NLL Insider

It appears the Chicago Shamrox have until the end of today to figure out the franchise’s future prior to the Wednesday cut-off date imposed on the team.

As reported by NLL Insider earlier this week, Chicago Shamrox owners, headed by Kevin Loughery Jr., are currently in the midst of trying to sell the franchise, which if not sold by today’s deadline, will fold just three weeks outside of the start of the 2009 NLL season.

The team had cited difficulties of running the franchise from outside of Chicago, as Loughery and his partners are based in Los Angeles and Atlanta, in April of this past year. NLL Insider has also learned however that the team has had various investor/ownership issues since its inception that has also helped lead to the team’s current situation.

NLL Insider spoke to the Chicago Shamrox’s Director of Public Relations & Marketing, Joe Stefani, earlier today, who had this official statement to pass on in regards to the team’s present situation:

Although the recent rumors of the team troubles are not unfounded, they are premature in predicting the end of the Shamrox. We are working on a solution and will not have anymore information until Thursday morning. Any further information prior to Thursday would be pure speculation as these are all the details we have at this time.

The team was preparing to begin their most anticipated season to date after off-season moves that brought in the likes of All-Star keeper Anthony Cosmo, highly touted draft selection Jamie Kirk, and defender Scott Self, who returned to the franchise after being re-selected in the second Arizona Sting Dispersal Draft held earlier this off-season.

After an impressive second half to the 2008 season and the team’s off-season on-floor improvements, hopes were definitely high for a successful run in 2009, and still may be as sources have indicated to NLL Insider that all hope should not be lost, as also implied in the Shamrox’s statement above.

However, if the team does fold, it still appears that a Dispersal Draft would be held this coming Friday, with teams  selecting the dispersed players in the following order; Boston, Edmonton, Toronto, Rochester, Calgary, Colorado, San Jose, Philadelphia, New York, Minnesota, Portland and Buffalo.

Rumors are already making the rounds that a number of teams are extremely interested in trading up to score the number one selection in order to draft either Cosmo or Self, the consensus one-and-two picks.

Officially however, the team is still intact and the franchise is operating business-as-usual in preparation of the 2009 season. Official word on Chicago’s status won’t be known until late tonight or early Thursday morning.

Stay tuned to NLL Insider for more on this developing story.

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