M&T Bank Stadium Hosts A Successful Championship Weekend

I’ve been hush this weekend because I have enjoyed three great days of lacrosse at M&T Bank Stadium, where 3 NCAA Men’s Champions were determined.  I’m not a lacrosse player or a huge fan, but I like the sport, and after going in 2007, I’ve learned that the experience of seeing a sport played at the highest level for three straight days is pretty cool.

While it was incredibly hot, the stadium (and new turf) did Baltimore proud.  The turf looked good, but it seemed very slippery, as the fans witnessed about double or triple the average amount of falls as you would see in an average lacrosse game.  I don’t know if it was the humidity or just the players, but it’s something to possibly think about.

Click “Continue Reading” to read more about the weekend.

If you’re unfamiliar with the format of this weekend, here’s a quick primer.  4 Division I teams go, and then 2 teams from both Division II and III go.  On Saturday, there are the two DI semifinal games, which this year were played between Cornell and Notre Dame, and Duke and Virginia.  On Sunday, two champions are crowned.  The first game is the bigger event, the Division III game, in which powerhouse Salisbury is almost always involved in. Following the D3 game, the Division II championship is played, and with fewer teams in D2, and Le Moyne being a participant every year since 2004, the game is not a big draw.

Saturday is always the biggest, most exciting day.  Fans from all over the country are there, almost everybody is tailgating in the parking lots, and everybody is wearing their favorite school’s gear.  It’s almost like a Ravens game in that there is a lot to do in the area.  The RavensWalk area was turned into a “LaxPerience” zone, full of games and giveaways.

I’m not going to go into incredible specifics about the games, because this is a football blog, and I’m not very qualified to talk about lacrosse. But I would like to say that, as always, whether it’s this or the MPSSAA football state championships, the Ravens have an incredible stadium that they get to play in 8 times every season.  It’s got the attractions, incredible viewpoints, and most importantly, it looks (and smells) good, unlike an ugly stepsister stadium in Pittsburgh.  The fact that the Ravens let these organizations have these events in their stadium is also a great testament to Steve Bisciotti and his posse.  With new turf and having to have full stadium staff on duty, the organization compromised quite a bit to help the NCAA pull this off. And who knows, maybe we’ve got some more fans after the success of this weekend.