Boxed-in: The turbulent future of the National Lacrosse League
Photo Courtesy of National Lacrosse League- Wikimedia Commons
The National Lacrosse League faces a critical 40th anniversary season after folding two teams, forcing a massive player draft and major team reshuffling.
On Thursday, Sept. 24, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) began the march towards the start of the 2026-27 season with this year’s entry draft. This season, which will mark the league’s 40th anniversary, however, begins under concerning circumstances—ones that will have a great impact on the future of the league and potentially the sport as a whole.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, and after a total stripping of the team’s high-level talent, it was announced that the Philadelphia Wings were to cease operations. There was hope, however, that league commissioner Brett Frood’s negotiation efforts with prospective owners might have materialized in preserving the Wings as a team for the upcoming season. As of Sept. 10, that dream appears to have been merely that: the Philadelphia Wings franchise was to fold alongside another team, the Ottawa Black Bears.
The offseason story of the Ottawa Black Bears, as well as of Ottawa lacrosse as a whole, has been one of institutional failings across generations. Ever since the first iteration of an Ottawa franchise, the city has seen only mediocrity from its teams and broken promises from owners. The story begins in 2000, when the team known as the Syracuse Smash relocated to the capital of Canada. The move to Ottawa was spearheaded by the Watters family, who had experienced previous success with a fellow Canadian team, the Toronto Rock. In a CBC article from the time of the move, Bill Watters was quoted as saying that “once people in the city are exposed to the game, they’ll come back for more.” This quote, ironically, foreshadowed the team’s folding a couple of years later.
The team that became known as the Ottawa Rebel finished its inaugural season with a horrific record of 1-13—one that proved to be an omen of the fate of the franchise. In 2003, the team folded, ending its existence with a record of 9-31. The reason for the cessation of operations by the Watters family was due to poor fan support—less than 4,000 fans on average attended games when roughly 8,000 were needed to make a profit. Ottawa was left without a lacrosse franchise for two decades, when another team relocated to the capital with hopes of revitalizing itself.
In February of 2024, the New York Riptide announced midseason that they were relocating from their former home of Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. The Riptide, which was failing to draw audiences, relocated to Ottawa, signed a lease at Canadian Tire Centre (home of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators), and rebranded to the Black Bears. This iteration of the team held promise, led by forward Jeff Teat, former NLL rookie of the year. Despite the turbulence of the 2023-24 season, Teat still scored 58 goals—his career high. The future of the Black Bears, however, turned out much bleaker than one might have expected.
In June of this year, the NLL announced that the ownership group of the Black Bears, GF Sports and Entertainment, had informed ticket owners that the team “will no longer be playing at Canadian Tire Center.” Ticket owners were refunded within a ten-day period of the announcement, and the league began efforts to find a new ownership group for the Ottawa franchise. This news, combined with the already existing saga with the Wings, made for an extremely difficult time for league management.
So much so that the NLL announced in late August that the official start of free agency was to be moved to Sept. 18, after already being moved from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1. The entry draft was also moved to Sept. 24 from its previous date of the 10th. The league stated these delays were due to “membership matters,” most likely referring to the ongoing push to help preserve the two franchises in limbo.
These efforts were in vain, and the Wings and Black Bears franchises were folded. The Black Bears concluded their two seasons in Ottawa with an 8-10 record, and Philadelphia finished their final season at the bottom of the league standings with a 5-13 record. To help the players of both these defunct teams find new homes, the league announced that a massive dispersal draft was to be held on Sept. 15. The Oshawa FireWolves—the team that finished second-worst in the league ahead of the Wings—were to pick first overall in this draft. The dispersal draft consisted of four rounds, with all 12 remaining teams participating. The FireWolves drafted the aforementioned Jeff Teat first overall, who is sure to provide a massive talent boost to the struggling team.
The National Lacrosse League, in what was supposed to be a year of celebration, now faces what may be a crucial juncture for the future of lacrosse as a successful national sport. There is, however, a precedent for the survival of the league in the event of two teams dissolving. Before the 2008 season, both the Arizona Sting and Boston Blazers franchises folded due to the economic pressure put on by the Great Recession. Adding to this, the Chicago team, the Shamrox, folded before the 2009 season. Ten special drafts (five expansion, five dispersal) were held between 2004 and 2008. After an extended period of instability and team reshuffling, the league was able to survive. Combined with the modern NLL’s commitment to grassroots growth of the sport through the UnBOXed initiative, a stable path forward may exist for the league.