Can LAX Format Be Applied to Football

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

Watching some of the Men's Lacrosse Championship games this weekend, I couldn't help but wonder if a similar format could be devised to enhance the Football Championship Games.

For those unfamiliar with the LAX Format, they play the D-I semi-final games on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday they play the D-II and D-III Championship Games at the same site. Then on Memorial Day they play the D-I Championship Game.

This year the event was held in Baltimore at the Ravens Stadium and the previous two at the Eagles Stadium in Philly. Before that I believe they were in Baltimore. The attendance since this format was instituted has been over 40K. This year the attendance was over 50K!!

Could an NCAA Championship Football Weekend be created where all three championship games are held at the same site? You could have a tripleheader on Saturday, obviously the field would have to have an artificial surface. Another option would be a doubleheader on Friday with an all-star game and a championship game. Then Saturday would be a doubleheader with the other two championship games.

Would this type of event weekend be enough of an incentive to make advance arrangements to attend regardless of whether your school was participating?

[DFW HOYA]

This is a good idea, but it would have to be a location that is both a destination city as well as TV friendly. It would also likely be a location that does not conflct with an existing bowl or an NFL team.

One nomination: Tropicana Field, Tampa.

[MplsBison]

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas.

[Mr. C]

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas.

Dumb idea, dumb idea, dumb idea.

The NCAA would never move the game to Las Vegas, because of the gambling thing and Las Vegas would never have ANY interest in the FCS title game.

[Fresno St. Alum]

Plus there is the Las Vegas Bowl and UNLV that would stand in the way of it. Keep it in the south, east, or midwest. Where the fan base is strong

[kardplayer]

I love the idea in concept, but as a two-time lax semifinal attendee ('05 and '06) I'm not sure it would work for football. Here's why:

First, some reasons why lax has worked well the last few years...

1. Most lacrosse fans/players live somewhere between Long Island and Maryland. That's a sweeping generalization, but also largely true. As a result, most of the "audience" lives within driving distance (~250 miles or less) of Baltimore and Philly as do most of the best schools. (It'll be interesting to see whether Boston draws as well next year for just that reason). As a result, there's (relatively) few plane tickets that folks purchase in advance.

2. There's few other outlets for lacrosse fans, so there's lots of excitement generated by this event. Tons of high school teams and lacrosse clubs come en masse to the event and again, the driving distance factor is what makes it work.

3. The format is setup so that Division I helps DII and DIII draw by having the DI semis and finals on Sat./Mon. with the DII/DIII doubleheader on Sunday. As an example, in 2006, the attendance for Sat/Sun/Mon was: 49,562/23,990/47,062.

4. Its a long weekend and the kickoff of summer - great time to want to get out and tailgate.

So... translating it to football would be challenging.

For the purposes of discussion, assume FCS needs to "wrap" the weekend and that the champ game has to stay on Friday night for TV purposes, the setup could be as follows:

Friday night: FCS championship game
Saturday afternoon doubleheader: DII/DIII championship games
Sunday: FCS all-star game

Also assume that, like lax, tickets for the whole weekend go on sale a year in advance, and individual games go on sale on the Sunday before (for lax, they actually go on sale on the Friday, but again, everyone is driving so if game tix get sold out, its not like you've bought plane tix already).

You'd have to pick a spot where the stadium fit at least 40k (the rough addition of the FCS/II/III games last year) and has artificial turf. Given its December, you probably also want a place where the weather is more likely to be good to draw in the festive/tailgating atmosphere - hard to balance that with driving distance for most of the fans.

It doesn't need to be a destination market, since Philly/Baltimore aren't really "destinations" in the traditional sense (NY, Orlando, Vegas, etc.). The three games currently are in Chatty/Salem, VA/Florence, AL and have been for some time - none of which are destinations.

One big question would be, would the FCS all-star game draw the best players (aside from the championship participants) and would fans stick around to see it. The issue for the first part would be - since there is a limitation to how many all star games they can play, would they want to "waste" an opportunity to play against the BCS players in the Senior Bowl and show they can do their thing against "top" talent. Keep in mind that many of the guys who get drafted highly from FCS start building buzz in those all star games and (formerly) I-A guys. If the game didn't get the best players, would it get fans to attend. It would have to be enough of a draw to make someone not only pay for tickets for that game, but also for two additional hotel nights. I think that game is the key to the whole weekend.

[McTailGator]

Watching some of the Men's Lacrosse Championship games this weekend, I couldn't help but wonder if a similar format could be devised to enhance the Football Championship Games.

For those unfamiliar with the LAX Format, they play the D-I semi-final games on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday they play the D-II and D-III Championship Games at the same site. Then on Memorial Day they play the D-I Championship Game.

This year the event was held in Baltimore at the Ravens Stadium and the previous two at the Eagles Stadium in Philly. Before that I believe they were in Baltimore. The attendance since this format was instituted has been over 40K. This year the attendance was over 50K!!

