by Jeff Leadbeater
of BleacherReport.com
A crossroads is approaching, and a team in an old league is coming to a new city.
For the sport, it is new territory. Box lacrosse, to be exact. The indoor variety of the true heir to the term “America’s game.”
And that city is Orlando.
The Orlando Titans begin play in the National Lacrosse League, a consortium of 11 teams in the U.S. and Canada, this Friday night, Jan. 8, against the Philadelphia Wings.
Uncharted territory indeed. No team has existed for more than three years in either the NLL or its outdoor lacrosse analogue, Major League Lacrosse, south of Washington, San Jose, or Denver.
On top of that, no Florida university has an NCAA-level lacrosse program. The Big Five—Florida, FSU, Miami, USF, and UCF—all have non-varsity programs in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association.
The Titans themselves are in transition. For the past three seasons, they played in New York City. They had to spread their games between four different venues, and the franchise just had no hope of making any money there. So a new owner brought the team to Orlando.
Why lacrosse in Orlando? There are several good reasons:
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