Halifax Professional Lacrosse Team Looks To Build On Successful First Season
Jun 30, 2020
Jun 28, 2020 | Derek Montague via Huddle.today
“We have some unfinished business,” said Thunderbirds’ President John Catalano. “We didn’t get to finish our first year, in our opinion. So, we’ll look at coming back better than we were last year.”
“It was very disappointing for us on every front. This has been a very special year for those of us that have been involved in this organization…It was very special moving to Halifax. The city embraced us very quickly. It was just an unbelievable atmosphere to be around.”
The Thunderbirds quickly found out there was a strong market for professional lacrosse in Halifax. Despite being in their first season, the team averaged 7,500 fans at Scotiabank Arena for home games. Catalano felt the fan momentum was building.
“It was progressively going up…our last game was going to be against Toronto, and we were projecting that to be a sellout,” he said.
With the season cancelled, the professional lacrosse league with eight teams in the U.S. and eight in Canada took a major financial hit. Catalano couldn’t put an exact number of how much money the team lost but says it’s in the “hundreds of thousands.” Despite the cancelled season, Catalano says players were still paid their full contracts.
“We definitely took a hit, as everyone in sports has,” said the team President. “For us, the upside is the community as really rallied around the team. They’ve really embraced us, and we are seeing an uptick in tickets for next year. So, based on what we’re seeing, we think we should be okay.”
Despite the financial loss, there was no doubt that the team would come back. Catalano said team owner Curt Styres is dedicated to the team and the city and believes there is a bright future for the Thunderbirds in Halifax.
“There’s never been in question that we wouldn’t come back.”
The outlook for next season is good, so far. Despite the pandemic and the bitter taste of a cancelled season, 75 per cent of season ticket holders have renewed their packages so far, and they’ve gained 450 new ones.
“At this point in time, with the season being so far off, it’s a good time- it points us in the right direction,” said Catalano.
“We’re in the best situation we can be in, considering.”
The NLL is probably looking at a late December- early January start for the 2020-2021 season, assuming the Covid-19 situation is safe enough to play. The team anticipates having much of the same roster as this year’s team.
“We’ll have a few free agents that we’ll have to work on to bring back… and we’ll be looking to bolster the lineup even more,” said Catalano.