Tournament Suggestions Requested

[Karl Lynch]

Texas High School Championships are May 5 and 6. www.thsll.org.

[Daniel Morris]

The best way to involve the local community is to have some type of joint event in which the main event is the MCLA championship game. A few posters have already pointed out that getting a tie-in with local high schools (either an invitational one day tourney like the First Four is doing in San Diego or staging a sectional or state high school championship tourney) is probably the best thing that could be done to generate local interest.

I definitely agree with your statement CATLAX. This will certainly be part of discussions tomorrow.

[horn17]

All-

Has anyone considered shortening the week to a short event. I know it would be difficult, but if your team was playing even in a consolation game that same day (prior to the championship at night) you would have more people being forced to stay around. Also, if those games were ever thrown out - I know as mentioned in past conversations - you would loose half of your crowd as it was. Personally, if I was playing and we lost on Monday, I wouldnt want to stay all week for a game on Sat.

Past and current players, what it boils down to is money. If I wasnt involved, I would definately love to come, but try pitching a "relive the glory days vacation" to my smarter side doesnt go over very well. Or simple funding, blowing off work for 4 days in the work week can be difficult - espically if your team isnt in the running. Some kids might be willing to spend the money to come down, but not durring the last couple weeks of the semesters. Yes I know some schools are out....but I would have a hard time believing that number outweighs those that are in school.


Dont get me wrong - I love Dallas, and the tourney was great....but something more centrally located would defiinately be to your advantage for the future, or something to "pitch as a vacation destination". (Yes CA, FL - places that offer warm climates, but to the point that you dont get heat stroke during a game).



Or - you make the tourney field larger - giving some teams automatic bids and byes , thus raising the number of participants, player families, friends, etc......EXPAND THE BRACKET

Just some ideas....feel free to shred them....

[onpoint]

I think that the main concern is the semifinals and finals. Since those are on Fri/Sat, if you are a fan of the league, you should be able to make it. If you are a fan of a particular team, it makes it more difficult to justify the expense. Even if the rest of the tournament is happening on Tue/Wed, we still have the "Championship Weekend" type of feel on Fri/Sat with the semis and finals. Those are the days we really need to be promoting. I don't think we need to necessarily go regional - the cost would be prohibitive - but I don't think anyone cares if the first round and quarters are poorly attended. As has been expressed earlier in this thread, the league as a whole have to do a better job in general of reaching out to the lacrosse community in Dallas (or wherever the tourney is). Combining the final four with local Texas lacrosse events is a great way to do this. Think at the youth level rather than the high school level. Those coaches and players are generally a little more receptive than high school players/coaches who already think they know everything. There are no preconceived notions with 5th/6th graders.

[jessexy]

All-

Dont get me wrong - I love Dallas, and the tourney was great....but something more centrally located would defiinately be to your advantage for the future, or something to "pitch as a vacation destination". (Yes CA, FL - places that offer warm climates, but to the point that you dont get heat stroke during a game).

Just some ideas....feel free to shred them....

i love Dallas too, cuz i live here, but i do have something for you. How is Dallas not centrally located? I guess we could find the midpoint of the entire USA, Omaha, NE anyone? i'm sure the lacrosse community is large and supportive there.

We've tried STL, and MN. Maybe Chicago or Houston would be better. Or maybe somwhere in Colorado, but then you get into homefiled advantage for some of the top programs that may be competing in the Finals.

[Beta]

In terms of travel, I would think you'd have to go by "hubs". LAX, NY, ATL, CHI are all good ones. For this, I would vote Chi-town.

[scooter]

In terms of travel, I would think you'd have to go by "hubs". LAX, NY, ATL, CHI are all good ones. For this, I would vote Chi-town.

denver and dallas also fall into that hub mix...... although i disagree with the LA, NY, ATL, as they are so far away geographically from a majority of the teams who would be competing there.

[Beta]

In terms of travel, I would think you'd have to go by "hubs". LAX, NY, ATL, CHI are all good ones. For this, I would vote Chi-town.

denver and dallas also fall into that hub mix...... although i disagree with the LA, NY, ATL, as they are so far away geographically from a majority of the teams who would be competing there.

Oh def. I was just naming the major hubs. I wasnt at last year's so Im not at liberty to say whether or not I feel it should be moved.

