‘This area’s exploded with lacrosse’: Philadelphia hopes to capitalize on hosting NCAA men’s Final Four again in 2023 and 2024

When Ben McIntosh hopped off the train on May 25, 2013, with his Drexel lacrosse teammates, he was blown away.

The entire area around Lincoln Financial Field had turned into a weekend-long lacrosse festival with loud music, grills, and tables laden with food. Walking through the throngs of people, current lacrosse stars mixed in with the next generation, little kids running around cradling with their lacrosse sticks.

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Now a professional lacrosse player with the Wings, McIntosh said the NCAA men’s lacrosse Final Four is one of the best lacrosse events he’s ever attended, up there with the 2018 World Championship in Israel, where he represented Canada.

This weekend, East Hartford, Conn., will host the Final Four, with Cornell, Maryland, Princeton, and Rutgers set to compete for college lacrosse’s biggest prize. Next season, that honor passes to Philadelphia.

On Memorial Day weekend in 2023 and 2024, tens of thousands of lacrosse fans will take over South Philadelphia to take in the tournament’s Final Four. The Linc has previously hosted the event six times, including four times since 2013. The last time was in 2019, since the 2020 tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Philadelphia will be glad to have the Final Four back, said Brian Voelker, the men’s lacrosse coach for Drexel, the host school. The city is situated between two of lacrosse’s oldest hotspots, Maryland and New York, and the Philadelphia-South Jersey area has emerged as a hotbed itself.

“This area’s exploded with lacrosse,” Voelker said. “And, obviously, having a Final Four, I think, helps with that process.”

By hosting the tournament, Drexel hopes to show its commitment to its men’s and women’s lacrosse programs, athletic director Maisha Kelly said, and Voelker definitely feels that. With kids who could one day become recruits attending the event, it’s a big deal to have Drexel’s name and logo everywhere.

While Drexel is the official host, it’s an event every school in the City Six is proud of, Penn lacrosse coach Mike Murphy said. Drexel will do the heavy lifting, but the others will offer as much support as they need, providing everything from facilities to trainers for the participating teams.

Kelly said the City Six meets often, and they look for ways to “cross-pollinate” professional development opportunities and to create exposure for the city’s sports. Whether it’s Penn hosting the NCAA men’s basketball regional this past season or Drexel hosting the lacrosse tournament the next two years, it’s good for them all, just as it is if any of them play in the tournament.

“[If] Drexel or St. Joe’s go to the Final Four, we would certainly benefit from that a little bit residually and take pride in their success,” said Murphy, whose Penn team made it the furthest of the city schools this season by reaching the Elite Eight.

The colleges aren’t the only ones to benefit from the event. The Final Four, still considered the “pinnacle of lacrosse,” according to Voelker, provides motivation for local youth and high school teams. Anthony Joaquim, who played at St. Joe’s and for the Wings and currently coaches for the Hawks, said the club team he used to coach always puts together a trip to the Final Four.

“When we’re teaching the young kids, if you guys want to be at that college level, it’s best to see it firsthand,” Joaquim said. “And having it in our own backyard at the Linc is something awesome that these kids kind of remember for the rest of their lives.”

On the other end of the spectrum, professional teams like the Wings also benefit. While box lacrosse is different, it complements field lacrosse, and many play both. With their banner on the Wells Fargo Center, which sits next door to Lincoln Financial Field, the Wings get exposure to the fans driving past or tailgating in the lots below.

The significance of having it in Philadelphia continues to grow as lacrosse gains traction in the area. Roughly 10% of the players in this year’s Final Four come from the Philadelphia-South Jersey region. In addition to their loved ones having a shorter commute to attend, those student-athletes will get to play on the field of their hometown football team, the Eagles.

While there have been talks about holding the Final Four in new cities to help grow the game, there’s something to be said for holding the event in a hotbed like Baltimore or Philadelphia. It’s USA Lacrosse’s job to grow the game, Murphy said, and it’s the NCAA’s job to put fans in the stands. The teams and athletes that reach the Final Four have worked hard and earned the right to play in front of a packed stadium.

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And while Murphy plans to be one of those in the stands this weekend in Connecticut, he hopes not to be once the tournament returns to Philadelphia next May.

“I’ll be going up this weekend at least for Saturday and Sunday, and, you know, taking it in again and thinking about how much I’d probably like to be coaching in it instead of sitting in the stands,” Murphy said with a little laugh.