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So, once CU cashes those Big Ten checks

MiamiBuffs said:
The biggest issue that I believe holds them back is turf ware and tear. They do have a cover system that protects it for things like the Boulder Bolder and concerts. If other sports started using it like Soccer and Lacrosse the field would be in crappy shape by late fall. Soccer is supposed to lose Prentup to a new building sometime soon if I remember correctly.
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Yeah I’m not advocating for a ton of other sports playing there as they don’t generate any revenue. I guess an argument could be made that consolidating facilities so they don’t have to pay for the others is a net positive, but probably not worth it with the extra spent on field repairs
 
SINKRATZ said:
I would be 100% ok with trading out grass for turf at Folsom if it meant more concerts there.
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Would also be something that was less environmentally impactful (recycled material that didn't need to be watered, mowed, fertilized).

I'd love to see a full renovation of Folsom that tied in with modern traffic bridges over the creek and all of the soccer, lax and t&f field sports in a complex on the north side.
 
brockbuff said:
Admittedly I’m distanced from this decision making but what’s the thought process of taking a sport like men’s lacrosse over baseball? Specifically if we’re going to have to build a softball complex
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Men lacrosse will actually bring in fans. Spring in Colorado is no place for baseball
 
SINKRATZ said:
Yes. Win conference titles in football before even thinking about adding sports. Additional sports are a terrible ROI.

In this hypothetical scenario, the BIG has already added us so we don’t need to add sports to look more attractive. We have 17 varsity sports, Oklahoma has 19 - BFD, adding lacrosse or baseball will be a drag on the AD.
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Men’s lacrosse at CU would be an enormous draw. 5000-10,000 per game
 
SBP said:
Men’s lacrosse at CU would be an enormous draw. 5000-10,000 per game
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Considering men’s basketball averages about 7,000-8,000 I have a real hard time believing that.

Edit: UVA, which has one of the most decorated lacrosse programs in the country and won the 2021 national championship plays in a home stadium that seats less than 8,000.
 
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Buffnik said:
Would also be something that was less environmentally impactful (recycled material that didn't need to be watered, mowed, fertilized).

I'd love to see a full renovation of Folsom that tied in with modern traffic bridges over the creek and all of the soccer, lax and t&f field sports in a complex on the north side.
Click to expand...

SBP said:
Men lacrosse will actually bring in fans. Spring in Colorado is no place for baseball
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Not including warning/safety areas...

Football Field: 53 yards x 120 yards
Lacrosse Field: 60 yards x 110 yards
Soccer Field: 70-75 yards x 115-120 yards

I'd be in favor of widening Folsom to accomodate the above. You could also attract USMNT USWNT games. Maybe a CONCACAF tournament (CU, Mile High, and Dicks)
 
I enjoyed the concerts i saw at Folsom, and would love to see more, but I don't think there's much promotor interest in putting concerts at Folsom.
  1. Few bands attract a big enough crowd anymore to book football stadiums. Most of the stadium shiws have 3+ headliners, which takes a lot to coordinate and promote. Or a reunion of a band with a huge following that hasn't toured in years.
  2. There's a very limited number of tours that attract a crowd big enough for a football stadium, that wouldn't deem more of their potential customers being closer to Denver than to Boulder. They're going to look first at Mile High and Dick's.
I think there's a reason Dead & Co moved from Folsom to Fiddlers Green.
 
hokiehead said:
I enjoyed the concerts i saw at Folsom, and would love to see more, but I don't think there's much promotor interest in putting concerts at Folsom.
  1. Few bands attract a big enough crowd anymore to book football stadiums. Most of the stadium shiws have 3+ headliners, which takes a lot to coordinate and promote. Or a reunion of a band with a huge following that hasn't toured in years.
  2. There's a very limited number of tours that attract a crowd big enough for a football stadium, that wouldn't deem more of their potential customers being closer to Denver than to Boulder. They're going to look first at Mile High and Dick's.
I think there's a reason Dead & Co moved from Folsom to Fiddlers Green.
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Probably right. Probably makes a lot more sense to focus on concert-friendly upgrades with the Keg than with Folsom.
 
Jalapeno said:
There are new turf fields that allows you to erase those lines other than football.
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I didn't realize that but looking at some pics from Syracuse I don't see any other lines on the field and the lacrosse team also plays there. I'm guessing it's made easier by the fact that lacrosse is a spring sport.


fbschedules.com

Syracuse adds Colgate to 2020 football schedule

The Syracuse Orange have added the Colgate Raiders to their 2020 football schedule, according to a report by WSYR-TV.
fbschedules.com
 
hokiehead said:
I enjoyed the concerts i saw at Folsom, and would love to see more, but I don't think there's much promotor interest in putting concerts at Folsom.
  1. Few bands attract a big enough crowd anymore to book football stadiums. Most of the stadium shiws have 3+ headliners, which takes a lot to coordinate and promote. Or a reunion of a band with a huge following that hasn't toured in years.
  2. There's a very limited number of tours that attract a crowd big enough for a football stadium, that wouldn't deem more of their potential customers being closer to Denver than to Boulder. They're going to look first at Mile High and Dick's.
I think there's a reason Dead & Co moved from Folsom to Fiddlers Green.
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Folsom also has some other negatives for promoters.

