As one of the booming new lacrosse regions, the Denver metro area is an interesting test market with the arrival of the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse.
The MLL, a professional field league founded with six East Coast-based teams in 2001 by fitness guru Jake Steinfeld, also added Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.
“Kids are saying, ‘Yeah, we love basketball. We love baseball. We love football. But we want a sport to call our own,”‘ Steinfeld said. “It is lacrosse.”
Outlaws owner Pat Bowlen, better known for running the Broncos, said he didn’t have to give Steinfeld’s offer more than five minutes of consideration.
“I thought it was a great idea,” said Bowlen, who became a lacrosse convert while watching his son’s Kent Denver teams win two state high school titles.
The Outlaws sold just shy of 2,000 season tickets. They are making connections to the game’s future by sponsoring clinics and allowing club teams from Colorado and Colorado State to play at Invesco Field at Mile High.
By 2007, however, it could be a case of oversaturation in the Denver market if the NLL completes plans to add an outdoor-field division, pitting the Outdoor Mammoth against the Outlaws for the same players and fans. Mammoth coach Gary Gait recently took sides in the turf war. He left the MLL in April and plans to help develop and play in NLL Outdoor.
The Outlaws, who debuted Saturday night, play at cavernous Invesco Field. The Mammoth Outdoor is scheduled to play in Commerce City in an 18,000-seat facility, scheduled to open in 2007 and be shared with Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids.
