After Madison’s successful experience hosting the U.S. Lacrosse Central Championships from 2013 to 2015 — as well as a broadening base of youth players at the local level — sports tourism officials went in search of a signature lacrosse event that could call the city home.
Enter the Madison Capital Classic, a two-day tournament featuring approximately 50 boys’ teams from around the Midwest — including about a dozen from the Dane County area — that will compete July 21-22 at Verona’s Reddan Soccer Park. Along with Lake Geneva’s Lax Geneva and Hartland’s Top Cheddar (both coed tournaments), the second-year Capital Classic is putting Wisconsin on the national lacrosse map.
“I think Madison has great growth potential for youth lacrosse,” says Justin Kohl, chief operations officer for Lacrosse America, a Glenview, Illinois-based company that organizes and manages lacrosse events across the Midwest, including the Madison Capital Classic.
“We wanted a good professional partner to create a marquee annual event and leverage the strong lacrosse scene here,” says Jamie Patrick, vice president of the Madison Area Sports Commission, which helped bring the Capital Classic to Verona through 2019 — although he and Kohl hope the relationship continues much longer. “The goal is to cement Madison as a lacrosse destination.”
Reddan has 12 fields (11 grass fields and one championship field with synthetic turf), and admission to the Capital Classic is free. Kohl says he expects as many as 5,000 people to attend the event.
Lacrosse, a tough and demanding game that dates back to ancient times and that first took hold in this country on the East Coast, is now the fastest-growing sport in Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation (WLF), the state chapter for US Lacrosse. WLF oversees more than 6,500 boys and girls who play the sport at the youth and high school levels.
In the Madison area, Badgerland Lacrosse (known until last year as the Madison Area Lacrosse Association) lists 18 member clubs on its website, including ones in Madison, DeForest, Middleton, Oregon, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Watertown and Waunakee.
Madison is ripe for the sports commission to bring additional lacrosse events to the city, too, according to Patrick.
“I think what’s happening is that a lot of hockey players realize lacrosse complements their hockey game,” he says. “We’ve also had people who played or coached lacrosse on the East Coast move to Madison, bring knowledge of the sport with them and help grow it here.”
