NLL in Canada Part II

ARRIVALS OF PRO LACXROSSE TEAMS; PART 2

by Pierre Filion and partners

This week we call on analysts from Saskatchewan, Calgary and Vancouver to help us appreciate the impact of pro lacrosse teams in a city.

Saskatchewan Rush; Randy Trobak is Saskatchewan’s tower of strength when it comes to box lacrosse; to say that he was a ‘’one-man gang’’ is an understatement; he was a one-man army. He is the best positioned person to report on the outstanding advantages of a pro team arriving and giving instant credibility to his lifelong and passionate development of the game.

‘’Since the first day of the Rush coming, it has been a huge eyeopener for our sport although people knew about the game, they did not really understand how fantastic it is, lots of spectators after seeing the game cannot believe how fast and fun the game is. As we all know Saskatchewan has been known as one of the greatest supporters of their pro teams like the Riders and the same fell into place with the Rush. The ownership group as soon as the team moved here embraced the province as a hole and changed colors to match our famous green right away you seen clothing in the street and around the city. This has drawn attention to the sport in our province as a hole and helped grow our registration.

The team has worked hard in the community and developed great relationships with us, and our youth to build future fans and players. We have some of the Pro players attending our practices when they can to help out, and we have been very lucky to have the team itself practice here at our home arena when they can’t get into the Sasktel Center; this draws big attention for us as younger players come and watch their favourites. They continue to run camps in schools as well which is always great, but they have been reaching kids that normally do get to much involved with many sports; lacrosse being an easier sport to pick up we see lots of them playing with our KLL league in Saskatoon. The Kinsmen of Saskatoon have been incredible in providing a chance to play sports for kids that may not be able to on their own; this relationship has grown to one hundred players over the past couple years and continues to grow every year. ‘’

Calgary Roughnecks; since 2001 the Roughnecks have been a dominant force within the NLL and a huge developmental partner with the Alberta Lacrosse Association. Political scientist Duane Bratt explains how the Roughnecks dealt their way to become lacrosse developers in Alberta.

‘’One of the positive aspects in Canadian lacrosse has been the rise of Alberta lacrosse over the last two decades.

 Quantitatively, participation numbers in Alberta have grown to a significant percentage in Canada. For example, in 1999, Alberta had 1, 867 box players, 81 in men’s field, and 40 in women’s field. This was approximately 7% of the players in Canada. In 2024, Alberta had 8,015 box players, 578 in men’s field, and 115 in women’s field. This is 17% of the players in Canada. All this despite the major drop in numbers due to covid.

How did this growth happen? Obviously, credit needs to go to many volunteers who have worked tirelessly for years building the sport. However, as a social scientist I look for systemic factors. I have identified factors to explain the rise of Alberta lacrosse.

The overwhelming factor was the arrival of the professional Calgary Roughnecks. Lacrosse had seen slow, but sustained growth over the preceding years, but it exploded with the Roughnecks. Founded by Brad Bannister, who had played lacrosse in Calgary and had started the minor Okotoks Mustangs program in the late 1990s, the Roughnecks had an immediate impact on registration numbers not only in Calgary but across the province. In 2002, the last season before the Roughnecks, there were 5, 445 box players in Alberta, but this dramatically rose to 8, 003 in 2003. A 32% increase in one year! In addition, several Roughnecks players would go on to run clinics, camps, schools, and coach teams. It is tough to calculate the increase in lacrosse ability that would subsequently occur due to the efforts of Kaleb Toth, Tracey Kelusky, Brad MacArthur, Bruce Codd, and Andrew McBride.’’

Vancouver Warriors/Ravens/Stealth; there have been many pro lacrosse teams in Vancouver (and in the area); some have come; some have left but one person has remained and has observed the history of pro lacrosse in Vancouver; Hall of Famer Dave Evans has been close to every Vancouver pro team and shares the positive and great advantages of a pro team in a city.

‘’I find it very difficult to assess the impact of having a professional lacrosse team on the community in general largely because the city is very hockey-centric. In our case, the Canucks are often the "only show in town" when assessed by publicity, media coverage, etc. and even established teams like the CFL's B.C. Lions and MLS's Vancouver Whitecaps are shunted to the back pages of the sports section or throw-in comments on TV and radio.

On the other hand, the effects on the lacrosse community can be virtually limitless, depending on the policies of the team and the provincial and local lacrosse governing bodies. The franchise I was most heavily involved with was the Vancouver Ravens, who, due to massive ownership issues lasted only three seasons, 2002 - 2004, but had a very positive impact on the lacrosse community. In the formative days it was decided that, although we had to eventually appeal to casual sports fans, our first priority was to get the lacrosse community on board and at the same time determine what we as a franchise could do to reciprocate their support. As General Manager a lot of this planning became my responsibility, in large part because I had a wide range of contacts in the lacrosse community. Long before the team was organized we met with representatives of the BCLA and worked out a plan to put together a program that would be mutually beneficial. Some of the programs we put in place were:

- splitting the nightly 50/50 draw with the BCLA; half of the total to the in-game winner and half to the BCLA

- offering a number of plans that enabled registered minor players to purchase Ravens' tickets at reduced rates

Perhaps, in my opinion, the most important phase:

- spreading word of the Ravens throughout the lacrosse community. We had a presence at virtually every minor lacrosse event throughout the summer preceding what would become our first season (2001) - tournaments, club events, provincial play-offs were all graced with team members, coaches, and/or dance team members, usually giving out team tee shirts, hats posters, etc. Any association that requested prizes for raffles or speakers at club fund-raising events was accommodated.

- assisting in skill development. At the end of the summer box season we held, in conjunction with the BCLA, a three-day skill development camp, run by our coaches and players, which the players deemed the best graduating minor lacrosse players by a selection committee of minor coaches were invited to attend.

When the Ravens franchise was dissolved in December of 2004, the provincial lacrosse community did what it had to do - carry on. The prior presence of the Ravens increased the knowledge of and interest in the NLL, and since this period, the early 2000's minor lacrosse didn't really suffer tremendously.

I can't really speak to the impact of the Stealth from 2014 - 2017 before being purchased by the Vancouver Canucks ownership and becoming the Warriors. The Stealth maintained a few of the arrangements that the Ravens had initiated with the BCLA, but were not nearly as aggressive in terms of becoming a visible part of the lacrosse community. Although I'm not involved with the latest reincarnation of pro lacrosse in Vancouver, the Warriors, I know that they, largely through the magic of social media, are very well marketed, especially to the "younger generation" and have seen attendance climb steadily throughout their existence. More importantly they have become a large part of the lacrosse community, through school programs, camps and public appearances and hopefully will establish the same positive relationship with the lacrosse community, with the same positive impact, as the Ravens did some twenty years ago.’’