The countdown to this year's NCAA men's lacrosse championships is finally over.
Penn will host the event for the second year in a row and the third time in its history this weekend ‹¨« the culmination of months of work by roughly half a dozen organizations in Philadelphia.
Like last year, the five games will take place at Lincoln Financial Field, better known as home to the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.
For those who organized the event, having 'the Linc' as a venue was an asset, but it also likely complicated the event's planning.
Nonetheless, for the Tournament organizers, the second go-around has proven to be less rocky than the first.
"Last year was the first time we had hosted it, so we were learning to work with the NCAA, and what [their] requirements were," said Lee Stevens, the Tournament Director. "So a lot of it was kind of learning everyone's management style."
"It had a steeper learning curve," he added. "So now we know what we did wrong. We didn't have to reinvent all of what we did last year."
That learning curve was complicated by the involvement of organizations and businesses that had to be coordinated, ranging from the Philadelphia Sports Congress to the hospitality industry to the Eagles themselves.
Overall, Stevens said he was satisfied with the efficiency of the planning, though he said some areas were disappointing due to a lack of urgency.
For one, he has been disappointed with the media coverage.
"I think we did a better job last year, because we thought we had to," he said. "We got much better coverage last year, because I think we were proactive in getting it out to the newspapers."
Nonetheless, the commercial side has exceeded expectations thus far, with ticket sales exceeding last year's; almost 43,000 have been sold as of May 23.
And the economic impact on Philadelphia compares favorably with years past, with the current figure put at roughly $25 million.
Perhaps most importantly, the success of the event could lay the groundwork for Philadelphia to become a more attractive place to hold future events and a focal point for one of the nation's fastest-growing sports.
According to Stevens, the NCAA allowed Philadelphia to host the games with an eye towards the future, and that most of the future competition for events like these will come from cities far away from the east coast, such as Dallas or Denver.
But he expects Philadelphia to have a distinct advantage when the time comes.
"The NCAA Lacrosse Championships demonstrate how the combination of a great city, a quality partner in [Penn] and the advantage of Lincoln Financial Field create the perfect venue to attract major events," said Eagles president Joe Banner in a statement. "We are proud of our success in competing and winning against other cities."
For now, though, the attention is squarely on the teams left standing in the postseason.
The action will begin on Saturday, with No. 2 Maryland and unseeded UMass facing off at 11:30, followed by No. 1 Virginia and No. 5 Syracuse at 2pm. The winners of those games will play on Monday at 1pm for the national title.
That game will be broadcast on ESPN, while both of the semifinal games will air on ESPN2.
On Sunday, defending champ Salisbury will face Cortland State for the Division III title at 2:30, and LeMoyne and Dowling will play at 5:30 to decide Division II. Both will be broadcast on CSTV.
