathiakis]

Perhaps the most engaging broadcast I've ever seen was a couple years back on ESPN. The National "Magic: the Gathering" card championships. You want to talk about the modern athlete; I don't suppose steroids will be a problem for this sport for at least 2 or 3 years.
We lost out to the dungeons and dragons demographic. I think its time we re-evaluate.

I've never played Magid or D&D, but there's a great book, "Johnny Magic and the Card Shark Kings," about some guys that beat Las Vegas by using the skills they learned in Magic.

[lil lady lax fan]

Hey, I'm not going to complain about the current crop of Poker shows on ESPN. The more games sold for the GameCube and PS2 means a bigger completion bonus for my husband and the rest of the game crew.

[Joe Oakland]

Has anyone heard about this new station called, I believe, "Lacrosse Network". I was watching a Philly/Toronto Rock game the other day and one of the comercials was about ordering the "Lacrosse Network". Me and my roomates are looking into it through our cable provider (Comcast: Detroit). If anyone has some info, let me know! If not, I'll report back here after we get it. Hopefully its not all box!

[KnoxVegas]

From Google.com:
http://www.lacrosse-network.com/

Looks to be a Canadian lacrosse fansite.

[NomaBlueCollar]

It is good to see that at least some lacrosse is breaking into the Top 10 Plays on Sportscenter. This is the first year i've ever seen anything like that. I think they've hit the Top 10 twice in the past month. When will ESPN wake up and realize that people would much rather watch a fast-paced professional lacrosse match rather than the PBA tour? ridiculous.

[cgarrigues]

As for making a field sport compelling, you have a point. Lacrosse is akin to hockey when it comes to TV. Small ball. Everyone is dressed alike, etc... But there is always plenty of action and scoring. Much more say than soccer. We as Americans like physical sports. Football, hockey, sliding and plays at the plate. Soccer, while beautiful in its ismplicity to the hardcore fan, is too slow for the average American.

What I was getting at is that the high-midfield cmaera angle used so much for soccer and lacrosse just doesn't capture the energy of the game very well. Its hard to get close ups that capture the physical action of a hard hit, the skill of intricate stickwork, or the desperation of a groundball fight. I would be curious to know how many cameras cover the games at the final four compared with an NBA or NHL game and what is the difference is how these cameras are used.

[Jarid332]

I love having CSTV and ESPNU I watched 3 games yesterday.

[yeagy]

When will ESPN wake up and realize that people would much rather watch a fast-paced professional lacrosse match rather than the PBA tour? ridiculous.

But thats the point, people would rather watch the PBA tour than lacrosse on TV...