Our guest columnist today is Vanessa Budd, senior director of lax.com and three-time All-American coach of the lacrosse team.
It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a part of women’s sports. In March, 18.9 million people watched the NCAA women’s basketball championship, making it the most-watched women’s college game ever. Networks are filling their programming hours with women’s sports, and leagues like Athletes Unlimited continue to grow. Women are starting to play a bigger role in the sports world, and lacrosse is no exception.
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Every year we see the popularity of women’s lacrosse grow. Participation in the sport has increased 43% since pre-COVID. With so many new players coming to the sport at a young age, there is increased demand for new NCAA programs. Arizona State, Clemson, Pittsburgh, and East Carolina are just a few schools that have recently added women’s lacrosse. With just two seasons under their belt, Clemson is already ranked in the NCAA’s top 30.
More exciting firsts are in the pipeline for women’s lacrosse in 2024 and 2025. The University of South Florida and Florida State will field teams over the next two years. The first-ever World Lacrosse Women’s Box Championship will be held in Utica, N.Y., in September, and the Big 12 will make its debut in women’s lacrosse in 2025. College sports also introduced NIL athletes in 2021.
The sport has stars, too. Like Caitlin Clark in basketball, Charlotte North and Izzy Scane are changing the game of women’s lacrosse. North held the all-time NCAA women’s lacrosse record for goals scored (358) until Scane broke that record this season, finishing with 376.
The growth and star power of the sport has created a huge space for female lacrosse players to build their own brands and potentially expand their collegiate careers into something much bigger. 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 is set to continue to grow as we look toward lacrosse’s return to the 2028 Olympics. With the newest additions of women’s lacrosse, Box, and the Olympics, we’re predicting a 20% increase in interest in the next three years alone. More and more women in the business side of the sport are making an impact, too.
In 2022, Cascade Maverik Lacrosse appointed a woman as vice president and general manager. Lax.com has also been expanding leadership opportunities for women in recent years, and women’s sales are skyrocketing. Interest in women’s lacrosse at all age levels will continue to grow in the coming years. With the addition of new NCAA teams, women’s box lacrosse, and the Olympics, the future of the women’s game is bright, and we’re confident there’s more to come.
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