The Edmonton Rush have been in flux it seems for the past year. It sounds like the official downfall of the franchise, which is competing in the NLL’s western conference finals currently, could come down soon.
The Edmonton Journal posted a story today with quotes from owner Bruce Urban, and things do not look good for the Rush. In fact, it sounds all but official that the team won’t be back in Edmonton.
“It doesn’t look very bright. It appears that it’s coming to an end,” said Edmonton Rush owner Bruce Urban. “It’s sad; it’s heart breaking. I thought we had better value for the city, but apparently I was wrong.”
Urban has always been up front and said what’s on his mind, and his spin on the team has never exactly been positive. It seems like an accumulation of lack of support from the city, along with a lack of ticket sales, has led to their demise.
A story was reported earlier this year that the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers had come close to buying the team. That certainly would have helped out a team struggling to bring in sales. The Buffalo Bandits and Colorado Mammoth are owned by their city’s NHL teams and they draw over 16,000; Calgary is owned by the Flames and they bring in around 12,000.
More than anything, however, it seems that even if the Rush wanted to stay they don’t have an arena. Rexall Place is coming down and the Oilers, along with their junior hockey tenets the Oil Kings, will relocate to the new arena. The Rush have not been invited to do so.
“We’ve not been invited into the new arena. And Northlands looks like it is shutting down its arena. So two years from now, we wouldn’t have a building to play in,” said Urban. “We can’t look into the future when you know that one building is going down while the new building has pretty much told you we’re done.”
Where could the Rush end up? Urban’s been in Saskatoon often, and that’s been the rumor for a few years. It seems for the first time in a while we might have two relocation (a story on that later) and the Rush essentially have two options; Saskatoon, or fold.
