Editor’s Note: This article was written and submitted by Jason Molinet.
In a shift aimed at greater market share, Major League Lacrosse’s Long Island franchise has dropped its local identity and rebranded as the New York Lizards.
A new ownership group purchased the Lizards in May with an eye toward turning the Long Island franchise into a tri-state team, according to Lizards CEO Jeffrey Rudnick. The change was announced Friday by the league.
"When the new ownership group took over the Lizards in May of this year, we negotiated a deal with Major League Lacrosse to expand the Lizards' exclusive territory,” Rudnick said. “It grew from just Long Island, to now also include New York City, Westchester County, the state of New Jersey, and southern Connecticut. With this tremendous market the Lizards are now a part of, it made sense to change the name to the New York Lizards.”
In addition to a new logo, the franchise announced it will play two home games next season at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. While the league schedule has yet to be released, the bulk of home games will remain at Hofstra’s James M. Shuart Stadium.
“We feel the name change is very fitting for the Lizards,” MLL Commissioner David Gross said. “The team has done tremendous work in extending the brand beyond Long Island into the surrounding areas and the new name reflects this all-encompassing reach.”
The move into the City market makes sense from a grass roots standpoint. While Long Island has long been a hotbed for lacrosse, the sport has caught on over the last decade in the boroughs and Westchester as youth and high school programs grow in both skill and popularity.
The Lizards went 8-6 and lost in the first round of the MLL playoffs in August.
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Bobby Stokel May 21, 2013 at 11:17 am
Thank you to everyone so far in showing your support. We still need more signatures so please help…Read More :-)
Michael Ganci (Editor) May 20, 2013 at 12:37 am
We just posted. I was at the scene. Hope this helps! MG…Read More http://merrick.patch.com/groups/breaking-news/p/woman-struck-by-train-at-merrick-lirr-station
Zach T May 17, 2013 at 07:20 pm
The School board is a bunch of morons if they want to remove this designation! There were 0 problems…Read More like this when Malucci was in office, this new superintendent is a waste of space, money, and cares more about his own paycheck then our kids! Between school security, and now this, I motion that we get rid of that skell!
Dr. Kim Lurie May 16, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Bless you, Anthony. And though I know ultimately the "Judge" will have to be held…Read More accountable by a higher authority...those of us who do this work, have not forgotten nor will we allow the system to forget what her role in this travesity was.
Anthony Merlo May 16, 2013 at 10:24 am
Thank you for this wonderful article on a good man pushed to the brink. I appriciate the fact this…Read More came form the heart and did not hold back. As Sacristan at Cure of Ars, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Rich (as I called him) for some time. He was a man of faith and a pleasure to see. Always with a smile and kind word, you would never know what was going on the way he acted. This was a wonderful and insightful article. It is heartbreaking to think that where there was once love between 2 people, things got to the point where one persons life was destroyed by those who could and did for no apparent reason other than having the ability to do so. God will have mercy on Dr. Rich and the ex-wife and "Judge" should pray for the same given their actions.