Ottawa Black Bears to join National Lacrosse League next season

Ottawa will have a professional lacrosse team again later this year.

The National Lacrosse League (NLL), which plays indoor box lacrosse, announced Wednesday that the New York Riptide will move to the nation’s capital after the current season.

The team will soon get a new name and logo: the Ottawa Black Bears.

GF Sports and Entertainment will retain ownership, the league said in a press release, and the Black Bears will play at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“We chose Ottawa for several reasons, including the strength of the Senators Sports & Entertainment brand, the demand for and rapid growth of box lacrosse in the region and the fantastic arena,” said Erik Baker, a member of the ownership team, in the release.

“The Ottawa Black Bears (name) … reflect not only the characteristics of the region, but also the values ​​of this community and our franchise. We will be a dedicated team that is tireless, proud, passionate and determined.”

The Black Bears’ first home game is expected to be in December, the league said.

Ottawa had a team decades ago

The Riptide made their NLL debut during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season at New York’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the former home of the New York Islanders.

After the following season was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Riptide failed to make the 2022 and 2023 playoffs. The team is tied at 5-5 this season.

Owner GF Sports & Entertainment also organizes the Dallas Open and Atlanta Open tennis tournaments.

Fans wave towels as the Buffalo Bandits take on the Colorado Mammoth during the first half of Game 2 of the National Lacrosse League Finals in June 2022 in Denver. (David Zalubowski/The Associated Press)

Ottawa briefly had a professional team in the early 2000s when the Ottawa Rebel played in the NLL out of the Canadian Tire Centre until the franchise was suspended in 2003.

The NLL has 15 franchises, including in Halifax, Toronto, Saskatoon, Calgary and Vancouver.

Zed Williams of the Colorado Mammoth, left, shoots past Buffalo Bandit Bryce Sweeting during Game 2 of the National Lacrosse League Finals in May 2023. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/The Associated Press)

Other places nearby include Albany, Buffalo and Rochester.

Those three places, as well as the land not far south of Ottawa, are Haudenosaunee territory. Lacrosse is a core part of their culture, to the point that the Haudenosaunee Nationals have a credible bid to compete as a separate nation in lacrosse at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Anishinaabe also have a long history with the game.