With the Edmonton Rush almost officially in Saskatoon, it appears the City of Champions is not quite ready to give up on losing a National Lacrosse League club.
The Rush are coming off of an NLL title, but nonetheless Bruce Urban is moving his team east.
The Edmonton Journal talked to Northlands CEO Tim Reid, who expressed interest in bringing a club back to Edmonton.
“Our goal is to maximize the use of our venues and if there is an opportunity for another NLL franchise, we would certainly be interested,” Reid said.
“Our desire is very much to maintain an NLL franchise in Edmonton. We think we would be a good partner.
“Northlands sees a lot of value in having a professional lacrosse team in Edmonton.
It’s a great family-friendly product and it’s affordable, which are both things that are very valuable to us as a non-profit society.”
The Rush are the third team in the last two years to relocate along with Philadelphia and Minnesota, and those markets are also open to bringing teams back as well.
“We suspected something was coming.” Reid told the Edmonton Journal. “Their lease with us in Rexall Place has expired and while we approached them several times on renegotiating the lease, we weren’t able to communicate anything formal.
“Bruce (Rush owner Urban) and I exchanged a few emails over the last 60 days. We asked for something in writing, but nothing changed except that they didn’t want to talk. We thought that was really peculiar.”
“We’ve worked hard at it. We’re in the public eye, we’re in the community, we have had great corporate sponsors,” Bruce Urban said recently to the Journal.
“It certainly hasn’t been for a lack of trying.
“But Edmonton hasn’t jumped on professional lacrosse. I wish I had the answers.”
