Team will relocate to Connecticut
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority continues to diversify its assets with the acquisition of the Philadelphia Wings, a major indoor lacrosse team and one of the nine teams that play in the National Lacrosse League. The team will relocate to the Mohegans base in Uncasville, Connecticut, according to the New London Day.
The Wings are presently headquartered at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. “The financial model in a market with so many sport and entertainment alternatives has proven to be unsustainable,” Michael French, the Wings’ owner and president, said on the team’s website. “Finding a new venue with new strategic partners was the only way to ensure financial stability.”
Mohegan Sun has purchased half of the National Lacrosse League’s former Philadelphia franchise, which will move to Uncasville and begin playing at Mohegan Sun Arena in December, the tribe announced last week. The arena already hosts professional sports in the form of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, which the tribe bought in 2003.
“The Mohegan Tribe is thrilled to be associated with a game with centuries-old roots with the Easter Woodland Indians,” Mohegan tribal Chairman Kevin Brown said in a statement. “By bringing the lacrosse team to our reservation land, we are not only creating a tie with the past, but bringing the game into an exciting future … We are aiming to create a team and community spirit to match what we have been able to achieve with the Connecticut Sun.”
The Wings will be renamed and will play in the nine-team league’s East Division, which includes franchises in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., Minnesota and Toronto. The four teams in the West Division are in Colorado and Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, Canada.
The team’s other principal owners are Brad Brewster and Ted Goldthorpe.
