Allan Harvie announced that he hopes to have the Arena Lacrosse League up and running in February 2011.
Apparently a sports franchise owner from Virginia has decided to venture into lacrosse. At first it appeared that the proposed “Arena Lacrosse League” was meant to be yet another pro lacrosse venture. But after further review, it sounds like the goal of the league is two-fold:
- to raise money for Haitians;
- to create a minor-league system for the NLL.
These sounds like somewhat confusing priorities, but time will tell. As always, we’re all for growth of the sport. But does this make any sense? We’re a little confused…
NORFOLK — Hampton Coliseum and Norfolk Scope are among the venues targeted by a Richmond businessman and philanthropist hoping to start the Arena Lacrosse League in February.
“It’s just like hockey, without the skates,” Harvie said of indoor lacrosse.
Harvie envision his league becoming a farm system for the established National Lacrosse League, an 11-team venture with franchises in big-league markets such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Toronto and Edmonton.
“I don’t need the Arena Lacrosse League to support me,” Harvie said. “If you go down (to Haiti) one time, you’ll see a lot more need than here.”
Read the full articles at:
- Daily Press: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/spt-lax-0622,0,1364290.story
- Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2010/jun/23/harv23-ar-229107/
