Just as momentum began building around the National Lacrosse League, about 300 players learned they would be unemployed for the 2008 season.
The indoor lacrosse league, which used to include the Baltimore Thunder, announced Tuesday it cancelled the 2008 season after owners and players could not reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.
“It sucks, flat out,” former Johns Hopkins defender and current TowsonUniversity assistant coach Shawn Nadelan said. “It?s frustrating because I think the indoor league was getting to a point where it was solid. It had a fan base and it was doing some things to grow the sport of lacrosse in the U.S.”
Nadelan, 28, is one of nine players with local ties on the Philadelphia Wings? roster. He?s a veteran of the 14-team league, which includes 24 players who played college or high school lacrosse in Maryland.
“The first or second-year guys are hurt tremendously,” Nadelan said. “They look forward to that NLL check to help get through rent or car payments when they just graduated college and are trying to get their feet set.”
Salaries in the league range from about $7,000 to $40,000.
Villa Julie coach Paul Cantabene played in the league for 11 seasons and remembers when times weren?t as prosperous for players.
“They make decent money compared to the $125 I used to make,” Cantabene said. “Being on the players side, I know they have some issues they need to work out.”
The professional game has become year-round, with the NLL filling the winter void before Major League Lacrosse starts its outdoor league in the spring and runs until autumn. Despite being a lacrosse hotbed, Baltimore is no longer a stop on either league?s schedule, as the MLL?s Baltimore Bayhawks left for Washington before last season.
Cantabene said it is imperative the NLL, which had teams from Boston to San Jose, Calif., and from New York City to Edmonton, Canada, is successful for the sport to grow.
“I think it?s pretty important, because it keeps lacrosse on the table year round,” Cantabene said. “Hopefully, it works out because lacrosse is growing.”
