Don't get me wrong - I love lacrosse and I would watch a high school JV game if they showed it on TV. Unfortunately for the MLL though, I'm not the casual sports fan they're looking to attract with their product
As the 2009 MLL championship weekend is upon us, fans of outdoor pro lacrosse are preparing to watch 2 teams of allstars battle it out for the Steinfeld cup. Due to the recent contraction, only 6 teams are now competing in the MLL, and they are basically stacked full of college all-americans and canadian indoor superstars. Take a look at the rosters - it's not like it will take long with only 6 teams - and you'll find almost every team has an all-world player at nearly every position.
Even despite the stacked rosters, the league is having problems keeping the best players around, since they're unable to pay salaries high enough for their players to commit to professional lacrosse full-time (I've heard figures around sub 20k/year). Players fly in for games from wherever they live and the teams practice once a week and then play a game the next day. Simply put, the game just isn't as fun to watch when it's obvious to a fan that the team doesn't really practice together and fails to develop any chemistry. It just ends up being a glorified game of street ball.
A look at the league scoring leaders - something that proved pretty difficult to find for me - shows that the top players would seem to be the young guys, who to the league's credit, are thriving in the MLL. Paul Rabil came in and immediately was one of the league's top players. MLL can't count on a new Rabil every year, though.
I think that the league's biggest shortcoming is it's failure to build a strong base with real lacrosse fans. They tried to do a bit too much to make the sport more mainstream friendly from the time of their inception, adding a shot clock and 2-point line. Ask any lacrosse fan you know how they feel about these 2 additions, and you probably won't get a friendly response. There wasn't anything wrong or boring about how the game was being played at the NCAA level and below, yet the league failed to realize this and thought they had to appeal to the common sports fan for the game to thrive. What really needs to happen is for the league to build strong bases in cities or areas traditionally known for their college programs and fan bases (Baltimore, Syracuse, Philadelphia, Virginia, New Jersey) and embrace the college style of play, rather than shunning it. Play the games on the college teams' fields. Play the games immediately after a college game when there will already be fans in the stands.
Another issue is the television coverage. The games are shown at times like Wednesday at 1pm. Not too many people are going to be watching televised lacrosse on a weekday afternoon. Kudos to ESPN for agreeing to show the games at all, but come on guys - you can't seriously expect this sport to catch on mainstream if you're showing games at shady times like what's going on now. Not even the hardcore lacrosse fans can watch regularly at this time. Also, advertisers don't exactly jump at the chance to have their commercials shown during these hours, when homemakers and schoolkids are the only people at home with the TV on.
The league should probably explore having their games shown on Versus, since that network tends to embrace the "niche" sports, which fairly or unfairly, lacrosse fits into the category of right now. At least Versus would show the games at a time when people can actually watch. As of right now, ESPN seems to be more interested in promoting college lacrosse, anyway, so why not go with another network that could market the games better.
The marketing as a whole is just pretty awful with the MLL. They don't sell the name players well enough, as far as having them get their faces and personalities out there. These guys for the most part have very strong personalities and would have no trouble selling the game they love. Chazz Woodson is on some commercials and plays with a flair for the spectacular that not many players have, but he isn't really an elite player. Rabil is a beast the likes of which haven't been seen on a lacrosse field in a very long time. Get his face out there. Give the fans something to get excited about - highlight reels, commercials, Rabil signature sticks and gear, whatever.
It probably doesn't help the league either that the three Powell brothers are not playing this season. Mikey's pursuing his "music career," which apparently trumps his desire to do what he does best, which is basically be the best lacrosse player on the planet. I could write 5000 words about this guy not having a clue, but we'll save that for another day. Not sure why Casey and Ryan have chosen not to play, but it's all very puzzling. Clearly, having the three most recognizable and likely also most popular players among fans in the sport not suit up is not good for MLL. They need to find a way to get these guys playing and pushing the product.
I agree that changing up the rules of the game was probably the worst decision you could make. They tried the same thing in the MLS to make soccer more "exciting" for Americans, and all it ended up doing was alienating fans and getting the MLS ridiculed by the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteHave some respect for the game you love, don't tarnish it by trying to appease people that aren't going to watch anyway.