2008 Expansion

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OneBetter
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2008 Expansion

Post by OneBetter » Tue Oct 02, 2007 4:31 pm

MLL originally stated that it was going to expand the western conference by two teams in 2008. The league website is now much more vague and specifically doesn't mention 2008:

http://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/teams/mllexpansion/

What's the deal here? Why are they backing out of their original plan for 2008 expansion?

My guess is that this league is just a huge money pit and that it's hard enough to keep the existing teams afloat.

Does anyone else have any info?
The ABA and OSC have a lot in common.

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Post by Pounder » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:02 pm

Potential buyers fall through all the time... and since a LOT of western investors made money in real estate, I'd suspect the bursting bubble has more to do with commitments (if there were any) falling through than merely the health of the league. Of course, if the bursting bubble fells potential owners, that's a signal that the league doesn't generally draw A-list investors in the first place.

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Post by BreakersFan » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:57 pm

Just out of curiosity - what is the annual budget for an MLL team?

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Post by OneBetter » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:02 pm

Someone from MLL responded to my email today. They stated that they will not be expanding until the 2009 season now.

The Western Conference needs a few more teams now to cut down on travel costs! How long are these owners going to keep throwing away their money?
The ABA and OSC have a lot in common.

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Post by summerfan » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:05 pm

[quote=""OneBetter""]Someone from MLL responded to my email today. They stated that they will not be expanding until the 2009 season now.

The Western Conference needs a few more teams now to cut down on travel costs! How long are these owners going to keep throwing away their money?[/quote]

The major probleam out west is the talent pool.That is part of the reason there are no news teams.

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Post by firewolff » Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:21 pm

A post on the MLL web site message board by a guy who helps out the Portland Lumberjax says he has heard rumors that Portland may be looking into the MLL for summer lacrosse (or words to that effect).
I would prefer the MLL to the NLL. I went to a Lumberjax game and while it was entertaining in an Arena football kind of way, it was too much like hockey on grass for me.

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Post by summerfan » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:23 pm

[quote=""firewolff""]A post on the MLL web site message board by a guy who helps out the Portland Lumberjax says he has heard rumors that Portland may be looking into the MLL for summer lacrosse (or words to that effect).
I would prefer the MLL to the NLL. I went to a Lumberjax game and while it was entertaining in an Arena football kind of way, it was too much like hockey on grass for me.[/quote]

There not looking at the mll there looking at getting a team in the bc major series loop.

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Post by Pounder » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:44 pm

Major series loop?

Portland WAS ticketed for the NLL's now-aborted outdoor effort.

Portland actually had a team for a year in the WLA, back in the late 60s. It's not like Portlanders even know that loop exists... if anything like that rumor were true, it would be a bad move on both sides. Portland fans would rather watch games against Colorado instead of teams nicknamed Salmonbellies. I highly doubt that's true.

There's probably some outdoor talk in the works... but the talk has done nothing to date. Show me the money, and the team will be there. Even if there are talks, I doubt they come to fruition.

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Post by summerfan » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:49 pm

[quote=""Pounder""]Major series loop?

Portland WAS ticketed for the NLL's now-aborted outdoor effort.

Portland actually had a team for a year in the WLA, back in the late 60s. It's not like Portlanders even know that loop exists... if anything like that rumor were true, it would be a bad move on both sides. Portland fans would rather watch games against Colorado instead of teams nicknamed Salmonbellies. I highly doubt that's true.

There's probably some outdoor talk in the works... but the talk has done nothing to date. Show me the money, and the team will be there. Even if there are talks, I doubt they come to fruition.[/quote]

The issue is the players.Most box players don't want to play in the field league.What i have been told is the portland team wants to keep all the players 12 mths a year.Doing a field league they would lose a huge amount of players.

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Post by firewolff » Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:30 pm

Well, now the Philadelphia Barrage will be playing a game in Dallas as well as Portland (and elsewhere).

If the league does not expand in 2009, and if the Barrage is moved to a Western city to even up the divisions, I would imagine (even though it pains me to say it) that they would pick Dallas over Portland just because of the big name factor.

But then, they also had an exhibition game in Seattle awhile back and I believe that that drew well so Seattle may be an option as well (if they don't mind going up against the Mariners for sports dollars).

Of course, it all depends on potential owners as well.

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