CTroyMathis
28 December 2002, 04:18 PM
A major league venue
By Steve Jacob
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
A few months ago, I would have bet the most likely home for Northeast Tarrant County's first professional sports team would have been the proposed Dallas Cowboys' JerryWorld complex in Grapevine.
Scratch that. My new pick: Carroll's Dragon Stadium in Southlake.
The professional Major League Lacrosse (MLL) showcases a sport that combines the principles of basketball, soccer and hockey. The sport has an avid following in the northeastern United States and is a high-profile sport at universities such as Duke, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Virginia.
According to US Lacrosse, the sport's national association, there are 250,000 active lacrosse players nationwide and the sport is growing 15-20 percent annually. The Southlake Carroll Lacrosse Association, which didn't exist until October 2000, expects a spring league enrollment of 275 players, says president Kelli Riley. Texas is becoming a recruiting hotbed for collegiate lacrosse programs.
MLL officials and league stars were in Southlake a couple of weeks ago to hold mini-camps for young players and study the area as a possible site for league expansion. The Southlake stop, one of six on the tour, was the league's most successful. Some youngsters who wanted to participate were turned away because the camp slots were sold out.
Players such as Jesse Hubbard, Trevor Tierney and Jason Carrier instructed and played with boys and girls ages 7-17. These athletes are not exactly household names. But it would be the equivalent of Troy Aikman, in his career prime, lobbing passes to anyone who could pay the camp tuition. They also met with parents to discuss college recruiting and dole out training tips.
MLL, founded in 2001 by Jake Steinfeld of Body by Jake fame, is expanding beyond its base of six teams into Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2003. The league plan is to create a four-team division in the western half of the United States in 2004.
The four likely metropolitan locations: Dallas, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco. The league's national sponsors -- Anheuser Busch, Merrill Lynch, Yahoo -- want a national footprint, and the current lineup of cable stations that broadcast MLL games to 62 million households does not include Fox Southwest.
Tim Shea, director of league operations, toured Southlake and Plano as possible team locations. He called the 7,500-seat Dragon Stadium the ideal size for professional lacrosse, which averages about 4,000 spectators per game.
Shea was also checking a number of other local factors that would point to potential success: the metro area's affinity for professional sports (not a problem), airport access (couldn't be better), presence of Northeast transplants who know the sport (there's lots), and possible local investors (jury's still out.)
Shea cautions investors, who are invariably lacrosse enthusiasts, to buy in with their heads rather than their hearts.
He compares the start-up effort to "a dot-com that happens to be selling lacrosse."
Shea said the heart of the lacrosse market is in the suburbs, explaining why he's kicking the tires in Southlake. The league's Rochester, N.Y., franchise is 20 miles outside of the city, and the New York City franchise is actually located on, and named after, Long Island.
According to US Lacrosse, about 75 percent of the fans have household incomes of more than $50,000 and nearly 50 percent own homes of more than $200,000.
The league will be recruiting investors through the end of June, finalize the expansion sites by October and hold an expansion draft in early 2004, Shea says.
The cemetery for fledgling professional sports leagues is well-populated. But the odds of professional lacrosse in Southlake easily compare favorably with the prospect of the Grapevine Cowboys.
By Steve Jacob
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
A few months ago, I would have bet the most likely home for Northeast Tarrant County's first professional sports team would have been the proposed Dallas Cowboys' JerryWorld complex in Grapevine.
Scratch that. My new pick: Carroll's Dragon Stadium in Southlake.
The professional Major League Lacrosse (MLL) showcases a sport that combines the principles of basketball, soccer and hockey. The sport has an avid following in the northeastern United States and is a high-profile sport at universities such as Duke, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Virginia.
According to US Lacrosse, the sport's national association, there are 250,000 active lacrosse players nationwide and the sport is growing 15-20 percent annually. The Southlake Carroll Lacrosse Association, which didn't exist until October 2000, expects a spring league enrollment of 275 players, says president Kelli Riley. Texas is becoming a recruiting hotbed for collegiate lacrosse programs.
MLL officials and league stars were in Southlake a couple of weeks ago to hold mini-camps for young players and study the area as a possible site for league expansion. The Southlake stop, one of six on the tour, was the league's most successful. Some youngsters who wanted to participate were turned away because the camp slots were sold out.
Players such as Jesse Hubbard, Trevor Tierney and Jason Carrier instructed and played with boys and girls ages 7-17. These athletes are not exactly household names. But it would be the equivalent of Troy Aikman, in his career prime, lobbing passes to anyone who could pay the camp tuition. They also met with parents to discuss college recruiting and dole out training tips.
MLL, founded in 2001 by Jake Steinfeld of Body by Jake fame, is expanding beyond its base of six teams into Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2003. The league plan is to create a four-team division in the western half of the United States in 2004.
The four likely metropolitan locations: Dallas, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco. The league's national sponsors -- Anheuser Busch, Merrill Lynch, Yahoo -- want a national footprint, and the current lineup of cable stations that broadcast MLL games to 62 million households does not include Fox Southwest.
Tim Shea, director of league operations, toured Southlake and Plano as possible team locations. He called the 7,500-seat Dragon Stadium the ideal size for professional lacrosse, which averages about 4,000 spectators per game.
Shea was also checking a number of other local factors that would point to potential success: the metro area's affinity for professional sports (not a problem), airport access (couldn't be better), presence of Northeast transplants who know the sport (there's lots), and possible local investors (jury's still out.)
Shea cautions investors, who are invariably lacrosse enthusiasts, to buy in with their heads rather than their hearts.
He compares the start-up effort to "a dot-com that happens to be selling lacrosse."
Shea said the heart of the lacrosse market is in the suburbs, explaining why he's kicking the tires in Southlake. The league's Rochester, N.Y., franchise is 20 miles outside of the city, and the New York City franchise is actually located on, and named after, Long Island.
According to US Lacrosse, about 75 percent of the fans have household incomes of more than $50,000 and nearly 50 percent own homes of more than $200,000.
The league will be recruiting investors through the end of June, finalize the expansion sites by October and hold an expansion draft in early 2004, Shea says.
The cemetery for fledgling professional sports leagues is well-populated. But the odds of professional lacrosse in Southlake easily compare favorably with the prospect of the Grapevine Cowboys.