The boys are back in town, and they are ready to rock and roll.
The sport of lacrosse is the fastest-growing game on two feet currently throughout the nation.
The Philadelphia Wings are a franchise looking for a fresh new start after moving out to New England back in the fall of 2014. With high expectations for their return back to the Wells Fargo Center, we hope that they don’t disappoint.
The Philadelphia Wings were one of the four original professional teams to play in the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse league back in 1987, when the franchise made their first season debut. The franchise started in Philadelphia play at the Spectrum from 1987 – 1996 before moving to the Wells Fargo Center in 1996.
The franchise came to an end in autumn of 2014 after 28 years of playing in the beautiful city of Philadelphia. Why did it come to end? Simply because the franchise wanted to relocate in order to start making money again. With the rise and fall of all Philly sports teams, it was hard for the Wings to keep up with the others.
I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to players on the men’s lacrosse team at Cabrini University, and get their input about the return of the Wings.
“I went to a couple of games when I was younger, right around the sixth and seventh grade when I really got in to the game. I had a lot of fun, the atmosphere in the arena is also, constantly playing music and getting the crowd involved and keeping them entertained,” Jordan Krug, a senior lacrosse player, said. “I’m pretty excited to have them back in Philly, and hopefully see a couple of games this upcoming season.”
“I’ve heard about the Wings before they moved to New England, I never was able to attend a game before the move due to how far I live from Philly. I’m pretty excited now that I’m so close to Philadelphia, to be able to attain a potential game,” Tommy DeLuca, who is a junior at Cabrini and plays defense for the Cavaliers, said.
“You know, I’m from Maryland and we don’t have an indoor professional lacrosse team and we didn’t have an outdoor professional team. It was hard growing up in the “hot beds” of lacrosse and not being able to go and watch professional athletes play the game I love playing,” Casey Collins, a sophomore lacrosse player, said. “But I know,
being here now at Cabrini, I will definitely have the opportunity to go and see a couple of games this upcoming season hopefully.”
For the Wells Fargo Center, this gives them another chance to have a professional sports team play in their arena and bring in revenue for the complex as a whole. This also will allow them to advertise to a completely other sport, lacrosse, instead of just hockey and basketball.
People are definitely going to be excited that the Wings are back in South Philly again. People are looking forward for the sport of lacrosse to return back to the Wells Fargo Center.
