By TRT Staff with notes from insidelacrosse.com
UTICA, N. Y. — On April 3, it was announced that the world box lacrosse championships will be held in Upstate New York in September of 2024.
World Lacrosse informed member nations that it awarded the box championships for both men and women to the area. There are expected to be up to 30 nations competing in the men’s tournament and likely double digit nations taking part in the women’s tournament, which is the first time a women’s worlds has been held.
The main location will be the Nexus Center in Utica. It is a brand new facility featuring three rinks, set on the same location as and linked to the Utica Memorial Auditorium, which is home to the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League. The Auditorium played host to the 2022 LAXNAI, which is the largest international box lacrosse tournament in the world.
The World Lacrosse memo to its member nations notes that the Buffalo Bandits have the highest attendance in the National Lacrosse League. In 2015, the Bandits were interested in playing host to some games, but the desire did not come to fruition. While there was no indication that Buffalo would be the setting for any games in 2024, mentioning it in the memo suggests something along those lines might be in the works.
The Onondaga Nation, just outside Syracuse and less than an hour west of Utica, was host to the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, which set a high bar for ensuing events. With the Onondaga Nation Arena and the gorgeous Tsha’ Thoñ’nhes Arena (Onondaga Nation Fieldhouse), it would not be hard to imagine that Onondaga could be involved in the 2024 worlds, as well.
While the 2015 WILC was located within the geographical boundary of the United States, it was run by the Onondaga Nation and played primarily on their sovereign territory (two games were played at the ONCenter in Syracuse and the medal games were played in the Carrier Dome). 2024 will be the first time the tournament will be played primarily on US soil and the first time that USA Lacrosse has actually been the host nation for the World Lacrosse box championships, marking a continuing increased interest taken by the governing body in the box game.
