NLL Expansion

[Shootmaster_44]

Does anyone think the NLL will expand for next season? If so where?

I'd like to see a few more teams in the West:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Saskatchewan Place
Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre
Minneapolis, Minnesota - either Target Center or Xcel Energy Center
But the league does need more Eastern teams to balance the divisions out so how about:
Detroit, Michigan - Joe Louis Arena
Chicago, Illinois - United Center
Boston, Massachusettes - Fleetcenter

[Pounder]

I have a bet (kind of) with the folks running the MLB to Portland campaign that one of Arizona, San Jose, or Anaheim will end up in Portland next season.

I can't see how or why the league would expand. It's not that the NLL hasn't done a decent job of finding some diamonds in their fishing expedition (the fact that the Mammoth will have outdrawn the AFL Crush this year puts a massive smile on my face), but that fishing will have to be done with current clubs.

[Shootmaster_44]

What the NLL is doing is trying to give the league TV markets instead of targeting good sites for teams. I would say look at teams that are nuts for hockey and that would be a good shot for an expansion team. Another idea is I know the Iriquois (sp?) Nation is big into outdoor lacrosse, do they own any casinos? If there is a casino such as the one the Conneticut Sun of the WNBA play in that team would be incredibly successful. Another possible market would be Victoria, B.C. with the new Save-On-Foods Arena slated to open next fall for the expansion ECHL team there. I realize the NLL wants big TV exposure but I think they need to find box lacrosse cities first then expand once it takes off.

[Shootmaster_44]

I now hear that someone in Minneapolis purchased the dormant Montreal franchise and is moving them into the Xcel Centre for next year. As well, there is talk of placing an expansion franchise in Detroit to play at Joe Louis Arena.

[mrcool92501]

it would b a return to detroit.
technically detroit is not a 'expansion'team

there was a detroit team when the league was called

the major indoor lacrosse league

called the turbos

[Shootmaster_44]

it would b a return to detroit.
technically detroit is not a 'expansion'team

there was a detroit team when the league was called

the major indoor lacrosse league

called the turbos

You mean the Turbos have been a dormant franchise this long? I was under the understanding the Turbos folded. If its not a revival of the Turbos franchise, I think technically that would make it an expansion franchise.

[Pounder]

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/sports/9359552.htm

I guess this confirms St. Paul.

No mention of purchase of a dormant franchise in the article, but that's par for the course for sportswriters.

[Micro67]

I love the AFL, but the coorporate contingent is there in full force already. Give me a link for the new team in the NLL and I'll put it on my site www.mekongesl.com. Will it make the team an instant success? No. But it will be one click further towards some fan representation and a little bit of respect.

[patmc16]

If its not a revival of the Turbos franchise, I think technically that would make it an expansion franchise.

Yep, using the other reasoning, the AFL's Detroit Fury would be a return of the Detroit Drive. There's no doubt that it is not.

I would like to see a team in Detroit. When the Turbos were here, they were not promoted at all that I can remember, and the internet pretty much didn't exist to spread the word in a forum like this. I never saw a game because I didn't know they existed, until after they were gone. I would hope they would be promoted better but, my limited experience with the league suggests otherwise.

I was in Columbus, Ohio during the holidays a couple of years ago. I stayed in a hotel 2 blocks from Nationwide Arena. I had no idea that the team played there, much less that they played a home game while I was there. The kicker is that I actually was in the arena, at the gift shop, on the day of the game (it was an evening game, and I was there at noon), and still didn't know the team existed until a couple of days later. There was a portable sign near the main entrance saying the gift shop was open, but not one saying there was a "game tonight". There was nothing in the gift shop either, just Bluejacket merchandise. I would have went, if I had known about it.

I guess that might have something to do with why the Columbus Landsharks are now the Arizona Sting. ???

[Shootmaster_44]

I was in Columbus, Ohio during the holidays a couple of years ago. I stayed in a hotel 2 blocks from Nationwide Arena. I had no idea that the team played there, much less that they played a home game while I was there. The kicker is that I actually was in the arena, at the gift shop, on the day of the game (it was an evening game, and I was there at noon), and still didn't know the team existed until a couple of days later. There was a portable sign near the main entrance saying the gift shop was open, but not one saying there was a "game tonight". There was nothing in the gift shop either, just Bluejacket merchandise. I would have went, if I had known about it.

I guess that might have something to do with why the Columbus Landsharks are now the Arizona Sting. ???

Yeah no kidding, I lived in Toronto during the 2001 NLL season. The Rock have the same problem with the media, no body really talked about the game until afterwords. Then the papers might run a tiny story about it and the box score. Compare that to Calgary this winter, I went to a game at the Saddledome and the media was all over it. A giant preview in the Calgary Sun and the Calgary Herald. I'm not sure about tv, but the papers and radio were promoting the game. Curiously enough there were only 8,000 people at the game I went to. But I would recommend going to a game if you can make it. I turned my ex-girlfriend's dad into a lacrosse fan that night. Promotion is by far the key to this league. Second is word of mouth advertising.