Hard to promote an event on a weekday, even in summer, because of the parking situation.

Football is easier because most of the football fans have been to games before and have a parking strategy. Bring in 40,000+ people who don't know where they are going to park and chaos ensues.

The impacts on local neighborhoods are also less welcome than at other venues. The locals know that they can't do much about football games and some other events like the Bolder Boulder but more than the occasional concert would draw a lot of negative response. Concert level sound isn't something that would be welcomed.

Folsom has known issues in terms of concessions, bathrooms, etc. Do promoters want to deal with those.
 
SINKRATZ said:
Considering men’s basketball averages about 7,000-8,000 I have a real hard time believing that.

Edit: UVA, which has one of the most decorated lacrosse programs in the country and won the 2021 national championship plays in a home stadium that seats less than 8,000.
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University of Denver’s Athletic department second largest revenue sport is men’s lacrosse. It is far more profitable than basketball.
 
SBP said:
University of Denver’s Athletic department second largest revenue sport is men’s lacrosse. It is far more profitable than basketball.
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They have an elite lacrosse program and a dogs**t basketball program. Still their lacrosse team plays in a stadium that only seats 2,000.

So no, CU is not drawing 5,000-10,000 for lacrosse. If they could, they would already have a team.
 
Buffnik said:
Yep. What we need is a small stadium for field sports that holds about 3,000. That would be a big crowd for men's or women's soccer or lacrosse and you'd be fortunate to average half that.
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CU should strike a deal with Boulder High School to purchase their field, improve it to a standard necessary to accommodate D1 field sports and T&F and allow BHS to continue using it for their sports. I have no idea if scheduling conflicts would make that impossible, but the location is ideal, the setting is beautiful, and it’s not a complete new build. Plus BHS would probably love utilizing an upgraded facility.
 
SINKRATZ said:
They have an elite lacrosse program and a dogs**t basketball program. Still their lacrosse team plays in a stadium that only seats 2,000.

So no, CU is not drawing 5,000-10,000 for lacrosse. If they could, they would already have a team.
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Yeah, I have to imagine 5-10k fans per game for lacrosse would almost be revenue neutral or maybe even profitable.
 
Buffnik said:
Would also be something that was less environmentally impactful (recycled material that didn't need to be watered, mowed, fertilized).

I'd love to see a full renovation of Folsom that tied in with modern traffic bridges over the creek and all of the soccer, lax and t&f field sports in a complex on the north side.
Click to expand...
We’ll maintained turf causes less impact in changing weather conditions (which Colorado experiences). You can build and offense and stick to it. You need to stop running back hard cuts just because it snowed/rained the week prior (see 2020 Utah game. Also see 1989-1994 seasons).
 
CarolinaBuff said:
I would think that lacrosse is a relatively inexpensive sport to run
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Teams are fairly large compared to most other sports, at the D1 level teams are allocated 12.6 scholarships (as of 2019.) plus the cost of running a team.

For CU the sport would also be fairly expensive because there are very few D1 programs in the area meaning that a lot of travel would be involved.

I'd love to see it happen though. Lacrosse is rapidly growing and Colorado has a lot of good high school players who end up playing at DU as well as multiple other top end schools. With the scholarship limits teams rely a lot on walk-on talent and I think CU could do very well.

I also would love to see CU build a new multi-sport stadium north of the Champions center relocating the old family housing, maybe to the open space at south campus. This stadium would be maybe 8,000-12,000 seats and be the home for track and field, soccer, and lacrosse. It could be a facility that would attract conference championships, ncaa regional tournaments, as well as elite level HS competitions.

Ideally it would also integrate a campus welcome/visitors center serving as an entry point for visiting prospective students and their parents as well as anyone else desiring to visit the CU campus.
 
CarolinaBuff said:
I didn't realize that but looking at some pics from Syracuse I don't see any other lines on the field and the lacrosse team also plays there. I'm guessing it's made easier by the fact that lacrosse is a spring sport.


fbschedules.com

Syracuse adds Colgate to 2020 football schedule

The Syracuse Orange have added the Colgate Raiders to their 2020 football schedule, according to a report by WSYR-TV.
fbschedules.com
Click to expand...

Yes lacrosse is a spring sport and so is women's soccer. I know for a fact that there is a team that has a turf field where you could erase those LAX/soccer lines but I'm not sure who that would be. This would be an issue if CU had men's soccer but in this case, the football lines would be permanent and the football lines & numbers can be painted over with the correct green color for soccer and then removed right after the soccer game if there is a football game coming up.

