Peterborough’s problem is lacrosse’s problem
It was not surprising the Peterborough Lakers kicked off their new season and the 150th anniversary year of lacrosse in fine style on June 1.
The classiest and best run franchise in Canada, they combined a little hometown hokum with an impressive display of young players romping about the floor prior to game.
Their opening night attendance will be more than four of the other five Major Series Lacrosse league teams will likely draw all season. Cobourg, a second-year MSL team, seems to be on the right track to increase their attendance.
Unfortunately there was that proverbial elephant on the floor to the knowledgeable and concerned fans as to the future of the Lakers in the Memorial Centre. Lurking over the entire proceedings is the city’s edict that the city will close down the team in two seasons.
The city continues down the path to evict the Lakers from the Memorial Centre for the summer of 2019 and is showing little concern as to what it will do to the game in the city, in fact the province.
With the display of support the fans and Lakers put on for the opening game June 1, there was an obvious lack of presence from city officials, albeit they wisely may not have been invited, at the opening and it was not lost on many fans at the game. After months of acrimonious debate between lacrosse people and the city over the future of the game in the city, that was not unexpected.
The next two seasons will be pivotal in the future of lacrosse in the city. With the city boundand bent on continuing down the road to turf the Lakers out of the Memorial Centre for the summer of 2019, fans will be leery.
Also not lost on the more than 3,400 fans in the Memorial Centre is how sustainable is the present league. Each year the same scenario unfolds. Two teams have financial resources, Peterborough and Six Nations, and the other four teams struggle at the gate.
MSL management tries to enhance the fan appeal of the product which is arguably the best box lacrosse, game-in and game-out, one will see. The players commit to the league and for most after a long winter of travel with the professional National Lacrosse League, they are loyal to their MSL upbringing.
Unfortunately the problems of the league and the Lakers go much deeper than that.
The Lakers will undoubtedly continue to put the best product they can on the floor and insure the games are as entertaining as possible, but that elephant will still be looming over the game, ready to crash in two seasons.
Peterborough’s problem is lacrosse’s problem. The Lakers must step up and find a way to unite the league to work through this pending situation. Little useful direction has been forthcoming from the city on the pending local situation. The provincial and national governing bodies of the game are of little value in addressing the problems of the game; in fact they are more often impediments to the growth at the elite levels.
Essentially it comes down to the players. Besides giving their time and skill, they will need to somehow work together to strengthen the game nationally.
Many Canadian players are given opportunities to parley their skills in the U.S. colleges and the professional NLL and MILL through starts in the Canadian box lacrosse leagues. Unfortunately as good as it is for the players, no support comes north to the Canadian teams that develop these players.
How the Lakers get through the next two seasons will have a profound influence on lacrosse in the city, the province if not the country.