[Timbalaned]

I don't know about LA being very far away from the majority of the teams competing. Though it has just been in the past and things can and will change, if you look at it, statistically 3 or 4 teams come from California to Nationals, one from the northwest and then 3 or 4 from Utah/Colorado, and usually one from Arizona. How does over half the tournament being relatively close to LA constitute being very far away? (those being A teams, sorry, didn't look up where everyone was from for B).

[culax]

I guess we could find the midpoint of the entire USA, Omaha, NE anyone? i'm sure the lacrosse community is large and supportive there.

That's all the encouragement I need. Creighton would love to host the event. I have already started on our proposal, but realistically, we are probably looking at least 2 years out. My good neighbor Warren Buffet will obviously have to be brought on board to help with finances. And while we only have 7 programs in the high school lacrosse league, the city of Omaha has embraced collegiate championships as recent attendance figures at women's volleyball (2006) and the baseball college world series (every year) attest.

[Daniel Morris]

Wanted to keep this thread visible, see if anyone has thought up some new ideas.

Also, I am starting the search for this year's tournament volunteers. Returning volunteers get first dibs on spots, but we are staffing 16 people this year, so there should be room for some new blood.

I won't lie to you, it is a really tough week. The days are generally twelve hours long, and you will probably need to burn a week of vacation to be there Monday night through Sunday morning (with some flex at the end of the week). You will be busy for nearly the entire day, and you will only be paid in the thanks of families and players. The MCLA does pick up airfare and hotel, and most meals will be taken care of by North Texas.

The upside: you will immersed in lacrosse and what it is like to be part of the machinery that hosts a national tournament. You will see some amazing games (and some severe lambastings), do some serious networking with coaches from around the country, and get an inside glimpse of how the MCLA is run. If you are a fan of this league, it is a phenomenal experience. You will be helping to take us to the next level.

If you are interested, send me a PM. I will be checking references and qualified applicants only need apply.

[Timbalaned]

there ever been talk of moving the tourney up to 18 teams with the top two seeds getting a bye into the second round? wouldnt' add anymore days and would get two more teams to the tournament

[scooter]

there ever been talk of moving the tourney up to 18 teams with the top two seeds getting a bye into the second round? wouldnt' add anymore days and would get two more teams to the tournament

before they up the amount of teams for the A division, I would assume they should consider enlarging the field from 12 to 16 for the B division.

There are essentially the same amount of A and B division teams, so I would like to think that the field for the B division would be increased in the near future

[cjwilhelmi]

before they up the amount of teams for the A division, I would assume they should consider enlarging the field from 12 to 16 for the B division.

There are essentially the same amount of A and B division teams, so I would like to think that the field for the B division would be increased in the near future

Ok, Ok... I know for writing this I am opening myself up for a lot of people to be pissed but it needs to be said. You all know that I am a huge proponent for Div B but probably also one of the biggest critics.

The national body is not going to enlarge the Div B tournament until it can be proven that B teams can travel to the tournament and be successful. Salem State last year single handily set back the Div B tournament by a couple years in my opinion. The fact that they said that they didn't have the money to afford to go to Dallas is a huge deal. This looked horrendous on Div B nationally. Sorry, it did. I don't know if this has ever happened in Div A but I highly, highly doubt that it would ever happen at this stage of development. You could always make up scenarios that would disprove that and you can also say that Salem was an aberration, again this is my opinion.

Nationally there are more things that need to be fixed in Div B before they add more teams to the tournament. The biggest thing that needs to be fixed is the guidelines for what is an A and a B team.

Div A did not go from a new tournament with just AQ's to 16 teams in just two years. Remember as Sonny would say -

babysteps guys, babysteps

I just wouldn't go asking for stuff (more teams at nationals) when there are so many other problems that need to be fixed to make Div B seem like a legitimate division nationally. For more on that see my post entitled "Just A Question" in the Premium Forum. Remember to support Collegelax.us and get Premium Membership. It is less than $2 a month to support your favorite website. You can sign up for premium here: http://forums.collegelax.us/viewtopic.php?t=132

[culax]

I propose that the national dues for B teams be lowered to 75% of the rate for A teams.

Before I make any other comments on the issue, I am trying to be patient and give our national executive board a chance to publish the new MCLA bylaws and the minutes from their December meeting.