There's a video on that topic:



University of Minnesota does this.

 
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The Alabaster Yak said:
If there’s anything that screams small time, it’s having a CFB field that also has the regulation lines for other sports. **** that
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The surface would probably be awful too for soccer anyhow if sharing in season with football. Football is tough on the turf, especially between the tackle box red zone.
 
SINKRATZ said:
They have an elite lacrosse program and a dogs**t basketball program. Still their lacrosse team plays in a stadium that only seats 2,000.

So no, CU is not drawing 5,000-10,000 for lacrosse. If they could, they would already have a team.
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CU can’t ad a lacrosse team because they are barely Title IX compliant.

DU’s stadium was built before they new the kind of draw that lacrosse would be. They now regularly have 3000 fans at a school with about 5700 undergrads. They are working on plans to expand the stadium to get to around 6000 seats.

If DU can draw 6000 then CU should easily be able to draw 5000. Especially if they are in the BIG with Johns Hopkins, OSU, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State.

Given the rabid lacrosse fan base in the front range. Those teams would easily draw 5000.

DU has become elite because kids want to play in Colorado. Recruiting lacrosse players to CU would be a piece of cake. The flatirons would actually matter to lacrosse players. CU would be elite in no time.

What I mean by all of this is that you are 100% wrong.
 
SINKRATZ said:
CU should strike a deal with Boulder High School to purchase their field, improve it to a standard necessary to accommodate D1 field sports and T&F and allow BHS to continue using it for their sports. I have no idea if scheduling conflicts would make that impossible, but the location is ideal, the setting is beautiful, and it’s not a complete new build. Plus BHS would probably love utilizing an upgraded facility.
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I agree with this. That field is awesome.
 
Utah added men's lax and seemed to draw more like 1,400 or so per game in their first year, and more like 2,200 before Covid knocked their season out last year. Their debut game had 3,200. They aren't particularly good, which is to be expected as a new program. My sense is that Colorado is a little bit more of a lacrosse state than Utah...

With Air Force, DU and Utah there is a small nucleus of teams to play without massive travel, which might grow with time. Still, Utah's schedule is chock full of wacky teams and long distance travel.

College baseball also relies on proximate non-conference teams to fill out schedules with mid-week game in addition to weekend series. CU would have a hard time there as well, as UNC and AFA are the only D1 baseball teams around.

I'd rather seem them add men's lax, since Colorado is something of a hotbed and it would generate good interest, in my opinion. I'm biased since I played club lacrosse in college... but I think it could be very successful and popular.
 
HighlandsBuff said:
Utah added men's lax and seemed to draw more like 1,400 or so per game in their first year, and more like 2,200 before Covid knocked their season out last year. Their debut game had 3,200. They aren't particularly good, which is to be expected as a new program. My sense is that Colorado is a little bit more of a lacrosse state than Utah...

With Air Force, DU and Utah there is a small nucleus of teams to play without massive travel, which might grow with time. Still, Utah's schedule is chock full of wacky teams and long distance travel.

College baseball also relies on proximate non-conference teams to fill out schedules with mid-week game in addition to weekend series. CU would have a hard time there as well, as UNC and AFA are the only D1 baseball teams around.

I'd rather seem them add men's lax, since Colorado is something of a hotbed and it would generate good interest, in my opinion. I'm biased since I played club lacrosse in college... but I think it could be very successful and popular.
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I'm all for Men's Soccer & Lacrosse. I'd like Men's Volleyball, too.

Here are the scholarships to match up with just as many or more from Women's sports:

S - 9.9
L - 12.6
V - 4.5

That's 27 total. Some Women's options I think would make sense at CU:


Beach Volleyball - 6
Field Hockey - 12
Gymnastics - 12
Rowing - 20
Triathlon - 4.5

With additional revenue, expansion of opportunities along with better facilities & resources would be great to see.
 
I was a student athlete at DU for undergrad. They can get ~3-4K lacrosse fans out there with some frequency because they:
-Have arguably the GOAT coach
-Who keeps them ranked and often in the top 5, for the last decade
-Have won a national title
-Don’t have a good basketball team to contend with for fans in the late winter
-Get blue blood programs like Duke, Norte Dame, UNC to come play here
-Really push MLax as an event to Greek life, the surrounding community etc.

I’m not saying CU can’t average ~8k fans, but a whole lot has to go right beyond just having a team with a view of the flatirons. Case in point UNC has a consistently solid program with some tradition and in a region where lacrosse is popular and they had about 4-5 thousand fans last year in a year when they won the ACC.

Selfishly I don’t want CU to start Men’s lacrosse. It would be harder for DU to remain a true contender.
 
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