Lacrosse Rising: The Fastest Growing Sport in America
It may not be the most popular sport here in the states, but lacrosse is climbing the ladder! Even though it’s not yet mainstream, unless you live in the northeast, new pockets are popping up across the map.
US Lacrosse, the national governing body, puts together a yearly report on participation gleaned from 67 regional chapters across the nation, as well as the NCAA, National Federation of State High School Associations, and other sources. In their 2013 report, they found that lacrosse has been one of the fastest growing sports for a full decade now. They state that in 2013, there were 750,000 players participating on organized teams, 25,000 more than the previous year. That’s a 3.4% growth rate! The fact that more than half of the total
players are under the age of 16 means that we can expect even more growth in the high school, college, and professional levels as the players get older. The sport even boasted 60 new varsity programs at the collegiate level. In the not too distant future we expect this to translate into a greater number of pro teams and higher viewership for leagues. Already, the sport has enjoyed greater coverage on ESPN and CBS Sports than ever before.
“There are two main reasons for the trend,” said Rick Burton, the Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University. “One is that lacrosse is being developed as a gender neutral sport. It’s a virtually identical game between men and women. Two, it’s an active, contemporary game. It’s not based on set plays with limitations of where people can play.”
The conventional history and reputation of lacrosse has been grounded in the Northeast, but that’s changing. Now, the greatest areas of expansion have been in the Midwest and the South. Over the past five years, the largest percentage increases have been in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina.
Dave Brandon, the University of Michigan Athletic Director, saw the sport’s potential and added it in 2014. “The more we dug into it, the more we believed that this is just a sport of the future. Lacrosse’s trend lines in every way we could measure were impressive and made us believe that this is a place where we could grow and be a part of something that would over time be very big,” he said.
Lacrosse, “the fastest game on two feet,” has a long time to go before it gets close to the numbers enjoyed by football, baseball, and basketball. Much of that is due to the fact that these other sports had a head start, but it also means that they’re closer to their critical mass, whereas Lacrosse has tremendous growth potential; in 32 states, fewer than 1,000 students played high-school lacrosse.
The appeal is obvious and the action is intense! There’s no better time than the present to discover and fall in love with this great game, steeped in history and accessible to all, especially with a collapsible, take-anywhere lacrosse goal from Rukket Sports. Get yours today!
