Today’s guest columnist is Vanessa Budd, the senior director for lax.com and a three-time lacrosse all American coach.
It is an extremely exciting time to be a part of women’s sports. In March, 18.9 million people tuned in to watch the NCAA women’s basketball championship, making it the most-watched women’s college game ever. Networks are filling programming hours with women’s sports and leagues like Athletes Unlimited continue to expand. Women are starting to play a larger role in the world of sports, and lacrosse is no different.
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Each year, we continue to see the popularity of women’s lacrosse grow. Participation in the sport has increased by 43% since pre-COVID. With many new players joining the sport at a young age, there is a higher demand for new NCAA programs. Arizona State, Clemson, Pittsburgh and East Carolina are just a few schools that have added women’s lacrosse recently. With only two seasons under their belt, Clemson already sits in the NCAA top 30.
There are even more exciting firsts to come for women’s lacrosse in 2024 and 2025. The University of South Florida and Florida State are set to field teams in the next two years. September will see the first ever World Lacrosse Women’s Box Championship held in Utica, N.Y., and in 2025, the Big 12 will make its way into women’s lacrosse. College sports also introduced NIL athletes in 2021.
The game has stars, too. Like Caitlin Clark in basketball, Charlotte North and Izzy Scane are changing the game of women’s lacrosse. North held the NCAA women’s lacrosse record for all-time goals scored (358) until Scane broke that record this season to finish with 376.
The sport’s growth and star power have created a massive space for women’s lacrosse players to build their own brand and potentially build their collegiate careers into something much more. In 2021, Athletes Unlimited launched a professional women’s lacrosse league. In just its second year, live viewership increased by 25% and attendance grew by 41%. The sport will continue to grow as we look forward to the return of lacrosse in the 2028 Olympics. With women’s lacrosse’s newest additions of Box and the Olympics, we are projecting 20% growth in interest over the next three years alone. More and more women on the business side of the sport are having an impact as well.
In 2022, Cascade Maverik Lacrosse named a woman as their vice president and general manager. Lax.com has also created leadership opportunities for women increasingly over the last few years, and women’s sales are skyrocketing. In the next few years, interest in women’s lacrosse will continue to grow at all age levels. With the additions of new NCAA teams, women’s box lacrosse and the Olympics, the future of the women’s game is bright, and we are confident there is even more to come.
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