The NLL Lost Two Teams. What Comes Next?

Ottawa and Philadelphia are gone, Edmonton is knocking on the door, and the National Lacrosse League must decide whether its next move should be expansion—or stability.

The National Lacrosse League entered this week preparing to celebrate its 40th anniversary season with 14 teams.

It will instead begin the 2026–27 campaign with 12.

The Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings have officially discontinued operations and will not participate next season. Their players will enter a combined dispersal process, leaving the remaining clubs to absorb two rosters only weeks before the NLL Entry Draft.

It is an especially difficult outcome for two markets the league still describes as important.

Philadelphia is one of the most recognizable cities in the history of professional box lacrosse. Ottawa, meanwhile, barely had an opportunity to establish itself after the former New York Riptide relocated there in 2024.

Now both are gone.

The immediate temptation will be to begin discussing replacements. Edmonton has already hosted an NLL showcase. Quebec City, Montreal and Winnipeg remain intriguing Canadian possibilities. Several large American markets are represented in the league’s grassroots development program.

But after losing three active franchises in a little more than two years including Panther City in 2024, the first question should not be where the NLL expands.

It should be whether the league should expand at all.

A 12-Team NLL Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing

Contraction is never something a professional league wants to announce, but operating with 12 teams may give the NLL something it needs more than another new market: stability.

The league says more than one million fans attended games for a fourth consecutive season in 2025–26. That is meaningful evidence that professional box lacrosse has a committed audience.

However, league-wide attendance does not guarantee that every individual franchise has a sustainable business.

In announcing the loss of Ottawa and Philadelphia, the NLL identified committed ownership, venue and lease conditions, local infrastructure, operational capabilities and continued investment in the fan experience as central elements of franchise sustainability.

Those criteria should now become the foundation of the league’s strategy.

The NLL does not need to return to 14 teams simply because it had 14 teams last season. A compact league filled with properly financed and competently operated clubs is healthier than a larger league that continually relocates or discontinues franchises.

Twelve teams also produce a strong concentration of talent. The dispersal draft will place established NLL players onto already competitive rosters, potentially improving the quality of play throughout the league.

For at least the next two seasons, 12 may be the correct number.

Edmonton Deserves Another Look

If the league eventually determines that it is ready to grow again, Edmonton should be near the front of the line.

The city previously hosted the Edmonton Rush from 2006 through 2015. The Rush won the NLL championship in their final season in Alberta before relocating to Saskatoon and becoming the Saskatchewan Rush.

The original Edmonton franchise was not an outright failure at the gate. The Rush reportedly averaged 6,578 spectators during their final season at Rexall Place. After moving to Saskatoon, that number rose to more than 11,000 during the franchise’s first season in Saskatchewan.

That difference illustrates both Edmonton’s potential and its warning signs.

A new Edmonton team could not simply revive an old name, place games inside Rogers Place and expect nostalgia to carry the business. It would require a committed local ownership group, a workable arena agreement and a year-round effort to connect the franchise with Alberta’s lacrosse community.

There is evidence that the market remains on the league’s radar.

In January 2026, Rogers Place hosted an NLL UnBOXed Series game between the Calgary Roughnecks and Georgia Swarm. The showcase marked the league’s return to Edmonton more than a decade after the Rush departed.

Edmonton is also one of the Canadian communities included in the NLL’s broader UnBOXed grassroots initiative, alongside Quebec City and London, Ontario.

The pieces are visible: a modern major-league arena, an established history with the sport, a natural rivalry with Calgary and a large regional base from which to draw supporters.

The missing piece is ownership.

That should be non-negotiable. Edmonton should only receive another team if a properly capitalized group can demonstrate that it has the patience and resources to build the market over several seasons.

If that group exists, Edmonton may be the most logical Canadian expansion option available.

What Other Cities Could Work?

Edmonton is not the league’s only possibility.

Quebec City

Quebec City has the cultural ingredients to become an excellent box-lacrosse market. The city has a strong appetite for live sports, a modern arena and a natural identity distinct from Toronto and the rest of English Canada.

The NLL has already included Quebec City in its grassroots strategy. That makes it an attractive market to continue testing through youth programming, preseason events or an UnBOXed regular-season showcase before committing to a permanent team.

The primary questions would be ownership, arena economics and whether the franchise could build the local infrastructure necessary to operate successfully in French.

Montreal

Montreal offers a substantially larger population and commercial market. The NLL returned to the area with a 2024 UnBOXed game at Place Bell in Laval, its first regular-season game in Quebec since 2002.

But a large population does not automatically create a viable NLL franchise.

Montreal contains enormous potential, but it also has a crowded sports and entertainment market. Any ownership group would need to give the team a distinct French-Canadian identity and avoid treating it as a minor event buried beneath the Canadiens.

Quebec City may offer a smaller market with a clearer path to becoming one of the city’s primary winter teams.

Winnipeg

Winnipeg fits the profile of a Canadian prairie market that understands winter sports and supports teams that establish a genuine local identity.

It would also create useful geographic connections with Saskatchewan, Calgary and a potential Edmonton franchise.

The challenge is finding the right venue arrangement and determining whether another winter property can earn sufficient attention alongside the Jets and Manitoba Moose. Winnipeg should remain under consideration, but the business plan would matter considerably more than the size of the market.

Select American Markets

The NLL’s UnBOXed program has established a presence in markets including Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Nashville, Portland and Providence. That initiative gives the league a way to develop recognition and participation without immediately placing a professional franchise in each city.

That is exactly how these markets should be approached.

The NLL should resist awarding teams based primarily on population or television-market rankings. Philadelphia and the New York-to-Ottawa franchise have demonstrated that being located in a large market does not eliminate problems involving ownership, venues, awareness and local investment.

The best future NLL city may not be the largest available city. It may be the one with the strongest ownership group and the most manageable arena.

Saskatoon has already shown what that model can accomplish.

What Should the NLL Do Next?

The league should remain at 12 teams through at least the 2027–28 season.

During that period, it should concentrate on strengthening the remaining franchises, improving local marketing and examining the conditions that led to three teams disappearing in such a short span.

At the same time, it can continue using UnBOXed games and grassroots programs to evaluate Edmonton, Quebec City, Montreal, Winnipeg and selected American cities.

Expansion should resume only when a prospective franchise meets several clear conditions:

• A committed and adequately financed ownership group
• A sustainable arena lease
• Experienced local business and ticketing operations
• A multiyear marketing plan
• Meaningful connections with minor and amateur lacrosse
• Enough capital to withstand difficult early seasons

If Edmonton can satisfy those requirements, it deserves another chance.

The city has history, a ready-made rival in Calgary and recent evidence that the league sees value in returning. But Edmonton should not receive a franchise because the NLL suddenly has two openings. It should receive one only if it presents an operation capable of surviving for the long term.

That distinction must guide every decision the league makes from here.

Ottawa and Philadelphia are not merely two empty spots on a map. They are reminders that expansion announcements mean little without sustainable organizations behind them.

The NLL’s next era should not be defined by how quickly it returns to 14 teams.

It should be defined by whether the 12 teams it has today and whichever cities eventually join them, are still playing a decade from now.