Sept. 29, 2022 — An enormous investment in four women’s sports … why not five?

September 29, 2022 at 12:37 pm · Filed under Uncategorized and tagged: Field hockey, Lacrosse, Omnibus

It was announced that Athletes Unlimited, the promotion which gives women’s basketball, softball, lacrosse, and volleyball players a professional outlet in a unique choose-up format, is in receipt of some $30 million in venture capital from, amongst others, former U.S. Olympian Angela Ruggiero and current NBA star Kevin Durant.

Let me pull out the one fact from the previous sentence that you should pay attention to: $30 million.

Compare that to the reported $18 million in venture capital that was realized by the investors of the Premiere Lacrosse League, a traveling show of the men’s game which recently finished its third season.

This is pretty big coin.

And it is enough, I think, that it could be split not just four ways, but a potential five.

I’ll step on the soap box again and make the pronouncement: America is ready for an Athletes Unlimited field hockey league.

It would be the first organized professional league for the sport in the U.S. and would be a great, great outlet for postgraduate and/or masters players in a league which is player-centered.

Thing is, there is no excuse not to have the league somewhere in the footprint of the country with the game of field hockey. It could be held in the winter in locales like Chula Vista, Houston, or Moorpark. It could be held in the spring in temperate climate in places like Chicago, Louisville, or the nation’s capital. Or it could be held in the summer in Michigan or New England.

There are more than 100 water-based turfs across the United States, with most at U.S. colleges but also a few at U.S. high schools.

Now, I also recognize that sometime in the next year, the FIH standard for the waterless turf for the Paris Olympics is supposed to be made known, and that could prompts the people who run AU to go from water-based to waterless turf, given the fact that the major sponsor for AU Lacrosse last summer was an environmental firm.

I know that what I’ve been saying on this blog and out in public is repetitive. But the field hockey community has been begging for a professional league for years. Look at the number of people who signed up for the original Harrow Cup. There were dozens of players, from Division III standouts to local pickup players to athletes at the edge of the U.S. national team pool.

It’s time. #AUFieldHockeyNow!

Permalink