Coming in 2015, the Big Ten brings deep pockets and additional TV exposure to college lacrosse BY MEGAN SCHNEIDER
A
laxmagazine.com
sea of red and white emerges to echoes of “Carmen Ohio,” the oldest school song played by the “Best Damn Band in the Land.” More than 30,000 fans peer onto the turf field in Ohio Stadium, affectionately known as the Horseshoe, to watch what has become a valued spring tradition — a lacrosse game.
Since 2008, Ohio State has staged the Showdown in the Shoe as an opening act for its spring football game, providing unprecedented exposure for lacrosse in the Midwest. With the advent of Big Ten men’s and women’s lacrosse in 2015, the sport now stands to benefit from the financial heft and visibility of the nation’s most esteemed college athletic conference.
For Ohio State, it means no longer toiling in obscurity as a member of the ill-fitting ECAC (for men) or ALC (for women), lacrosse-only conferences fazed out by realignment.
“As an outsider, when you speak to the fan in Ohio, you have to explain your conference has teams that just don’t necessarily ring true to the typical teams that other Ohio State teams play,” Buckeyes men’s lacrosse coach Nick Myers said. “We’ve done some unique things here at Ohio State to expose our fan base to the game and will continue to do so. The Big Ten brand, the conference and the network behind it will only add to that.” When the Big Ten courted Maryland from the ACC and Rutgers from the Big East, it made lacrosse viable. Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State already sponsored both sports. Adding Johns Hopkins as an affiliate member in men’s lacrosse allowed the conference to meet the six-team threshold, while Northwestern, a forerunner with several appearances on the Big Ten Network in recent seasons, completed a women’s lacrosse lineup that has combined to win 20 of 33 NCAA titles. The Showdown in the Shoe will continue when Ohio State hosts new conference foe Maryland in April. “We hold the regular season attendance record in Division I lacrosse with this event,” Myers said. “Maryland is certainly a national brand from a lacrosse standpoint, a powerhouse, and now that they are a Big Ten team, it will really be attractive for our Buckeye fans to know that this is a Big Ten opponent that we’re playing in that big-time venue.” Lacrosse now has a home in two of the so-called “Power Five” conferences. The ACC — still going strong with perennial lacrosse powers Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia — and Big Ten recently gained more autonomy from the NCAA.
october 2014 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 39
©BILL DANIELEWSKI; ©KEVIN P. TUCKER
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