Alright fans, get your ticket refunds ready, the 2008 season is back on! It seems the NLL and the PLPA have finally come to an agreement.
Shortly after the cancelation announcement last week there were rumours circulating that both parties had begun negotiating again. Reaction to the rumour of renewed talks was mixed, with some saying it was in preparation for 2009, and others hoping it was to salvage this season. Looks like the faithful won this round. (more…)
The PLPA is finally responding to the NLL press releases that are making their rounds on the news wires. One article of note, to me at least, is on the official PLPA website by credited to Executive Director Dave Succamore. (more…)
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Professional Lacrosse Players Association (PLPA) and the NLL are trying to work out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). I would really like to emphasize the word trying because, based on what I’ve read, it’s very subjective in this particular case. (more…)
It seems that the NLL is spreading its wings to look for an international audience. According to SportsBusiness.com, the NLL is using a company called Crocmedia to expand the league’s TV distribution to a worldwide audience. This partnership with Crocmedia will be to find suppliers for coverage the 2007 season and beyond.
In the bigger picture this is great news, the more the sport is promoted to a larger audience the more the sport will grow, it’s a given. Crocmedia director James Swanwick said “We believe that once the rest of the world is exposed to lacrosse and the NLL brand, there is no reason the sport won’t grow at the same rate as in America.” It’s exciting to see that sort of enthusiasm to promote the sport we love.
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Considered one of the worst kept secrets in the entire National Lacrosse League, the New York expansion team has finally been officially announced. This is probably a good thing considering the expansion draft happens today.
On hand to help NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings with the announcement was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Maybe the reason we all had to wait so long before the announcement was due to the Mayor’s schedule — after all, he is a Mayor and probably pretty busy. (more…)
There has been a bit of bad blood between fans of lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League in regards to the television coverage of the game. Bad blood may be a bit strong but I know there were many fans — including myself — that put that in our top five things to change for next year when one of the owners asked what should be improved.
For the last three years the TV contract has been handled by The Score. When they wanted out of the deal Rogers Sportsnet stepped up for all lacrosse TV coverage in Canada. Lacrosse always seemed to get treated like Sportsnets red-headed step child — getting the short end of the stick would be putting it nicely.
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For anyone that thought all of the rough play and dirty tricks in lacrosse stayed on the playing field this may come as a bit of a shock. The Toronto Rock President, Brad Watters, is being investigated may be under investigation for tampering.
The tampering charge was would have been filed by the Philadelphia Wings claiming that Watters and the Rock organization approached Glen Clark about taking the head coach position in Toronto before his contract was finished with the Wings. This potentially damaging charge comes hot off the heels of the same day announcements of Glen Clark retiring — from the Wings — and Toronto announcing him as head coach.
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Recently the NLL announced the winners of several awards for the regular season. Here’s a short breakdown of which player won which award.
Last week NLL commissioner Jim Jennings was interviewed on CAMFM by Toronto Rock announcer Barks. During the interview, Barks asked some good questions about where the league was going and what we could look forward to in the future.
The first good bit of info came in regards to the Chicago expansion team. While the owners have been given a franchise so far neither the players nor a name has been chosen. Over the last several weeks there was a list of 10 possible team names that were posted on the teams website. The management was asking everyone to vote for what names they liked.
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