NLL Insider

It's still unclear where the New York Titans may find themselves in 2010. (Photo: Dave Sanders)

Yesterday was the National Lacrosse League’s extended deadline for relocation applications submitted to the league.

Leading up to yesterday’s final cut-off, the New York Titans, San Jose Stealth and Portland Lumberjax were all either rumoured to be on the move or potentially closing up shop completely.

So who’s in, who’s out and who’s still maybe in limbo after yesterday’s much talked about deadline?

NLL Insider was in communication with the league throughout yesterday, but the NLL was unable to confirm at this point whether any applications were submitted or if any of the three previously mentioned franchises would be on the shelf heading into the 2010 season.

A number of sources did confirm with NLL Insider yesterday that Everett, Washington, previously reported to be the Portland Lumberjax best and likely only option, is in fact now a fairly probable destination for the San Jose Stealth, who have been linked to several cities in both the US and Canada over the past  month.

Many NLL Insider spoke to feel the Titans will likely simply make the Prudential Center in Newark their full-time home, but with that said, other sources close to the situation confirm that the Titans and Prudential Center have had little to no communication over the past few weeks.

Another issue many teams currently also have is how potentially multiple dispersal drafts, like we saw last year when both Arizona and Chicago officially pulled out of the ‘09 season at different times, would be handled by the league. Last off-season, the Boston Blazers received the first pick in both the second Sting draft and Shamrox’s dispersal, allowing the team to land both Dan Dawson and Anthony Cosmo.

Although it’s unlikely the league would again allow a situation like we saw with the Shamrox, who shut down operations just weeks prior to the start of the ‘09 season due to major financial instability, NLL Insider has learned that a repeat of a situation similar to what we saw play out with Chicago’s dispersal draft, is still a concern of many GM’s, who would like to see some type of “other” order for any future secondary dispersal drafts leading into future seasons. Check out our poll below on how you’d like to see any future secondary dispersal drafts handled.

It is also worth noting, that although yesterday was the extended deadline for franchises to submit relocation papers, that’s all that simply may have occurred on Monday. The league could potentially spend several weeks going over the application before making anything final or official, ensuring the proposed relocation will in fact work and makes sense.  

Whether the league or affected teams will publicise where they are looking at potentially moving, is still unclear, but NLL Insider was able to confirm with players playing for at least one team rumoured to be on the move, that ownership or management of that team has not addressed or updated players on what is going on with the franchise as of yesterday.

In other NLL franchise related news, the Toronto Sun is reporting that the sale of the Toronto Rock is looking increasingly likely, but is still not apparently finalized.

And even though a press release originally found on the Calgary Roughnecks’ site, as well as several reports on such respected news sources as TSN and the Canadian Press, confirmed that Terry Sanderson would be leaving Calgary to serve as the Rock’s newest GM, Rock President Brad Watters tells the paper that those reports are premature. The language in the press release has been changed since first being published, with no mention of Sanderson’s return to the franchise that released him shortly after the ‘06 season.

Many feel that after the Rock sale is made official, the team will announce Sanderson as GM and Troy Cordingley, who also recently left the Roughnecks franchise, as Toronto’s new head coach. It’s also thought Sanderson would likely fill a role on the team’s bench as well.

If the league is ever put in a situation where a second dispersal draft is needed, how would you like to see it handled? Let us know below…

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