A new date for the 41st Lakefront 7s and other exciting changes

As we near the end of the Fall fifteens season, I’m happy to report that planning for the 41st Lakefront 7s is well under way. Following on from our 2023 internal review in July, we’re excited to share some of the changes you can expect, including a new date for the 41st Lakefront 7s.

Women’s Social division returns

Over the years, we’ve experimented with different names for the various divisions that compete at the Lakefront 7s. These include Elite, Open, Competitive, Social and Super Social.

Over the past few years, two things became clear for us. Firstly, the use of the term “Open divisions” is confusing for teams in terms of the competitive level, especially at an event where there are no “Invitational” divisions.

Secondly, there is very little interest in a “Competitive” women’s division at the Lakefront 7s. Despite offering this division for many years, we have not received more than two interested teams at any one event.

With these facts in hand, here are the 2024 divisions.

Compared to 2023, the “Women’s Open” division has been replaced by “Women’s Social”. Also, most divisions feature equal spots for both Men’s and Women’s teams.

Hard limit of 76 teams

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lakefront 7s made a decision to cap attendance at 72-76 teams. In 2023, we allowed that number to creep up a little.

But going forward, we plan to remain at or below 76 teams to ensure the event finishes at a reasonable hour. As such, we encourage you to enter your team sooner than later to ensure you get the division you want.

Rolling substitutions

We often get questions about rolling substitutions at the Lakefront 7s. So going forward, we now have an official policy for these substitutions in our Rules and Guidelines.

In short, rolling substitutions will be allowed for Super Social and HIPPOs divisions. For other divisions, both coaches must agree to rolling subs in the presence of the match referee.

Normal eligibility and disciplinary rules still apply, and all players/substitutions must have completed their waiver of liability.

Renewed commitment core values

In the past few years, we have noted an uptick in the number of incidents that breach our personal code of conduct and the core values of the sport such as mutual respect.

As such, we are renewing our commitment to our core values. In particular, abuse and disrespectful treatment of volunteers and match officials will not be tolerated.

Participants found violating these values will be asked to leave the event, and their team(s) may be disqualified at the discretion of the tournament director(s).

Dispute resolution policy

While score disputes are exceedingly rare at the Lakefront 7s, they do occur from time to time. Thus, we have now codified a formal process for adjudicating these disputes.

Notably, and consistent with our statement above regarding core values, any abuse of volunteers or match officials during the resolution process invalidates the dispute entirely, leaving the disputed score unchanged.

We encourage all participants to review the process.

Faster parking

While we have offered debit and credit card payments at concessions for over a decade, parking has remained mostly cash-based at the Lakefront 7s.

In 2023, we began accepting cards for parking also, but we underestimated how many attendees would be relying on this exclusively. As a result, the line to park was longer than we’d like.

For 2024, we have already purchased and tested three card readers exclusively for parking. Now, all of our parking volunteers can accept cards, cash and of course peanut butter, to pay for parking.

We expect this change to expedite the parking process going forward.

A new date for the 41st Lakefront 7s

For the past few years, we have been holding the Lakefront 7s on the last Saturday in June.

But like most amateur tournaments, our schedule is dictated by the owner of the venue. In this case, Milwaukee County Parks must approve our use of Veterans Park.

Due to changes in how Milwaukee County prepares for the July 4th fireworks, we have had to shift the 41^st Lakefront 7s to the second-to-last Saturday: June 22, 2024.

This date is locked in and confirmed for 2024. It is not yet clear if this schedule will continue in future years, or if we will switch year-to-year. We remain in negotiations with the county to finalize this in the coming months.