No. 1: Denver — 96 points
Best Overall Town
Best Pro Town
The Game — 96 points overall
The success of teams like the Colorado Mammoth helped Denver win the title of top lacrosse town.
Pro Rating: 99
College Rating: 90
High School Rating: 94
Youth Rating: 96
Potential/Upside Rating: 99
With a rabid fan base, the sport has evolved in the Mile High City like nowhere else. Pro, youth, high school or college, it doesn’t matter: People crave lacrosse here.
It’s a professional mecca. The NLL’s Colorado Mammoth (’06 league champs) regularly sell out Pepsi Center. Come summer, fans head to Invesco Field to watch the Outlaws draw MLL’s best crowds.
Don’t forget the college game either. University of Denver made all-decade-worthy news this summer by hiring Bill Tierney, while Colorado State, in nearby Fort Collins, is a four-time MCLA champ.
Top high school teams like Kent Denver and Cherry Creek have held their own against the country’s best for years. And youth lacrosse is continuing to explode — the Colorado Youth Lacrosse Association, started in 1991 with two squads in Denver, has expanded to 275 teams.
The scary part? Denver hasn’t even reached its potential. Is a Final Four next?
The Life — 96 points overall
Lacrosse Scene Rating: 99
Marquee Event Rating: 92
Facilities: 100
Names: 92
Goals in backyards? Check. Kids with sticks around town? Yup. A bevy of lacrosse companies? Got it. Suburbs like Englewood and Greenwood Village have had all the marks of a premier lax culture for a while, but it’s now throughout the city and surrounding metro region.
Harrow, founded here, is an equipment player, University of Denver has a lacrosse-only stadium and NHLers Adam Foote’s and Joe Sakic’s kids have been in a local youth program for years. Add that the city has more sunny days per year than Miami Beach or San Diego and it makes sense why the sport is blowing up here.
If you lived here, you’d know:
In Denver, lacrosse is a celebrity affair. John Elway has been spotted at the Vail Shootout and the Mammoth regularly get ticket requests from Nuggets and Avs players.
Nugget forward Chris “Birdman” Anderson and guard Anthony Carter try see as many NLL games as possible. “I don’t think people realize how ‘big-time’ lacrosse is in Colorado,” says Outlaws GM Brian Reese.
Marquee events:
Vail Shootout, NLL All-Star Game (’04, ’09), MLL All-Star Game (’05, ’08, ’09), MCLA Championship (’09)
Biggest Names:
From Here: Christian Cook, Mike Law
Lives Here: Bill Tierney, Brian Langtry, Josh Sims, Trevor Tierney, Lee Zink, Nate Watkins, Matt Brown
laxbuzz
