Update

Last week, the National Lacrosse League and its player's association reached agreement on a new 7-year Collective Bargaining Agreement that allowed for a new 2008 season to be scheduled. The original 2008 season had been cancelled when an agreement was not reached by the original deadline of October 15.

On the evening of Monday, October 29th, NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings held an online chat with fans to thank them for their patience throughout the process and to answer their questions about the upcoming season and beyond. Here is a summary of the most frequently asked questions and the Commissioner's answers.

Question: What really happened to bring the season back to life, can you pinpoint a breakthrough?

Jennings: Our owners decided to give it one last try. They authorized me to contact (player's association president) Peter Schmitz in hopes of saving the season. I spoke with Peter and a positive dialogue ensued. We negotiated for three days and came to a positive conclusion.

Question: Are you pleased with a 7-year deal?

Jennings: Yes, I'm very pleased with a 7-year deal. Since I've become Commissioner, one of my objectives was to get a long-term Collective Bargaining Agreement so we would be able to pursue national sponsors and a national television agreement.

Question: Because of dates being released, are we looking at a shorter than 16 game season?

Jennings: I anticipate we will have a 16-game schedule. We are trying to start our schedule as close as possible to the season's original start date of December 27. We are working together with the teams and arenas. We hope to have the new schedule out within the next seven days.

Question: Is there any hope of getting games on national TV this year?

Jennings: We've contacted several television networks in hopes of salvaging our efforts to have the All-Star and Championship games air live on national television. With our season schedule still in the process of being assembled, it's too early to say if we have a place to fit into a network's television schedule.

Q: Will there be any exhibition games this year and will teams go on the road, possibly in Halifax?

Jennings: There are no exhibition games scheduled as of yet. At this time, we are completely focused on creating the new 2008 regular season schedule. If there's an opportunity to play some pre-season games, we'll explore it.

Q: Can you tell us when the NLL video game will be ready?

Jennings: Yes, we have extended our agreement with Activision for the development of a NLL video game. It's taking longer than expected, but they assure us it will be out for 2009.

Q: Commissioner Jennings, do you browse fan forums or fan websites to take in their opinions or suggestions?

Jennings: I love hearing from our fans. Feel free to email me any time at jim.jennings@nll.com.

Live Chat

National Lacrosse League Commissioner Jim Jennings will host a live chat on NLL.com on Monday at 6:00 PM Eastern. A link to join the chat will be available starting at 5:00 PM. The league and the players' association agreed to a seven-year agreement to begin in 2008 this week. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement will run through the 2014 season. I also have a live chat on the site on the right hand toolbar. When clicked you will enter a chat room codename: george lopez (I dont know if it works but we'll try it) Sign the Bandit Guestbook too.

We're Live From Banditland!
-Bandits Blogger

NLL Reaches Deal!

The National Lacrosse League has announced the reaching of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Professional Lacrosse Player's Association. The agreement is a seven-year term that begins in 2008 and run through the 2014 season. The agreement marks the longest labor deal in the 22-year history of professional indoor lacrosse. The league's previous three-year agreement with the PLPA expired following the 2007 season.

"Reaching a long-term collective bargaining agreement with the players was our number one priority in this process", said NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings. "We've been building positive growth in the league over the past few years. Securing long-term labor peace puts us in a position to take our league to the next level."

The agreement also means that professional indoor lacrosse will be played in 2008. When a new CBA had not reached by the league's deadline last week, the 2008 season was canceled. A new schedule for the 2008 National Lacrosse League season is expected to be announced next week.

Game Time Change

The National Lacrosse League announced today that the Buffalo Bandits game at the New York Titans on Saturday, April 12 has been changed from 7:30 p.m. to an 8 p.m. start.

Tickets for the eight regular season home games are on sale now (BUY TICKETS). Season ticket prices have not changed from last year, with ticket packages starting as low as $96.
 
Bandits season ticket holders receive several preferred benefits including: significant savings over the box office price, first right to purchase playoff tickets, a 10 percent discount on Bandits merchandise, and the ability to purchase additional seats up to the number of seats you own at season ticket prices (based on availability).
 
Current season ticket holder's renewal campaign will commence in
mid-October.  Information on the sale date for individual games will be forthcoming
 
To purchase tickets by phone, call 1-888-467-2273, or contact Account Services at (716) 855-4100.
 

Assistant Article

The Buffalo Bandits have re-signed Assistant Coach Ron Henry, and signed two new Assistant Coaches, Derek Graham and Jeff Dowling. Graham and Dowling were brought on after Troy Cordingley resigned to accept the Head Coach job in Calgary.

