About MLL
Major League Lacrosse, began play in 2001 and has eight teams in cities all over North America:
Boston Cannons, Charlotte Hounds, Chesapeake Bayhawks, Denver Outlaws, Hamilton Nationals, New York Lizards, Ohio Machine and Rochester Rattlers.
Website: www.majorleaguelacrosse.com.
Kennesaw State will host an exhibition between Major League Lacrosse teams the Rochester Rattlers and Boston Cannons at 8 p.m. on June 7. It will be the first MLL game in Georgia and will be a test as the league considers expansion.
If everything goes well, commissioner David Gross said Atlanta could be the home of a franchise in 2014, playing at KSU Stadium, which is where the exhibition match will be held. He said he has had discussions with several potential ownership groups in the past few years. He declined to name any interested parties.
“We’ve been looking at the market for quite some time,” he said.
He said his league typically will hold at least one event in a city to test the interest level. He said a good event in Atlanta would be about 5,000 fans.
But Gross said the experience may be a better determining factor than the attendance.
“You can sell a bunch of tickets but if people don’t have a good time, it’s meaningless,” he said.
Major League Lacrosse is entering its 13th season and has eight teams stretching from Ontario, Canada to Charlotte. It is a single-entity league, meaning the team owners own the league.
Tickets for the event will go on sale March 1 on the website www.mllatl.com. Prices haven't been determined. In addition to the game, there will be a youth tournament held at KSU that could feature as many as 50 teams in different age groups on June 8 and 9, and camps and clinics in Rome.
The game was organized by MLL, the Atlanta Sports Council, and LB3, an Atlanta-based company that oversees club teams in several cities (including Atlanta), as well as camps and other activities.
The Owls are debuting women’s lacrosse in February.
Dan Corso, executive director of the Atlanta Sports Council, said a successful weekend, combined with the success of lacrosse events held in the city previously, may pave the way for the metro area to host more tournaments, up to the NCAA championship.
“There’s a great emerging market for lacrosse here, both from a fan perspective and a participatory sport,” he said.
