New reign at SHI Stadium?

The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams deserve more hype around campus. The lacrosse teams should receive similar, and perhaps even more, recognition than the football team representing the Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium on Busch campus.

Lacrosse is a fast-paced, easy-to-watch sport. The ball and the players are always moving as teams try to navigate into their offensive boxes, passing the ball and directing traffic on their way to an open shot toward the opposition’s net. While the offense looks to strike, the defense works to retain possession for their own team. The average lacrosse viewer is always on their toes as spectacular athleticism is put on display.

Lacrosse is a beautiful sport. I would describe it as hockey mixed with basketball, and all three sports involve a great deal of strategy combined with a quick style of play.

In recent years, the Rutgers lacrosse teams have represented the program exceptionally well.

The men’s team has been nationally ranked in multiple Inside Lacrosse preseason rankings since April 2016. This season, they were ranked No. 9 in the media preseason rankings and have gone as high as the No. 6 seed in the in-season rankings this year.

The men’s team asserted its dominance after making the NCAA Final Four last season and earning 15 wins and six conference victories in 2022, both of which are program records.

The women’s team has also made its way into Inside Lacrosse’s preseason rankings in the last couple of campaigns. This year, the Knights earned a rank as the No. 8 seed in the Preseason Coaches Poll, their highest ranking in program history.

The women’s team scored a program-record 16 victories in 2022, made their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, and defeated then-No. 4 Northwestern to advance to the Big Ten championship game last year.

With these excellent performances from both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, one would think attendance at their games would be high. Two nationally ranked teams would deserve that. But there is a wide gap compared to the attendance of the more recognizable sport at SHI Stadium.

The average women’s lacrosse attendance, as per this season's three games, is approximately 432 people. Through six home games this season, the average men’s lacrosse attendance is around 1,052 people.

Football home attendance in the 2022 season totaled approximately 50,000 fans a game, with their highest total attendance ever being 55,676 fans in last season’s game against Penn State, where the team lost 55-10.

The football team has struggled in recent memory, as Rutgers has had losing seasons since 2015, a year after it joined the Big Ten. The Knights went 3-21 in the 2018 and 2019 campaigns combined. They haven’t been ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll since 2007 when they landed at No. 16. Rutgers' last in-season ranking in the AP Poll was in the 2012 season when it was ranked as 18th.

Granted, the Big Ten is home to college football behemoths like Ohio State and Michigan. Even so, fans of the Knights are getting increasingly upset with their favorite team being on the bottom of the Big Ten totem pole each season with little hope of climbing up.

It’s a wonder that the fan base continuously accumulated good attendance numbers in the 2022 season, where Rutgers went 4-8 overall and 1-8 in the conference with only two wins at home. Before one of those home wins against Indiana, the Knights were on a 21-game home losing streak against conference foes.

The biggest problem with the lack of attendance for the lacrosse games is that the stadium blocks out every lower bubble section beside the five red-seated sections behind the team benches, which prevents many fans from getting good seats. Removing this barrier would let spectators get closer to the action.

The athletics program should boost its lacrosse programs as they do with football, perhaps by adding promotions or exciting spectacles before the game.

More importantly, a surplus of lower bubble seats should be opened so an increased number of fans can come out and see two recently successful programs play.

Fans of the football team have been disappointed with the product they have witnessed on the field every year since 2015. But if more attention and focus is put on the lacrosse teams and their conference and national success, that disappointment could be forgotten.