Expansion is moving slowly according to the commissioner.
“I’ve focused my time on expansion and getting more teams in the league,” Sakiewicz said. “We’re talking to over 30 markets, and pretty seriously with four or five of them. That’s a good sign. It’s safe to say that they all love our plan. Many of them have had NLL teams in their buildings before, so they are are very familiar with the league. It’s a brick-by-brick effort to build on the history of the league and its teams.”
“It’s about getting the right owners who can make this a 20- or 30-team league someday.”
20 is too much. The talent pool is simply not available. 30 is insane. Most telling though is the following.
A number of cities have been mentioned for an expansion team, including Edmonton, Boston and New York. Sakiewicz says Philadelphia is one of the cities on the top of a wish list.
Philadelphia
That the league’s home now (the NLL office moved there in the offseason), so we want to have a team there,” he said. “It was an original team in the league. We need to be back there. It’s an incredible lacrosse market. That team performed incredibly well for a long time, and it was unfortunate circumstances that saw the team be relocated. I get harassed by season-ticket holders every week, sometimes multiple times.
“We’ve got a prospective owner there. I feel it’s not a matter of if the Wings are coming there. It’s a matter of when. The demand is there, the business model is there, the arena is there. We have all of the pieces.”
NLL TV
There are signs of success. Season-ticket sales were up 20 percent, and attendance is up 10 percent compared to a year ago. NLLTV.com has 12,000 accounts. We’ll see in the coming months if such results can be building blocks for the league’s future.
12,000 accounts? How many are paying?
LaxScoop 