It wasn’t official, but we knew that the Edmonton Rush would be holding a press conference on Tuesday announcing their move to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Yesterday, owner Bruce Urban confirmed these reports.
Urban has been rather hostile towards the city of Edmonton since reports had surfaced of the team’s potential demise, and that continued yesterday.
“Tough decision to make as we all love Edmonton, however no future offered for us by the city for a venue to play,” Urban wrote to Global News.
“Lacrosse means zero in the eyes of Mayor Iveson so we had to be proactive. Rush Nation will be alive and well however.”
The Edmonton Journal has this quote from May:
“City hall has basically said there is no place for you here,” Urban told the Journal in May. “That’s the feeling we’ve got anyway.”
The Edmonton Sun cited an interesting recent conversation with Urban as well.
“I’ll lay a bunch of stuff out for you,” Urban said on a phone interview from his Airdrie office between Games 1 and 2 of the championship final his Rush ended up sweeping against the Toronto Rock. “We work very hard and it’s not hockey.
“There’s been a bit of frustration in that city. We’ve been trying to get answers for whatever amount of time over a venue and no one will say. They’ve made no concessions for us and most people in the inner circle say the old building’s going down and no one will say, what about us?”
Urban referred to himself as an emotional, knee-jerk type of guy at times.
“I went and spoke at those arena forums when the mayor was on council and said, ‘Make sure you don’t forget in those arena deals you’re doing with the Oilers that there’s a lacrosse team,’ ” Urban said. “’We’re excited to build this sport and build a history 50 years down the road like the Eskimos and 40 years like the Oilers. Give us the opportunity.’
“We spoke at the meetings and they forged ahead with the deal with absolutely no mention or thought or anything to do with us. I’ve watched our small staff bust their butt every day trying to work hard, I see the players out there – you’re probably closer to them than me, after the games talking to them – those guys’ (bodies) are getting absolutely annihilated out there for $22,000 a year, or whatever Taylor Hall would make in a period.”
Remember, this was back when McDavid Madness was still in its initial stages.
“I’ve felt we haven’t got the respect when city hall won’t even acknowledge us to say we have a plan for you in the future,” Urban said. “Why didn’t you guys try to factor in nine or 10 dates for us when the taxpayers build the thing? How come we’re the only ones left out in the cold? Now the old building’s going to get torn down and behind the scenes, we’re hearing Northlands is thinking we should play in the Agricom.
“Are you kidding me? What an embarrassment to the city. The Roughnecks are going to play in the Saddledome and they’re going to come into our building and it’s going to be the Agricom?”
It seemed obvious from the middle of the playoffs on that Urban wanted to relocate the team, and now it has happened. Paul Tutka, former NLL writer of the year, tweeted yesterday that the team has registered the domain name of “saskrush.com” three weeks after they won the NLL title.
