July 16, 2007

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that started World War I. A few flakes of gold found at Sutter's Mill initiated the California Gold Rush. A government communication project led to the Internet.

Sometimes a seemingly small or inconsequential event at the time can lead to something much bigger.

In the grand scheme of things, Monday's announcement by the National Lacrosse League that it will be holding an `Outdoor Showcase' on September 1 may not hold the same historic impact as the above examples, but relative to the landscape of professional lacrosse, it is monumental.

The announcement of the NLL, an indoor league, creating an outdoor arm to rival Major League Lacrosse, the currently predominant outdoor league, is not surprising. The idea has been floating around for quite a while, with NLL commish Jim Jennings cryptically telling reporters to expect an announcement about the issue during his state of the league address earlier this year.

The NLL outdoor league concept has been out there so long that the MLL has a adopted a party line regarding the potential rival.

"We'll believe it when we see it."

The discourse must be altered with the announcement of the outdoor exhibition game, which will be held at Dick's Sporting Goods Park -- a brand new facility built for Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer -- in Commerce City, Colorado. The MLL types could have continued with their `What, me worry?' routine in the face of this revelation if it wasn't for two important factors.

First, many of the players who are listed as participants in this seminal NLL outdoor event are high-profile names in the MLL. Gavin Prout (Rochester), Brian Langtry (Denver), John Grant (Rochester), Colin Doyle (Rochester), Brodie Merrill (Rochester), Sean Morris (Chicago) and Kyle Harrison (New Jersey) will all be playing. It's one thing if they play for a box franchise. But another outdoor league?

As much as the sport is expanding, there is still a finite number of marquee names out there to drive a league. If a potential NLL outdoor league overlaps with the MLL schedule -- which, to some degree, it almost has to -- there will be a frenzy to sign the top names. In America, that means whichever league pays the best will get the best players. Having the revenue and leverage of an indoor league would seemingly be a check in the NLL's column.

Second, the NLL higher ups have lured Gary Gait out of retirement for this event. And when you have Gait, you have instant credibility. You can add Gait to the Super Master's division at the Vail Shootout and even it becomes a must-see event.

Gait's departure from the MLL as a player-coach after the 2005 season (when he led the Bayhawks to a title) was a huge blow. Gait's reemergence as the initial face of the NLL outdoor league is an even bigger one. Lacrosse fans, coaches and players (and writers) want to be associated with Gary Gait.

Jennings said this game was part of the NLL's "exploration" of adding an outdoor league, but attendance figures or final score of this game between the Colorado Mammoth and "NLL All-Stars" will have no bearing on the decision-making process. The decision has been made.

This is not a trial balloon. This is a shot across the bow of the MLL.

What makes it so important for the sport is it is the first shot in what will be a battle for professional lacrosse supremacy in North America. When the NLL finally makes its outdoor venture official, it will be a zero sum game between the two leagues.

Look at the history of sport in this country: football, basketball, baseball and hockey have not been able to support two top-level pro leagues. Either one league won out or there was a merger. And if those sports can't support competing leagues, lacrosse certainly won't be able to sustain two. Not yet, anyway.

Prediction: Within three years of the NLL's introduction of its outdoor league, there will be only one professional lacrosse brand remaining. Time will tell which one it is.

There is one important fact to remember as this confrontation plays out -- there are no good guys or bad guys. Those who work for both the MLL and NLL love lacrosse and they want it to be successful. Both have the fans' interest at heart. This is just business; capitalism at its core.

There will be a lacrosse game in Colorado on September 1. Lacrosse history will eventually prove it is going to be much more than that.

Contact Jac Coyne at jcoyne@uslacrosse.org.