When it comes to sports box lacrosse is easily in my top-five to watch, and having the Saskatchewan Rush in the province now, my interest has actually grown in the last half decade.
So I am happy the National Lacrosse League season is under way for 2019-20.
The Rush won their opener on the road in Colorado, in a game that saw Robert Church have points on eight of the nine goals, which is a career for some guys.
As much as the Rush win on the opening weekend of the season was great, I was equally interested in watching the Halifax Thunderbirds play their first NLL game on the second weekend. The Thunderbirds are sort of new, although not quite either. They are actually the former Rochester Knighthawks which moved in the off-season, and undertook a name change.
The Thunderbirds are something of an experiment for the NLL. The league has an ambitious plan for expansion, and officials have noted they have a preference for team owners to also be involved with the local National Hockey League or National Basketball Association team so the NLL team can utilize existing staff and offices etc, to keep costs low.
Halifax does not fit that model. They are more akin to our Rush, the only top-level pro team in the market, which has to make it on their own. It has worked in Saskatoon with the Rush becoming if not the most-successful team in the NLL, certainly among the best. If it works in Halifax, then it shows an NLL team on its own can carve out success in the right city.
As noted the NLL is into full expansion mode, with the New York Riptide and a reborn Rochester Knighthawks team taking to the floor this season as the 12th and 13th teams.
Nick Sakiewicz, the Commissioner of the NLL has stated recently that the league still has a goal of 30-32-36 teams one day, although at near 60 I wouldn’t bet on seeing the end goal reached as that is likely a 30-plus year process.
Reaching the more foundational 16 teams is a shorter-term goal, one Sakiewicz has suggested will occur by 2023, with a strong hint team 14 will be announced soon. The scuttlebutt on social media has the team likely being much-rumoured Dallas, which would open the Texas market to the NLL.
The league also has a regular season game scheduled for Las Vegas in the new-year, and a team for the Nevada city seems almost a sure thing among the next three added.
Of course I would like to see Edmonton back in the NLL, but there doesn’t seem to be much interest from NHL Oiler ownership, which might not be a big surprise as they have struggled mightily for years to even run a successful hockey team, at least in terms of on ice wins.
In time it would be great for the Rush to see the Winnipeg Jets take on a team because they would become a natural rival, but again there is little to suggest that is anywhere near happening.
It would no doubt help spur interest in new Canadian ownership if one of the national sports networks could see past the hockey ice just a bit to pick up a game or two of lacrosse as a viewing alternative. With five NLL teams in Canada they certainly have the schedule to provide regular games.
