As a fan of Wisconsin athletics and someone that covers a lot of sports the UW offers – not just the norms of Basketball, Football and Hockey – one is left these times of the year with a rather empty feeling. Granted the UW softball team gave us a thrill, winning it's first ever Big Ten championship and nearly making it out of the regional round of the NCAA tournament, but once basketball season ends (usually in mid-March sadly and that's for a whole different discussion) there just feels like there is a massive hole just looking to be filled.
On Monday the Big Ten announced the additions of two new sports, men's and women's lacrosse, to the conference fold. Add in Big Ten hockey and that's three massive additions to one of the (if not the) broadest offerings of any conference in the country.
Combine that news with the massive hole we spoke of earlier and one begins to wonder out loud if Wisconsin could add the sport and make it seven teams in conference play? Well, don't hold your breath on it happening anytime soon, at least that's what the powers that be in the Wisconsin athletic department are telling us thanks to some good work by our friend Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal.
According to the article mentioned above the Badgers staff doesn't think much about adding any sports and are content to stand pat with 11 men's sports and 12 women's sports. That's their prerogative to be sure and we aren't hear to tell them what to do – rather it's more like we're adding to the collection of suggestion cards in the suggestion box that doesn't actually exist at Wisconsin.
However, let us put forth an argument to add two teams here – men's and women's lacrosse – and here's why.
Lacrosse is a growing sport, not only in the state of Wisconsin, but in the United States as a whole. In fact, it's popular enough that the WIAA has considered adding it as a sanctioned sport at both levels in the next few years. In the past decade the number of teams sprouting up at the high school level has exploded.
In total there are currently 37 club level teams across the state of Wisconsin (stats provided by wisconsinlacrosse.com – who organize the club level) on the boys side and 19 on the girls side, with more being added every year.
Why bring that up? Well, it proves that there can be a built in recruiting base within the state itself. The sport has players playing at higher levels and getting better coaching on a yearly basis. What was once a novelty just being introduced as I left high school just over a decade ago is now an accepted club sport in my area and across the more populated parts of the state and could become a full varsity sport in the not too distant future.
We haven't even mentioned the fact that Wisconsin, as a university, draws students from the East Coast big time – hence the term "coastie" becoming popularized to describe a certain segment of the female population on the Madison campus.
Last time I checked, lacrosse was a massive spring sport on the east coast, right? Put two and two together and you get popular sport + kids who know about the UW = potentially easy selling to possible recruits on the coast.
Oh, and add in a growing base for the sport in Eastern Dakota (a.k.a Minnesota) and you have all you would need to bring the program off the ground and continue to grow the sport in the state of Wisconsin.
You can't tell me that little kids picking up a stick for the first time and throwing the ball around wouldn't look up to a team they could see playing every weekend on TV or in person at the McClimon Complex or even Camp Randall (if possible for the bigger games)?
The other aspect of this whole scenario is $$$$ and it's the trickiest part of the scenario to be sure. Yes, the startup costs and the maintenance costs of running these programs can be costly at first. However, if a school like Ohio State can find a way to have their lacrosse program at least adding revenue to the coffers on an annual basis so to can Wisconsin.
Unlike adding baseball (another hot button topic amongst the fanbase) adding lacrosse and making it work in an unsure weather environment is a hell of a lot easier. Games can be played in the rain, the fields are easier to maintain and if done right, the Badgers may not even have to add much in the way of facilities for the lacrosse team. Pretty sure this little facility attached to Camp Randall would provide them with the perfect space to hold practices when the football team isn't using the facility.
Why point out all of these facts and talk about a sport that is likely to be a long shot to be added, if ever? Well, it's because we believe the Badgers are missing out on a golden opportunity to add a sport to their lineup that could fill a hole a lot of fans feel when basketball season ends and fill their coffers just a little bit more as well. After all, $$$$ rules everything in college sports these days, right?
For a lot of fans of Wisconsin athletics it's almost as if a death in the family occurs ever March when the Badgers basketball season comes to its inevitable conclusion with a loss in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament. There's this void just waiting to be filled, and frankly, as awesome as the performances of the Badgers softball team have been, the void can't be filled by just a handful of games being played in Madison. Track & Field don't get the juices and going – and well, don't get me started on rowing.
Point being – adding lacrosse could fill that void and with a smart marketing campaign along with a smart coaching hire and we'd be willing to bet that men's lacrosse would become part of a "big four", so to speak, at the UW. It's a shame the powers that be seem to not be taking the outcry for the sport seriously. I know we'd be giving it the fullest of coverage possible, so it's your move Wisconsin – it would be a shame to see you left on the down slope of the popularity curve trying to add the sport to look cool when you could've done it on the up slope and reaped the rewards of the power that an up and coming collegiate sport can bring.
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