Lacrosse Merger: White Noise or Birth of the Sport Mattering to People?
| 8
|
As many on here may not know, I work for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse. The league is now in its seventh season, supporting ten clubs, and is planning to expand to two more western locations for the 2008 season (possibilites have included Seattle, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, Cincinnati, and St. Louis). Those who are not very conscious of lacrosse also may not know that Long Island is one of the epicenters of the sport in North America. At the close of the 2007 high school season, three of the top 10 boys squads in the nation were on Long Island, and four of the top girls teams were located there as well. This explains why my interest is perhaps above and beyond the realms of most sports fans, when it comes to lacrosse.
The point of this article however, is to discuss a possible merger between Major League Lacrosse, which plays the outdoor game, and the National Lacrosse League, which plays an indoor game with some slightly different rules. The National Lacrosse League has been in existence since 1987, and until the formation of Major League Lacrosse was the premier professional lacrosse league in the United States. Today's National Lacrosse League competes with 13 teams, soon to be 14, with the expansion to Boston for the upcoming season. Both leagues also possess television contracts with ESPN to showcase live games, mostly on ESPN 2.
Recently, the National Lacrosse League announced that it would be exploring the possibilities of forming their own outdoor league, still keeping consistent with the rules of their own indoor game though. This is meant to be a direct blow at Major League Lacrosse, as the two leagues greatly resent each other due to their "invasions" into each other's markets. The news of said outdoor league was met with a laugh around Major League Lacrosse however, as it was referred to as "Slamball", among other things. Rather than fuel the rivalry here, I try and put their differences aside and merge the two leagues for the sake of furthering the sport.
For those who aren't familiar with the two leagues, I give you their current allignments.
Major League Lacrosse
Eastern
Boston Cannons
Long Island Lizards
New Jersey Pride
Rochester Rattlers
Philadelphia Barrage
Washington Bayhawks
Western
Chicago Machine
Denver Outlaws
Los Angeles Riptide
San Francisco Dragons
National Lacrosse League
Eastern
Buffalo Bandits
Chicago Shamrox
Minnesota Swarm
New York Titans
Philadelphia Wings
Rochester Nighthawks
Toronto Rock
Western
Arizona Sting
Calgary Roughnecks
Colorado Mammoth
Edmonton Rush
Portland LumberJax
San Jose Stealth
Now combined, the two leagues currently have 23 teams, so in this merger I felt the need to eliminate three of them. Each league has a team in Rochester, Colorado, Philadelphia, Chicago, and the New York area, so in each case either a team was eliminated or relocated. I know, I seem to be acting like this is easy. I know it's not and don't expect it to happen any time soon. The league's differences need to be resolved first and foremost, then they can proceed from there.
The NEW Major League Lacrosse
- Note- Major League Lacrosse was chosen over National Lacrosse League due to the fact that teams played in Canada as well, so it made more sense to just use the Major League name, at least in my mind.
American Conference
East
Boston Cannons
Long Island Lizards
New Jersey Pride
Pittsburgh (formerly Philadelphia) Barrage
Washington Bayhawks
West
Chicago Machine
Los Angeles Riptide
Portland LumberJax
Salt Lake City (formerly Denver) Outlaws
San Francisco Dragons
National Conference
East
Buffalo Bandits
Minnesota Swarm
Philadelphia Wings
Rochester Nighthawks
Toronto Rock
West
Arizona Sting
Calgary Roughnecks
Colorado Mammoth
Edmonton Rush
San Jose Stealth
You might have noticed that I tried to keep the current leagues intact as much as possible with the seperate conferences resembling their current structures. The three teams lost in this exercise were the New York Titans (have one year of existence compared to Long Island's seven years and two titles), Rochester Rattlers (are dwarfed in the city of Rochester by the fan-favorite, Wings, who have been one of the cornerpieces of the NLL), and the Chicago Shamrox (whose nickname is just too idiotic to even consider as a franchise, although it's not like "Machine" is much better).
So what would this accomplish? Well, for one it would extend the reach of the sport, with these two leagues being able to combine their marketing power to find more fans outside of the lacrosse world, which is a challenge for both leagues today. It also makes their championships worth more as they would be competing for THE premier professional title in North America, rather than the debatable one of two. This would, in turn, attract more sponsors, and more games on ESPN and other sports-oriented networks. Maybe it doesn't matter to a lot of people, but something like this could make it matter. Lacrosse now has the means to make the leap from its current "niche" status to the next level of sport in this country. It is up to the NLL and MLL to make the move.
