Capitalizing on the booming popularity of lacrosse in Georgia, two professional men’s teams, one indoor and one outdoor will call the Atlanta area home starting next year.
According to the US Lacrosse Participation Report, the number of lacrosse players nationwide has increased 194 percent since 2001. In the upcoming spring season, 16 Georgia colleges will have a men’s or women’s NCAA lacrosse program as opposed to just two in 2010
A record 8,674 fans attended the Major League Lacrosse Championship, hosted at Kennesaw State on Aug. 8. The championship chose the Cobb County University for the second year in a row.
The Georgia Swarm, a relocating franchise, will play in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), which is the indoor league, also known as box lacrosse. Box lacrosse is a close relative to hockey. The sport is played on a covered ice rink with only six players per team.
There is an average of 25 goals scored collectively per game by the two teams, so play is energetic, entertaining and fast-paced. The Swarm, one of nine NLL teams, is moving from Minnesota, where the team played the past 11 years.
“Georgia is a budding market for lacrosse,” Alec Schimke, Swarm spokesman said. “We are excited for the season.”
The Georgia Swarm will begin play out of its home at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth in January. The front office is expecting a sellout crowd for the first game in Georgia. The regular season, which spans from late December to April has 18 games, nine home and nine away.
The club, which has hired a new coach and has four number one picks in the upcoming draft, is optimistic that the move from Minnesota will bring new life to the team. Schimke said he’s confident the Swarm will make it to the NLL playoffs in its first season in Georgia.
Just three months after the Swarm’s relocation was made public by the NLL, Major League Lacrosse announced its ninth team, the Atlanta Blaze, would be coming to Atlanta in spring of 2016. The MLL is the outdoor, traditional lacrosse league, involving 11 field players
The team has been in the works for about three years, team President Kevin O’Leary.
“Our plan is for Atlanta to become the epicenter of lacrosse in the South,” O’leary said. The Blaze is the third MLL team in the southeastern region, joining the Florida Launch and Charlotte Hounds.The Blaze will play out of Kennesaw State’s Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
The team’s 58-game season begins in late April, and extends through the end of July.
“It’s exciting to be so close to the end, or really the beginning of this process, depending on how you look at it, but there are definitely some anxious moments,” O’leary said. “I feel proud to be where we are.”
According to Marty Elliot, general manager of KSU’s stadium, there has been a great interest in season tickets for the Blaze, and the administration is expecting to sell upwards of 40,000 tickets in the first season.
“I was ecstatic to hear about both of the pro teams coming to Atlanta,” Grady lacrosse player, Will Smalley said. “I definitely plan on attending games often.”
Georgia will join New York and Colorado as the only three states with an MLL and NLL team. Both the Georgia Swarm and Atlanta Blaze are eager to contribute to youth programs in Georgia, and to continue to grow the sport’s participation and popularity in the Peach State
