Photo: Prince George Posse / Google
By Arik KrauseEditorEdited by Arik Krause
The Prince George Posse want into the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League. I like what the idea could do for Junior B Tier 1, and I still think the teams are going to vote it down.
My Prince George Now reported that the Posse applied to join Junior B Tier 1, and general manager Jaime Bellamy confirmed the club is scheduled to make its pitch at the RMLL planning meeting on November 14. For Prince George, it’s a shot at a regular league schedule after playing exhibition games in 2026. For the RMLL, it’s a decision about how far it wants to grow and who’s willing to pay for that growth.
The case for: More revenue and another team to beat
Another franchise means another club paying league fees. That alone won’t transform the RMLL’s budget, but if expansion brings in more than it costs to administer, the league has a little more room to invest in things that benefit everyone. Better coverage of the playoffs, support for officials, or a more polished championship weekend are all places I’d rather see that money go.
I also like what another competitive team can do on the floor. If Prince George comes in with a roster capable of taking points off established clubs, those clubs have one more opponent they need to prepare for and one less game they can pencil in as a win. That puts pressure on everyone to recruit better, develop their depth and show up ready to play. The value of expansion is in making the schedule tougher and more interesting for the teams already here.
The case for: Give the RMLL a foothold in B.C.
B.C. is one of Canada’s box lacrosse strongholds, and so much of the attention goes to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Prince George gives the RMLL a chance to build a relationship with a different part of that province. It gives northern B.C. players a regular schedule closer to home on their own floor, and it gives the RMLL a new community that has a reason to follow what happens in the league every weekend.
The RMLL has already shown it can be more than an Alberta league. That’s part of what makes this bid interesting. There’s a difference between saying you want to grow the game across Western Canada and actually giving a team somewhere to play. Prince George is a chance to do the latter.
The case against: Somebody has to pay for the bus
It’s easy to like expansion until you’re the one getting a quote for a charter to Prince George. Diesel is part of it, but so are hotels, meals and the time players and staff need off work. Saskatchewan travel already generates plenty of debate. Asking Alberta clubs to sign up for another long road trip is going to bring those same arguments back, especially for teams that have little room in their budgets.
Cranbrook is a useful comparison, with one important distinction. The RMLL’s planning minutes show its move to Tier 1 was conditionally approved, with a proposed $8,000 contribution to help offset travel costs for South teams. Cranbrook ended up joining the Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League instead. The lesson is that even when the votes were there, the travel bill still needed its own plan.
I’d expect Prince George to face a similar ask. A travel contribution, two-game weekends, or a mix of both could help. Before voting yes, I’d want teams to see a draft schedule and know what a Prince George trip would actually cost them. I’d also want to know the Posse can afford their share beyond year one.
The case against: The Larry Bishop final could lose more of its national stakes
This is my biggest issue with the format today. The Larry Bishop crowns an RMLL champion, but the championship game doesn’t always decide who represents Alberta at the Founders Cup. In 2024, the Mountain View Mavericks earned Alberta’s berth simply by reaching the final. Winnipeg then beat them for the Larry Bishop title. Winnipeg earned its trophy, and the final still mattered. But Alberta’s national spot was already decided before the opening faceoff.
Adding another out-of-province team creates more ways for that to happen if the format stays the same. You could end up with a league final between two teams from outside Alberta while the Alberta berth is decided in a semifinal or by a placement elsewhere in the tournament. There’s nothing wrong with either team earning its way to the final. My issue is that the biggest game on the RMLL calendar can feel like it’s missing one of the biggest things it’s supposed to decide.
Before adding Prince George, I’d want the league to spell out how the Posse would fit into the playoffs and what their path to nationals would look like. If the RMLL wants a championship that spans provincial borders, it may be time to separate that trophy from Alberta’s qualification altogether.
The verdict: I think the vote goes against Prince George
I’d hear the Posse out. There’s a real upside to having a northern B.C. team in the RMLL, and I don’t think the Larry Bishop format is a good enough reason on its own to turn them away. That format deserves a look whether Prince George gets in or not.
But if I’m predicting the vote, I think the application gets denied. Cranbrook’s bid shows how much work it takes to make the travel math acceptable, and I have a hard time seeing enough Alberta clubs commit to Prince George without a concrete plan to share the cost. The Posse can make a good case for why they belong on the floor. The vote will probably come down to whether they can make an equally good case for how everyone gets there.
