The ''Inside Lacrosse'' Big City Classic was an annual

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and university, universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse ...

triple-header event played in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 Unit ...

from 2009 to 2013. It was held at first at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

and then

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. It opened in 2010, replacing Giants Stadium, and serves as the home for the ...

, the home fields of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

and is sponsored by the

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

-based magazine, ''

Inside Lacrosse Inside Lacrosse is a lacrosse media entity and ESPN affiliate. It includes many parts including a news website, an 11 times annual magazine, online video streaming, internet forums and an ESPN television show. The company is currently headquar ...

''. The inaugural edition took place on April 4, 2009 at Giants Stadium, and featured six teams that possessed a combined 67 NCAA tournament semifinals appearances and 24 NCAA championships. One of the participants,

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, was the defending national championship team. The 2009 Big City Classic set the attendance record for a regular season lacrosse-only event with 22,308 spectators. This exceeded the previous-record 20,130 fans that attended the 2007

Face-Off Classic The Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic is an annual college lacrosse event played in Baltimore, Maryland early in the NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I season. From 2007 to 2009, the event consisted of a doubleheader; in 2010 it was expanded to inclu ...

in Baltimore, and also surpassed the expected crowd of 15,000 to 20,000. In 2008, 29,601 fans attended the

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

–

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

lacrosse match, but it also featured a spring football scrimmage, and therefore was not a lacrosse-only event. The second Big City Classic in 2010 was the inaugural event at MetLife Stadium (then New Meadowlands Stadium) and featured the same six teams and broke last years attendance mark, with 25,710 attending.Event Details for Big City Classic NCAA Lacrosse

Izod Center Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor sports and concert venue located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Since closing, ...

, April 4, 2009. There was a shakeup in the lineup for the 2011 classic as only Syracuse and UNC remained in the lineup. In order to attract a more local audience, the first game featured New Jersey–based

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

and St. John's, which is located in New York City.

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

joined the lineup, playing North Carolina, and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

played in the nightcap against Syracuse. This change did not greatly affect the attendance, however, as 25,145 arrived for the games. The 2012 Big City classic once again has a lineup change, as Rutgers will not return to the event, having lost to St. John's 9-8 in the 2011 game. They will be replaced by Notre Dame, making their Classic debut. The games took place on April 1, 2012.

Results

References

{{reflist

External links

Big City Classic
official website.
Inside Lacrosse Big City Classic: By the Numbers
''Inside Lacrosse'', April 4, 2009.
Big City Classic brings big lacrosse
ESPN, April 3, 2009. College lacrosse competitions in the United States College lacrosse rivalries in the United States NCAA lacrosse Sports competitions in East Rutherford, New Jersey 2009 establishments in New Jersey 2012 disestablishments in New Jersey

Results

See also

References

External links