All-Star game coming to Annapolis
Bayhawks are hosting contest for first time
Major League Lacrosse commissioner Alexander “Sandy” Brown came to Annapolis a couple weeks ago and was given the royal treatment.
Mayor Gavin Buckley announced that July 27 would be “MLL All-Star Day” in Annapolis and presented Brown with an official proclamation during a City Council meeting earlier this month.
The Chesapeake Bayhawks will host the Major League Lacrosse All-Star game for the first time this coming Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. To help promote the event, the City of Annapolis has hung commemorative banners from all the lampposts along Main Street.
“It was a real honor to receive a special proclamation from Mayor Buckley, who is 100 percent behind the Chesapeake Bayhawks and Major League Lacrosse,” Brown said. “The City of Annapolis has been great with celebrating the game and the league.”
This marks the second time the All-Star game has come to Maryland since Major League Lacrosse was formed in 2001. In 2002, the Baltimore Bayhawks hosted the event at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie with such all-time greats as the Gait brothers (Gary and Paul), Powell brothers (Ryan, Casey and Michael) participating.
Lifelong Annapolis resident Brendan Kelly bought the Bayhawks franchise in March, 2010 and relocated it to his hometown. Chesapeake has captured three championships (2010, 2012 and 2013) under Kelly’s ownership while solidifying its status as a bedrock franchise for Major League Lacrosse.
“I think the opportunity to host the All-Star game is a reward and this is recognition of the great job the Bayhawks have done, both on and off the field,” Brown said.
Kelly has marketed the Bayhawks as the hometown team for Anne Arundel County and the Eastern Shore with the organization also attracting fans from Baltimore, Washington and northern Virginia. Chesapeake’s management has worked hard to create a game-day experience that is community-based and family-oriented, whether out in the parking lot with the Lexus Tailgate Party or inside the stadium.
“Brendan Kelly and his team have done a tremendous job of developing a loyal fan base and that’s the number one reason why we are bringing the All-Star game to
Major League Lacrosse Annapolis,” Brown said. “Brendan has taken one of the original franchises in Major League Lacrosse to another level in terms of generating interest in the local market. The Bayhawks have clearly captured the hearts of that community.”
Saturday night’s All-Star game will feature the top 42 players in Major League Lacrosse, which currently consists of six teams – Atlanta Blaze, Boston Cannons, Dallas Rattlers, Denver Outlaws and New York Lizards in addition to Chesapeake.
The Bayhawks boast a franchise-record 10 All-Star selections with high-scoring attackman Lyle Thompson leading the way. Attackmen Steele Stanwick and Colin Heacock, offensive midfielders Matt Abbott, Brendan Bomberry and Nick Mariano, short stick defensive midfielder Isaiah Davis-Allen, long stick midfielder C.J. Costabile, defensemen Jesse Bernhardt and goalkeeper Niko Amato are the other Chesapeake representatives.
Major League Lacrosse has divided the 42 players into Team Fire and Team Ice and their will be Bayhawks on both. Stanwick and Mariano are on Team Fire while Thompson, Heacock, Abbott, Bomberry, Davis-Allen, Costabile, Bernhardt and Amato are on Team Ice.
Among the notable veteran standouts appearing in the game are New York Lizards attackman and reigning MLL Most Valuable Player Rob Pannell, Denver Outlaws perennial All-Star midfielder Zach Currier along with Denver Outlaws attackman and MLL all-time leading scorer John Grant.
Three local products have been picked for the game – Dallas Rattlers long stick midfielder Craig Chick (South River High, Lehigh University), Atlanta Blaze faceoff specialist Alex Woodall (St. Mary’s High, Towson University) and Boston Cannons short stick defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich (Kent Island High, Towson University).
“I think it’s huge for Annapolis and the Bayhawks to be hosting the All-Star game,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be a great event with lots of fun activities and I’m happy our fans will get a chance to see the best players in Major League Lacrosse play right here in our stadium.”
Rear Admiral Sean S. Buck, who will become the 63rd Superintendent of the Naval Academy this week, will serve as an honorary captain for the All-Star game. Rear Admiral Buck, a 1983 academy graduate, will participate in the traditional change of command ceremony on Friday.
A Major League Lacrosse spokesman said there will be a fly-over of fighter jets following the national anthem while the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon will perform at halftime.
“Considering we are playing in a stadium that is a living memorial, we feel it is fitting to celebrate and honor the military as part of the All-Star game,” Brown said. “Having the incoming Naval Academy superintendent down on the field will be very cool.”
ESPN2 will televise the All-Star game with veteran broadcaster Joe Beninati handling play-by-play and former Johns Hopkins All-American goalkeeper Quint Kessenich providing color commentary.
Brown, who played lacrosse at The Gilman School then Washington & Lee, was named MLL commissioner in February, 2018. The Baltimore native worked in the broadcasting business for most of his career – serving as CEO of ONE World Sports, president of Univision Sports and managing director for ESPN.
Brown, who continued playing postcollegiate with the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club, took on the challenge of leading Major League Lacrosse because he believes the sport should thrive at the professional level.
“I’m passionate about the game of lacrosse and this was an opportunity to take all the things I’ve learned from my years in sports television and apply it to pro lacrosse,” Brown said. “I am very bullish on Major League Lacrosse. We have a committed ownership base and have made numerous structural changes that have set us up well to obtain new investment in the league.”
In his first 18 months on the job, Brown has been forced to deal with direct competition as the Premier Lacrosse League formed. That travel-based model, led by one of the all-time greats in MLL history in Paul Rabil, has split the talent pool.
Major League Lacrosse announced numerous notable changes in response to the PLL – increasing player salaries and shifting the season to June through September. MLL also reacquired its media rights, a move that enabled individual franchises to strike regional television deals while Brown secured a contract with ESPN to broadcast the All-Star game and championship weekend.
In May, Annapolis resident Mark Burdett was hired as Chief Revenue Officer for Major League Lacrosse and primarily charged with developing new sponsorship and cultivating expansion opportunities.