Halifax NLL Team

[HalifaxRetales]

There is a press conference on the 13th that is going to announce a Halifax team in the National Lacrosse League to start play in the Scotiabank Centre for the 2019 season.

[HalifaxRetales]

It's only 9 regular season home games
but the season runs December to April

they already seem to have some trouble with scheduling 2 teams and odd events sometimes

[HalifaxRetales]

.

[q12]

Scotiabank Centre@ScotiabankCtr

THE NEWS IS OUT! THE NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE IS COMING TO HALIFAX! #HalifaxNLL[/QUOTE]
https://twitter.com/ScotiabankCtr/st...25981137645571




https://twitter.com/DowntownHalifax/...28071457075200

• Video Link

[q12]

http://www.halifaxnll.com/

NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE AWARDS HALIFAX FRANCHISE

PHILADELPHIA, September 13, 2018 – The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, today announced that it has awarded a franchise, under the ownership of Curt Styres, to the city of Halifax. Styres is the current owner and general manager of the Rochester Knighthawks.

Styres, who was named NLL’s 2017-18 General Manager of the Year, applied to relocate his team and received approval from the NLL Board of Governors.

“We are very proud to welcome the great city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a National Lacrosse League franchise. Known as a great events city with a passionate, loyal, and hungry fan base for major league sports, Halifax proved to be an ideal location for our league’s expansion in Canada,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “Curt Styres is one of our longest standing and most passionate owners and I am sure he will bring his knack for winning to this great City just as he has in Rochester. This marks yet another exciting step towards the execution of our 5-year plan.”

The Halifax franchise will begin play during the 2019-20 season at Scotiabank Centre, with many of the players on the current Knighthawks’ roster. The season will include nine regular season home games, pre-season and playoff games.

“When I took over ownership of the Knighthawks on June 19, 2008, I said that when I left, I wanted to leave the team in better shape than I found it,” said Styres. “I believe we have done that as we have added three banners to the rafters as NLL champions and made a fourth trip to the Finals last season. We have also created hundreds of new fans and introduced the game to thousands of children across western New York. Again, I cannot put into words how proud I am of everything that WE have accomplished together.”

Finishing the regular season with a 10-8 record, the 2017-18 Knighthawks were crowned East Division champions and advanced to the franchise’s first NLL Finals appearance since 2014. Though falling short to the defending champion Saskatchewan Rush in Game 3, the franchise was still awarded for their stellar season. Four members of the Knighthawks took home NLL season awards.

“Our city, partners and customers are ready for the unprecedented mix of sport and entertainment the NLL will bring to Halifax,” said Carrie Cussons, president & CEO of Scotiabank Centre. “We’re committed to providing our customers with a diverse mix of events and I can’t think of a better addition than professional lacrosse. We’re thrilled to welcome the NLL and Curt Styres to Halifax and can’t wait for the 2019-20 season!”

The Rochester team’s full roster will remain intact for 2018-19 season, continuing to play out of Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. The first game in Halifax, under a new team name, will be played at Scotiabank Centre in December 2019.

For more information, visit www.HalifaxNLL.com.

About the National Lacrosse League (NLL)

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is North America’s premier professional indoor lacrosse league. Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 11 franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, New England Black Wolves, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock and Vancouver ‘18. The 2018-19 NLL season, commemorating the League’s 33rd year, will begin December 1st for #FaceOffWknd. For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About Scotiabank Centre

Scotiabank Centre is the largest multipurpose facility in Atlantic Canada, serving as the region’s premier venue for major entertainment and sporting events and the nucleus of major event activity in Nova Scotia. Having hosted the world’s top performers, homegrown talent, best in class athletes and many performers in between, Scotiabank Centre has been a source for community vibrancy and pride for 40 years. With a seating capacity of more than 10,000 and the versatility to accommodate a range of events, Scotiabank Centre hosts between 450,000-500,000 attendees each year and is home to the Halifax Mooseheads, the Halifax Hurricanes, the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo and now, the National Lacrosse League’s Halifax expansion team.

http://www.nll.com/news/national-lac...fax-franchise/

[dtown]

My initial thoughts are:

A) It's interesting that the Halifax team is a relocated franchise and not a new franchise. (Or is it? The articles don't seem clear, just stating that Rochester is no more and Halifax is getting a "new" team.) This probably means there will be little to no loyalty to the Halifax region, and if things don't start out to well it may not last long.

