CCLA Planning for Nationals

[Andy Sharp]

John Paul mentioned it in a different forum and I made mention of this last week to Grant Neeley, can we discus ways that as a conference we can make it easier on teams who gain entry into the national tournament.

The first big item that came to mind was lodging and reserving rooms at hotels now for what we foresee as the maximum number of teams gaining entry.

I know it's different for Division A, and that if you're in the top 12 or so that you know you'll be going, but for those of us teams either on the 12-16 bubble or competing for a championship 9 days before the tournament starts, some sort of collusion would be helpful.

Andy Sharp
Coach of Calvin Men's Lacrosse

[John Paul]

Andy,

I don't think reserving rooms is necessary at this point. There will be plenty of rooms available. The event planners make sure of that. Every team has different hotel needs at the tournament (# of guys in a room, meeting rooms, team meals, preferred distance from fields, hotel surroundings, budget, hotel with or without other tournament teams staying there, etc.). It would be hard to pre-arrange rooms not knowing what each team would want.

What I had suggested, and what is done in some other conferences, is that the conference subsidize their tournament teams out of the tournament budget. When the conference calculates team dues, they add enough to create a tournament account that is split between the teams that are invited. Maybe you set aside $6K (or any amount) to be split evenly no matter how many teams are going. Maybe you set aside a certain amount, with a gaurantee that each invited team gets so much, and if fewer teams are invited than budgeted for the extra money goes back into the conference account for the next year. The CCLA has never done this, and I'm not saying we should (and I don't think we could this year anyway), but it's something to consider.

Going to the national tournament is probably a minimum $10K expense if you take cars or vans and stay many to a room. Make it a bus and you're probably talking $15K. Fly, rent vans there, and go 4 to a room and you're probably up to $20K - $25K (maybe even higher depending on the air deal you get). Some teams spend up to $40K for the week (fly in, bus every day there, less than 4 to a room, team meals, etc.), but it can be done pretty cheaply if you're creative. At the NSC, there is even a dorm option at the event site that might be available that could save significant funds. We'll know about that option very soon.