MLL - 2006 New Balance Championship Weekend in Los Angeles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Shaun May
Major League Lacrosse
Office: (617) 746-9980
Mobile: (240) 676-4607
smay@majorleaguelacrosse.com

2006 New Balance Championship Weekend in Los Angeles
Semifinals Set for August 25, Championship Game August 27 at Home Depot Center

BOSTON (February 15, 2006) – Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the premier professional outdoor lacrosse league, announced today that the 2006 New Balance Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend will take place at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles on Aug. 25 and 27, according to MLL Commissioner David Gross. The semifinal games will be held at 5:30 p.m. PT and 8 p.m. PT on Friday, Aug. 25. The two semifinal winners will advance to the New Balance Championship Game on Sunday, Aug. 27. The Championship Game will air live on ESPN2 at a to be determined time. The Los Angeles Riptide, one of MLL’s four expansion franchises, begin play in the 2006 season.
“Lacrosse was born to be played in Los Angeles and the combination of world class athletes, weather and stars make L.A. the perfect home for our first post expansion New Balance Championship Weekend,” said MLL Founder Jake Steinfeld, CEO of Body by Jake Global. “We look forward to partnering with Tim Leiweke, Shawn Hunter and AEG, the preeminent leader in sports and entertainment to provide an amazing experience for all MLL fans. I know if you weren’t an MLL fan before this weekend, you absolutely will be after this awesome weekend.”
Tickets for both days of New Balance Championship Weekend are already on sale. Prices range from $15-$75 per day, with discounts available for youths and groups of 20 or more. For more information, contact the Riptide ticket office at 1-866-4-LAX-TIX.
The playoff berth format will differ in 2006 with the newly formed expansion Western Conference. The winners of each conference, Eastern and Western, advance to New Balance Championship Weekend. Two wild card spots are awarded to the two teams with the next best regular season records, regardless of conference. The conference winner with the better record plays the wild card team with the lesser record in one semifinal game, with the remaining conference winner and wild card team facing off in the other semifinal.
The Baltimore Bayhawks, Boston Cannons, Long Island Lizards and Rochester Rattlers advanced to last year’s New Balance MLL Championship Weekend. The Bayhawks won their second MLL title, beating the Lizards by 15-9 in the New Balance Championship Game. Baltimore player-coach Gary Gait was named the game’s Bud Light MVP, scoring six goals. Bayhawks midfielder Paul Cantabene won 20 of 26 face-offs helping Baltimore secure the win. The Bayhawks and Lizards have appeared in four of the five MLL New Balance Championship Games, with each team winning twice. Philadelphia and Boston played in the 2004 New Balance Championship Game, with the Barrage prevailing 13-11. Baltimore and Boston are the only two teams to appear in the playoffs in each of the MLL’s first five seasons. Long Island has appeared four times, Rochester three, New Jersey twice and Philadelphia once.
As an anchor level corporate sponsor of Major League Lacrosse, New Balance is the “Official Footwear and Sideline Apparel of Major League Lacrosse.” The New Balance logo also appears on the Boston Cannons team uniform. The Warrior Burn lacrosse shoe by New Balance debuted in February 2004. Designed and tested by members of the Warrior Lacrosse Players Club Team, the Burn is the world’s first lacrosse shoe developed by the world’s best players.
About New Balance
New Balance, headquartered in Boston, Mass., is a leading manufacturer of technologically innovative width-sized performance footwear and athletic apparel for women, men, and children. The range of product categories includes running, walking, cross training, basketball, tennis, adventure, and kids. Dunham joined the New Balance family in Fall 1998. Dunham is an outdoor performance brand known for its technologies, innovations and development of footwear that is lightweight, comfortable and inspired by the world outside. New Balance acquired the rights to the PF Flyers brand in February 2000. First introduced in 1937 by the B.F. Goodrich Company, PF Flyers was re-launched in Spring 2003 as an authentic brand of active casual footwear. Aravon® comfort performance brand footwear debuted in January 2004 as an unsurpassed blend of fit, comfort, support and style. In early 2004, New Balance acquired Warrior Lacrosse, widely recognized as the world’s most cutting edge manufacturer of lacrosse equipment. Innovative Hockey was acquired in 2005 to operate as a new division called Warrior Hockey. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. employs more than 2,800 people around the globe, and in 2005 reported worldwide sales of $1.54 billion. For more information please visit http://www.newbalance.com.
About Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse, a ten-team professional outdoor lacrosse league, was founded in 1999 by fitness entrepreneur Jake Steinfeld, CEO of Body by Jake Global L.L.C., and founding partners Dave Morrow, a former champion lacrosse player and now CEO of Warrior Lacrosse, a leading global provider of innovative and high performance lacrosse equipment; and Timothy B. Robertson, former CEO of The Family Channel and the current chairman of Bay Shore Enterprises, L.L.C., an investment holding company with activities in international media and Internet technology ventures. The MLL commenced play in June of 2001. The MLL is comprised of two conferences. The Eastern Conference contains the original six teams, Baltimore, Boston, Long Island, (Montclair) New Jersey, Philadelphia and Rochester. The Western Conference debuts in the 2006 season with MLL expansion franchises Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Additional league information can be found at www.majorleaguelacrosse.com.
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