Could an NCAA Championship Football Weekend be created where all three championship games are held at the same site? You could have a tripleheader on Saturday, obviously the field would have to have an artificial surface. Another option would be a doubleheader on Friday with an all-star game and a championship game. Then Saturday would be a doubleheader with the other two championship games.

Would this type of event weekend be enough of an incentive to make advance arrangements to attend regardless of whether your school was participating?



I would like to see an FCS All-Star game involving teams that do not make the finals on the night before the NC game, which needs to be played on a Saturday, preferably between Christmas Day and New Years day.

HOWEVER, I am STRONGLY opposed to the Division I National Championship game having ANYTHING to do with D-II or III. We took years to separate ourselves from being associated with anything other than Division I. Thus the new title of FCS. We need to do as much as we can to distance ourselves from ANYTHING not associated totally with Division I.

Now, if they want to have the Division I Soccer Championships on the same weekend in or near the same venue than so be it. But, we need to distance ourselves from all things NOT Division I.

One other thing the NCAA needs to do to help get FCS some PR. They should invite some famous ex-FCS stars to the games and have them interviewed on TV through out the game. Some that come to mind would be:

Jerry Rice, Chad Pennington, Randy Moss, Kurt Warner, Brian Westbrook, Howie Long, Rich Cannon, Doug Williams, and current Saints HC Sean Peyton, etc.

They need to ban the ESPN anouncers from using the old name of I-AA or I-A. They should also be banned from mentioning the fact that anyone was a transfer more than once and should not be allowed to make a big deal out of transfers at all. In fact, ESPN should try to use former FCS players or media personnel with previous FCS ties.

[RadMann]

I agree with the Lehigh poster's primary point that the reason the lacrosse championship draws so well is that it is really a regional sport still, and the region is here in the mid-atlantic area. For this reason, the championship schools are going to in all likelihood be from the region as are the fans. In football, it is a bigger challenge since the teams are from all over the country.

[DFW HOYA]

I agree with the Lehigh poster's primary point that the reason the lacrosse championship draws so well is that it is really a regional sport still, and the region is here in the mid-atlantic area.

For men's lacrosse, that is. Women's lacrosse is moving west--the three time women's champions reside at Northwestern.

[MplsBison]

Why would the LV Bowl or UNLV care if the championships were there?

[GannonFan]

I wouldn't like it - just because we're all football fans doesn't mean we have equal interest in the DII or DIII championship games, at least not enough to watch those two games plus a 3rd championship game in the FCS one - that's a lot of football to actually attend in a short time frame. Plus, we're already getting over 20k for our own national title game - how much bigger would this stadium be? And we couldn't fill a 70k seat stadium so having it in a half filled venue would like shoddy. Plus, like another poster said, why do we want to be affiliated with the lower divisions anyway? It doesn't speak to the supposed superiority of our own division if we get equal billing with other divisions at the same event. It works in lax, it wouldn't work here.

[89Hen]

Interesting proposal, but I agree with everything kardplayer said.

[813Jag]

This is a good idea, but it would have to be a location that is both a destination city as well as TV friendly. It would also likely be a location that does not conflct with an existing bowl or an NFL team.

One nomination: Tropicana Field, Tampa.

That place is not the best facility for that type of game. I can't remember the last time they had a football game there.

[bluehenbillk]

I think it's a good idea & deserves some consideration, it'd make the whole overall experience only more fun IMO.

[McTailGator]

I wouldn't like it - just because we're all football fans doesn't mean we have equal interest in the DII or DIII championship games, at least not enough to watch those two games plus a 3rd championship game in the FCS one - that's a lot of football to actually attend in a short time frame. Plus, we're already getting over 20k for our own national title game - how much bigger would this stadium be? And we couldn't fill a 70k seat stadium so having it in a half filled venue would like shoddy. Plus, like another poster said, why do we want to be affiliated with the lower divisions anyway? It doesn't speak to the supposed superiority of our own division if we get equal billing with other divisions at the same event. It works in lax, it wouldn't work here.

xthumbsupx

BINGO! I agree 100%

[Mr. C]

Why would the LV Bowl or UNLV care if the championships were there?

It's called competition.

[andy7171]

First of all FCS already has an inferiority complex, why would they want to link themselves with D.II and D.III any more so?
Football isn't a tournament style game like soccer, basketball or Lacrosse where you can and often do recover in a day to play again. This past weekend brought in fans from 8 different schools as well as the local lacrosse followers. A football championship would only bring in fans from two schools.

[kardplayer]

First of all FCS already has an inferiority complex, why would they want to link themselves with D.II and D.III any more so?
Football isn't a tournament style game like soccer, basketball or Lacrosse where you can and often do recover in a day to play again. This past weekend brought in fans from 8 different schools as well as the local lacrosse followers. A football championship would only bring in fans from two schools.

I concur. Also keep in mind, while there's a lot of overlap between fans of the team/fans of the sport, most of the tickets are sold long before the teams are determined.

[kardplayer]

Interesting proposal, but I agree with everything kardplayer said.

I knew I liked you for a reason :D