December 8, 2005

Dec. 8, 2005

Russ Cline and Chris Fritz get an almost sick pleasure out of being the illegitimate fathers who spawned lacrosse's "bastard" son. There's something both deviant and endearing about it even today, as they chuckle about putting players on rollerblades - a real concept 20 years ago that seeded the professional indoor lacrosse phenomenon now known as the National Lacrosse League.

 

They nixed the skates.

 

"We were going to call it roller-cross," Fritz says.

 

Cline interjects, "Now the question is, could we have been bigger if we stayed with the skates? Maybe it's an opportunity for two younger guys today. Not us, we don't have the energy. Let someone else try a new `bastardized' way."

 

Cline is 62. Fritz is 58. This year, the NLL celebrates its 20th season. So do their Philadelphia Wings.

 

Of the four original cities in which the Eagle Box Lacrosse League debuted in 1987, only Philadelphia remains - a blue-collar seal of authenticity. The city survived the growing pains that gave way to the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, and churned out championships like it does cheese steaks.

 

It was only appropriate that, when they sold the MILL to new ownership groups in 1997 to create the NLL, Cline and Fritz held onto Philly.

 

"It was sort of that real straw that kept us here," Fritz says. "There's a real strong feeling we had about that franchise, and we gravitated towards it because we had a lot of history with it. It's kind of a personal thing. It was in our heart."

 

Cline and Fritz are in the business of promotion. Their philosophy: Never love anything that can't love you back. And for a long time, lacrosse was very unloving. They met resistance from subculture purists as in Baltimore and unyielding facilities people as on Long Island. They lost money, and dipped into other revenue-producing sports and entertainment ventures for support.

 

Until 1997, they owned every franchise in every market, because no one else was interested in buying.

 

"We were swapping spit. We'd make money [in Philadelphia] and pay for money lost in Washington or Boston. We had no net," Cline says. "Twenty years ago, we were like the James brothers. We came in guns blazing and took all the shots people wanted to take at us. We saw something that had potential. We could have walked away, but it kept sucking us in."

 

"I have a son who turns 20 in January," Cline continues. "With him, there was a time I really had to help him. He wants me to nurture and guide him, but he doesn't want me to do it for him anymore. Chris and I realize we have that with lacrosse."

 

In addition to their stake in Philadelphia, Cline and Fritz negotiated upon selling the league that they be able maintain two more franchises as property to activate, one of which they expect to materialize next year with further NLL expansion. That was prudent.

 

According to Cline, when the NLL formulated before the 1998-99 season, the average lacrosse franchise was worth $500,000. Today, he says, the going rate is in the neighborhood of $3 million.

Bastard, no more.

 

"With lacrosse, rightly or wrongly," says Cline, "it's kind of our child."

 

As for Philadelphia, Cline and Fritz are regulars in the owners' box at Wachovia Center, where the Wings averaged 11,696 fans per home game in 2004-05, third-best in the league. According to NLL commissioner Jim Jennings, the Wings were one of just "two or three" indoor lacrosse franchises showing annual profits when the league began its vast restructuring and collective bargaining agreement in 2004.

 

Six championships, one better than the defending NLL champion Toronto Rock, have helped. But the last time they won it was in 2001. And as 10-year Wings veteran Peter Jacobs says of Cline and Fritz, "owners will be owners, and they want to win."

 

"When I first started in the league, though, their presence was not as dominant," Jacobs adds. "As owners, you're living in a 'now' society, but they don't meddle that way. They're good promotional tools out there."

 

Cline and Fritz cite a longstanding partnership with Comcast-Spectacor - which also owns the Flyers (NHL), 76ers (NBA) and Phantoms (AHL)- as their primary source of longevity in Philadelphia. That recipe, linking with mainstream professional organizations and those who own their arenas, has become the model for newer franchises like Colorado, which averages 17,000-plus per game.

 

"There's a certain magic for us about Philadelphia," Cline says. "But it's not the magic as much as it is having the right machine working for you."

 

As Philly fans are every bit as loyal and blue-collar as the product put out on the lacrosse floor, that beat goes on. The NLL turns 20 this season. So does Philadelphia. Cline and Fritz, set to be inducted alongside the Gait brothers and Les Bartley in the NLL's inaugural Hall of Fame class, will doubly enjoy blowing out the candles.

 

NOTES: Goalkeeper Dallas Eliuk, the NLL's longest-tenured player who was recently awarded Philadelphia's franchise tag, will not be with the team to start his 16th season when the Wings open Dec. 30 against Colorado. The 41-year-old Vancouver native has decided to remain in Canada indefinitely, dealing with a family illness. "Dallas is one of the last reaction goalies," says Cline. "He's been a great Wing. We have to be sensitive to his personal problems..." Matt Roik, a fifth-year goalie acquired from Anaheim in August, will likely start in Eliuk's place. Roik was 4-8 with a 12.94 goals against average in 2004-05...The Wings have signed first-round draft choice Sean Greenhalgh (Cornell) and forward Rob Van Beek to one-year contracts.

 

 

Philadelphia Wings

 

Division: East

Last year: 6-10, fourth place.

Home arena: Wachovia Center (capacity, 19,523).

Head coach: Lindsay Sanderson (second season, 6-10 record).

Returning all-stars: Andrew Burkholder (all-rookie, 17-14-31); Dan Finck (all-rookie, 10-6-16).

Outlook: Three of the Wings' final four games of last season came against eventual
champion Toronto and the Rock managed to win them all, 17-15, 15-11 and 14-13.
"Philadelphia is going to be a player in this league this season," said Toronto head
coach Terry Sanderson, who is Lindsay's brother. The Wings had two of the first four
draft picks and added Cornell's Sean Greenhalgh and Delaware's Luke Wiles. Matt Roik,
who spent the last two seasons with Anaheim, has come aboard as a possible
successor to Eliuk. 

The schedule: The last nine games of the season include home-and-home sets with
division rivals Toronto, Rochester and Buffalo. The season will be made or lost in those
games.

- compiled by Tom Borrelli

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