B) The Scotiabank Center is going to be jam packed with events from November to April. The Mooseheads, Hurricanes and Privateers (awesome name BTW, too bad the CFL couldn't get that) all play during these months and i imagine a lot of Monday, Tuesday home games for the NLL which probably isn't ideal.

C) All of a sudden we went from having just the Mooseheads (and Hurricanes I suppose) for our sports and entertainment dollar and all of a sudden we have a new soccer team, a lacrosse team and possibly (probably?) a CFL team. Of course I want to see the NLL have success in Halifax because it's good for the region overall, but my gut feeling is that they missed the boat and it could be tough to be financially stable. Pherhaps Halifax is already over saturated. I hope I'm wrong.

[Reesor]

Originally Posted by dtown

My initial thoughts are:

A) It's interesting that the Halifax team is a relocated franchise and not a new franchise. (Or is it? The articles don't seem clear, just stating that Rochester is no more and Halifax is getting a "new" team.) This probably means there will be little to no loyalty to the Halifax region, and if things don't start out to well it may not last long.

B) The Scotiabank Center is going to be jam packed with events from November to April. The Mooseheads, Hurricanes and Privateers (awesome name BTW, too bad the CFL couldn't get that) all play during these months and i imagine a lot of Monday, Tuesday home games for the NLL which probably isn't ideal.

C) All of a sudden we went from having just the Mooseheads (and Hurricanes I suppose) for our sports and entertainment dollar and all of a sudden we have a new soccer team, a lacrosse team and possibly (probably?) a CFL team. Of course I want to see the NLL have success in Halifax because it's good for the region overall, but my gut feeling is that they missed the boat and it could be tough to be financially stable. Pherhaps Halifax is already over saturated. I hope I'm wrong.

The Rochester franchise is moving to Halifax, and it looks as though Rochester is getting an expansion team.

On the Mooseheads boards we took a quick look at the 2018-19 NLL schedule, and it looks like most, if not all NLL games are on Fridays and Saturdays. They are also only nine home games per regular season, averaging out to about a game every two weeks.

It's tough to gauge the market for a major professional sports franchise here in Halifax. I say major because it's the best indoor lacrosse in the world, and the 3rd highest attended arena sport in the world. NLL works in Saskatoon, and they are a smaller city (although the same if not more population in surrounding areas to draw from). They also have CHL hockey to contend with, as well as the CFL in Regina...but not at the same time of year.

The lease with the Scotiabank Center is for five years with an option to extend. Hopefully Halifax will be competitive given it's a relocation and not an expansion, and the Privateers get some playoff games to hype the team. Five years should be enough time to see if this city will support pro lacrosse.

[EpicPonyTime]

Halifax should hopefully benefit from the same thing that helped the Rush in Saskatchewan: the team that's relocating is a contender.

There wasn't much hype surrounding the Rush when they first moved to Saskatoon, but they had a quality product both on and off the field and it really helped convince the city to embrace them. They're easily bigger than our WHL team now. Hopefully the same can happen in Halifax.

[q12]

The team name announcement event is coming in November.

https://www.facebook.com/HalifaxNLL/

[q12]

Team name announced tomorrow. Looks like maybe Halifax Highlanders based on their twitter?

https://twitter.com/halifaxnll

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by q12

Team name announced tomorrow. Looks like maybe Halifax Highlanders based on their twitter?

https://twitter.com/halifaxnll

If that's the one, I'm sure the activists will be outraged.

[q12]

Halifax Thunderbirds



halifaxthunderbirds.com

https://twitter.com/HFXThunderbirds