Henry will return for his second season with the Bandits and will be responsible for the defense.

Graham, who will be the new Assistant Coach in charge of offense, makes his debut behind an NLL bench after coaching at various levels since 1997. He most recently served as GM/Head Coach of the Hamilton Bengals.

Dowling, who will serve as Assistant Coach and Director of Team Scouting, joins the Bandits after coaching in Calgary, Anaheim and Columbus. He served as head coach of the Roughnecks for the second half of the 2007 season, leading the team to a second place finish in the West. He was also part of the staff that led Team Canada to a World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in 2007.

Bandits Sign New Assistants!

Buffalo Bandits Director of Lacrosse Operations Dave Zygaj announced today the team has re-signed Assistant Coach Ron Henry and signed two new Assistant Coaches, Derek Graham and Jeffrey Dowling.  The new assistant coaches were brought on after Tory Cordingley, their Assistant Coach from last year, resigned to take on the Head Coaching position with the Calgary Roughnecks.
 
Henry will return for his second season with the Bandits as Assistant Coach and will be responsible for the defense.   
 
Graham will be the new Assistant Coach in charge of offense.  Graham has been coaching lacrosse at various levels since 1997 and has received the Coach of the Year Award three times. Grahams most recent coaching position was with the Hamilton Bengals where he served as Head Coach and General Manager. In addition to coaching, Graham has also been an active player in the Southern Ontario region winning several championships, including two Minto Cups with St. Catharines and two Mann Cups with Six Nations.
 
Dowling will be joining the Bandits as an Assistant Coach and Director of Team Scouting.  Dowling comes to the Bandits after coaching several other NLL teams including the Calgary Roughnecks, Anaheim Storm and Columbus Landsharks.  Dowling was the head coach of Calgary for the second half of last season and led them to a second place finish in the West Division. Jeff was also part of the staff that led Team Canada to a World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in 2007.

Boston Blazers?

The National Lacrosse League expansion team in Boston will be known as the Boston Blazers. The club announced its name and unveiled its logo on Thursday. The team also announced its new website, www.blazerslacrosse.com. The Blazers make their home debut at TD Banknorth Garden on January 19th.

The new Blazers logo features a lacrosse player's darkened silhouette next to a red flame that blazes from the team's name. The Blazers also introduced the 'Blazer B', a red capitalized "B" with flames shooting out from the top. The Blazers team colors are red and black. The name was chosen in part due to the popularity and nostalgia associated with the former Boston Blazers franchise, a club that played in the early days of professional indoor lacrosse.

"The name 'Blazers' is both nostalgic and also appropriate", said Blazers Owner Tim Armstrong, a native of Littleton, Massachusets. "I grew up a Blazers fan and I'm thrilled that fans across New England will once again have the opportunity to root for them. Lacrosse is not only the fastest growing sport in New England, but also across the country."

The Blazers face-off against the New York Titans on Jan. 19 in their home opener. The Philadelphia Wings, Toronto Rock, Minnesota Swarm, Rochester Knighthawks, Portland LumberJax, Buffalo Bandits and Chicago Shamrox also battle the Blazers at the Garden during the 2008 regular season. Team officials also announced that Blazers group, individual and season tickets are available by calling 1-888-TIX-BLAZ (849-2529) or visiting www.blazerslacrosse.com. Tickets are $75, $50, $40, $35, $20 and $10 and are also available at the TD Banknorth Garden Box Office and all Ticketmaster outlets.

The thirst for an NLL franchise in Boston was finally satisfied on May 9, 2007 when the league announced it had awarded a team to Armstrong, who is President of Advertising and Commerce at Google, Inc. The team that day also announced former NLL star and former Boston Blazers standout Tom Ryan as head coach.

"Boston is a great sports town and we know its fans expect championships," said Blazers Head Coach Tom Ryan, who won an NLL title while playing for Philadelphia. "We are assembling a balanced roster of veterans and young players that should translate into an exciting brand of lacrosse. Our goal is to be competitive and play hard in every game."

Ryan played nine years in the NLL and amassed 202 total career points (82 goals and 120 assists). He coached the U.S. Indoor Lacrosse team in the 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships and has assembled a Blazers roster that includes Marshfield, Mass. native Sean Morris and Pat Merrill, the Blazers No. 1 overall pick from Toronto in the 2007 Expansion Draft. Merrill boasts 435 face-off wins, which ranks 17th on the all-time NLL list.