Johns Hopkins University, Loyola University and Towson University share a five mile stretch of Charles Street in North Baltimore. Each of these programs would like to draw lacrosse fans from the region. These programs often play at the same time on the same day. Saturday at noon or early afternoon might be the best time slot, but it is not if there is a more attractive game up the street at the same time. Lacrosse fans cannot be two places at one time. From a fan’s perspective, Friday or Saturday evening, or Sunday afternoon might be just as appealing and possibly offer fewer schedule conflicts with things like little league games or birthday parties, etc. College students might like evening games. It also might help with TV not to have simultaneous telecasts.
Below are the overlapping games in North Baltimore all on Saturday afternoon unless noted.
February 3
Hopkins (Home) vs Denver at 2pm
Loyola (Home) vs Georgetown at 1pm.
February 17
Hopkins (Home) vs. Loyola at 1pm
Towson (Home) vs Navy at noon
March 9
Towson (Home) vs Virginia at noon
Loyola (Home) vs. Duke at 3:30pm.
(I appreciate that these game times on not exactly at the same time, but they are in different locations. This would be a fun double header at one location, or making one of these a night game or Sunday game might be better)
March 30
Hopkins (Home) vs Michigan at noon
Towson (Home) vs Stony Brook at noon.
TU and Stony Brook is a good match up, but good luck competing with the Blue Jays and Wolverines. Also, on the other side of town, UMBC hosts Albany at noon, which is a big game in retriever land.
April 6
Hopkins (Home) vs Penn State at 2pm
Loyola (Home) vs. Bucknell at 1pm
Towson 9 (Home) vs. Hofstra at 2pm
Loyola or TU, maybe swallow your pride here and defer to preseason #5 Hopkins vs. preseason #4 Penn State, and try Friday Night Lights instead?
February 6 (This is a different kind of schedule conflict)
Hopkins (at Homewood) vs Towson at 4pm on Tuesday
Fans are at work and school. Long distance team travel logistics are not a factor here.
There are a lot of considerations in scheduling from staffing, to making sure student athletes are in class, to travel implications. It surely is easiest not to coordinate with others or mix in Friday night games, Sunday games or even double headers. Administrators are juggling much more than men’s lacrosse and lacrosse may not be their first priority.
Players, fans and lacrosse lose something when maximizing attendance is an after thought. Athletic directors sharing a geographic lacrosse fan base should collaborate with shared calendars not just to avoid competing for fans, but to create exciting "4 team" events. Baltimore deserves a clash of titans double header or at least a Charles Street party bus between game sites! @QKessenich and others interested in growing the game, what say you?
Comments