Bob Carpenter warned that he thought of this proposed idea just five minutes beforehand. But that didn’t prevent the founder and publisher of Inside Lacrosse magazine from writing an e-mail to Virginia head coach Dom Starsia and Princeton head coach Bill Tierney to explain it.

The subject line read ‘Big Idea,’ and was dated Dec. 1, 2005, at 12:08 a.m. Carpenter’s voice in the e-mail expressed a sense of urgency.

‘I know I’m setting myself up for ridicule, firing off such an outlandish and uncooked idea to you two at midnight on a Wednesday, but I just had a thought,’ Carpenter wrote.

He went on to explain it was time to take the next step in improving lacrosse’s ever-growing landscape. From 1995 to 2005, NCAA lacrosse programs across the country have increased from 316 to 478, a 51.3 percent growth rate. The NCAA final four has taken place the past four years at professional football stadiums – at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in 2003 and 2004 and at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in 2005 and 2006. ESPN has also broadcast Major League Lacrosse games since 2004.

Now it was time to showcase an early season doubleheader, Carpenter thought. The event would have to include Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Syracuse and Virginia, because those teams combined have won every national championship since 1992. Carpenter argued this event would have to take place in a professional venue in order to maximize exposure.

His initial idea hatched up in the wee hours of the morning is coming to fruition as the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic. It features No. 9 Syracuse playing No. 5 Virginia at 2:30 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday, preceded by No. 1 Princeton against No. 7 Johns Hopkins at noon. Andy Bilello, IL’s director of business development, said they have sold about 13,000 tickets so far and is aiming to draw 15,000 fans on Saturday.

‘The regular season isn’t really promoted that greatly in (lacrosse),’ Bilello said. ‘If you’re going to get something off the ground in terms of an event, there’s nothing better than putting the four biggest names in the sport right now regardless of anything someone might think. They’re the only teams to win a national championship in a decade and a half. If you’re going to have success at the regular event, those will be the teams involved in laying the ground work.’

Starsia and Tierney responded to Carpenter’s late-night e-mail the following morning. Both embraced the progressive thinking but knew the event’s success would depend on each coach and athletic administrations’ willingness to embrace such a concept, knowing they would have to give up some things in return.

‘I told him he needed to get a life,’ Starsia said, in describing his response to Carpenter’s late-night e-mail. ‘All the coaches felt the same way about this (event) but we may not have all talked about it the same way. There were some of the logistics that had to be worked out so we couldn’t all say yes. But we could say, ‘Yeah let’s try that.”

Carpenter knew there would be logistical issues involved with scheduling a doubleheader considering athletic schedules and the teams’ budgets were already mapped out for the 2007 season. Forcing teams to give up home games could become a tug-of-war exercise as well.

Besides, Carpenter would also have to find an interested venue that would share his vision. Carpenter’s goal of promoting lacrosse and thus increasing his audience for his magazine can’t always coincide – as Carpenter would find out – with a professional venue that wants to maximize its bottom line.

Logistical issues aside, Carpenter guaranteed to Starsia and Tierney in his e-mail, ‘this thing would be the biggest event outside the final four and I bet would crush the quarterfinals, attendance-wise. Not to mention, this could probably be negotiated up onto ESPN.’ The NCAA quarterfinals brought in 8,335 fans in Stony Brook, N.Y., and 7,317 fans at Towson University in Maryland last year.

Tierney said all the coaches always had this idea in the back of their mind, but no one ever took the initiative to organize it. Syracuse participated in similar efforts when it played in the First 4 doubleheader against Georgetown in California in 2005, but the event lacked a national audience.

‘This is a logical step when they started the First 4 in California,’ Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said. ‘It was a great idea to spread the sport. Now it takes it to the next step because it’s in a professional venue and in the hot bed of lacrosse.’

In January 2006, Carpenter hired Bilello, who helped manage the final four in Baltimore and Philadelphia the past four years – events that broke attendance records each year – to add more credibility to the plan and to provide help in organizing it. Carpenter and Bilello soon contacted Pietramala, whom Bilello said endorsed their idea but preferred to delegate the logistical work to the Johns Hopkins athletic department.

When lacrosse season started in February, Bilello limited the phone calls. As soon as Virginia won the national championship on Memorial Day though, Bilello started working the phones. Once he contacted the four coaches, Bilello stressed his vision for a two-year plan, thus forcing Princeton, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins and Virginia to each lose a home game in both 2007 and 2008.

But with the initiative spreading out over two years, each team would share the sacrifices in their hope to better promote the sport. This season, Syracuse loses its home game against Virginia while Princeton gives up its home matchup against Johns Hopkins. Virginia and Johns Hopkins make the concessions next year.

‘To give up a home game took a lot of thought,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘But a high school kid that loves lacrosse will find a flat screen with ESPNU on it that day. He’ll watch the best college lacrosse teams playing in the country all on one channel. From an exposure standpoint, from a recruiting standpoint, we thought it made a lot of sense.’

Desko said the deal also made sense financially because the Orange would have used a charter plane to travel to Virginia for its game in 2008. Now it doesn’t have to. Lelan Rogers, Syracuse’s director of lacrosse operations, added IL footed the bill in SU’s total travel, lodging and meal costs.

‘Inside Lacrosse is giving us some incentives to play the game down there,’ Rogers said. ‘The expenses are being paid. We’re going to get a lot more out of it than the general population or public may know.’

Bilello said the same deal applied to Princeton as well. Since Johns Hopkins is in Baltimore, Pietramala said he opted for his team to stay home and figured not dealing with hotels and meals would take away some of the anxiety. Bilello also said IL didn’t provide any accommodations for Virginia given its location as well.

But the challenge still remained for attracting a professional venue. Carpenter and Bilello went to M&T Bank Stadium first, given the magazine is stationed in Baltimore.

The agreement was reached when IL and the M&T realized it would be a perfect test-run for the final four, which it is hosting this Memorial Day. Not only could IL use this event as a pilot, the stadium could use this event as a walkthrough for event organizers.

It can also become a walk-through for the lacrosse players.

‘We have a great crowd (at the Carrier Dome) but this is going to be a whole different experience playing in a professional football stadium,’ SU midfielder Pat Perritt said. ‘Being around that type of crowd is not something you’re used to. When we were in the final four last year, we looked around (Lincoln Financial Field) and we thought, ‘Wow.’ We just sat there and looked around. We should’ve focused on the game.’

All four teams may not have a similar run-through in 2008 if they do make the final four. Bilello and Carpenter acknowledge the Face-Off Classic may not take place in Baltimore. Bilello said they plan on evaluating the idea once this year’s event is over.

If, in 2008, the event precedes the final four again, that means it would have to take place in Foxboro, Mass. But Carpenter and Bilello said deals or talks regarding that possibility haven’t taken place.

Nonetheless, Carpenter sees the Face-Off Classic as a test through for his own projects. He hopes the idea spring boards into other regular season events. Carpenter eventually wants college lacrosse to have three regular season doubleheaders on the East Coast, West Coast and in Denver.

‘When you’re putting 50 or 60,000 people in the stands in the final four, why are we getting less than 2,000 (people) in Division I games?’ Tierney said. ‘That’s the next great obstacle and challenge to our game. This event is the blueprint for creating more excitement in the regular season.’

Published on February 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm