The
Philadelphia Barrage won the
Steinfeld Cup in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 they were homeless; they played all of their games on the road in exhibition cities. In 2009 the Barrage were removed from the league along with the
New Jersey Pride, the
San Fransisco Dragons, the
Los Angeles Riptide, and the 2008 Cup winning
Rochester Rattlers.
The
Chicago Machine are arguable the worst team ever in
Major League Lacrosse. Debuting in the 2006 season, the Machine did not win a game until the second week of the 2007 season. Never topping three wins, Chicago has finished last every season. It is no surprise then that the Machine are in serious trouble.
After wearing red throughout their existence, the Machine rebranded themselves in a
Hopkins-esque Columbia blue and black scheme last season. The new color scheme was meant to emulate Chicago's flag but looked weak in the confines of
Toyota Park whose anchor franchise, the
Fire, wear red. For some reason, all Machine merchandise available online remained red.
Half of the team's home games were played outside of Toyota Park. The opening and closing games were upgraded to
Soldier Field. The third home game outside of their official stadium was held in Milwaukee to test that market for a potential MLL franchise in the future. Milwaukee is close enough to the Windy City to avoid suspicion.
About a month ago, I heard a rumor that the Machine would not have any home games in Chicago this season. I searched in vain for some sort of confirmation but found nothing.
Last week the MLL announced that the Machine would host the
Denver Outlaws in
Rochester. As a one off game, the teams chosen seem kind of odd; the article mentions nothing about a full road schedule for the Machine.
This article popped up yesterday. Not only does it talk about the Machine hosting the
Cannons in Virginia Beach, it also confirms that the Machine will be playing a full road schedule this year:
"The Machine will play their entire 2010 regular season as a travel team with additional dates and locations to be announced in the coming weeks."
Although the front page of the Machine's website says that tickets are now on sale, the
schedule page tells a different story. Currently all of the games are listed as "away" except for the Rochester and Virginia Beach games. Expect to see the remaining four "home" games updated as those locations are announced. Just don't expect the locations to be listed on that page.
Much like the Barrage in 2008, I see this as the end of the Machine. Unlike Philadelphia, I expect the Machine franchise to resurface in some form for 2011 as I cannot imagine the league attempting to run with only 5 teams. The game in Rochester indicates that the league is looking to return to that market as early as next year which could result in a strong and bitter rivalry with Toronto. The
Nationals are essentially the former Rattlers.
Based on the Barrage's tour, there are some cities/markets I expect to appear on the Machines journeys:
- Dallas - most likely Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. The North Texas sports market is one of the strongest in the country and lax has really taken off in the metro.
- Orlando or Tampa. The Titans success holds promise for a pro field team. Both cities have potential facilities and Florida is another state with a strong lacrosse culture.
- Cincinnati. I am not sure where they would play as I know very little about the city, but I have heard numerous rumors about the league's desire to have a team in Ohio. Lately Cincy has popped up more than Columbus and Cleveland combined.
- Seattle. The fans have done wondrous things in a very short period with the Sounders. The Stealth moved this this season and are having strong numbers. Washington is a booming lax area. Vancouver and Portland are close enough to travel.
- Pittsburgh. It's no secret that a serious effort is underway to get a pro lax team - any pro lax team - in Pitt.
- Philadelphia. This may seem like a sleeper, but Philly has a brand new soccer stadium this year that might be the key to bringing pro lax back to the City of Brotherly Love.
There are other cities that I feel deserve a shot or in some cases a second chance. The Twin Cities, St. Louis, San Jose, Salt Lake City, and Houston all come to mind. I just do not see the league targeting these locales this time around. Perhaps the next "tour" will look at these cities. I am not opposed to having a touring team until the league can afford to expand again either. However a permanently touring team presents some logistical and economic challenges. It will be interesting to see how the MLL recovers from this. Then again,
Warrior recently became the principle sponsor of the
LXM Pro Tour, so maybe touring is the future of pro field lax...
Losing the Machine will definitely hurt the Midwest lax market. It might also impact the Outlaws who are on a virtual island, now more than ever. But Denver has the advantage of being near a stronger lacrosse market than Chicago and has two NCAA Division I programs nearby (
Denver and
Airforce). There are also
Division III and
MCLA programs in their neighborhood.
Once again the team has a blue, white and red color scheme. I chose to go with blue shorts and away jerseys while utilizing the same font that I used on Albia. The color pattern is a little different, but the teams would not be in the same division anyway so it does not matter.
I went with a white helmet to produce a smooth color scheme. The red chin and chinstrap provide a nice break from the jerseys. Blue is tied back in via the visor and Mohawk stripe.
With a name like "Black Raiders" the dominant color was never in doubt. Black on black on black is the only way to go. The customizer even gave me a nice logo to use for the mock ups. In fact, the hardest part of the design was incorporating orange in a way that was not obnoxious and still maintained the ferocity associated with pirates.
As the third team in this series to wear black and orange, it was difficult to give East a unique helmet. Since I went with white for Valley, I only had to contend with my choice for Ames. At this point I was not going to go back and change the Little Cyclones' helmet so I had to go forward with their lid in mind. Originally I considered an all black helmet, but that looked too amateur for a varsity team. Then I tried just on orange item: the visors did not improve on the amateur look, the chin was alright, the visor was too gaudy, and the Mohawk just looked silly. My final decision provides the perfect balance of orange while maintaining the tough yet simple look the Black Raiders deserve.
