Stadium Journey's National Lacrosse League Arena Rankings 2026
- Dave Cottenie
- 4 hours ago
- 8 min read
The 2026 season marks 40 years since the founding of Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, which would eventually become the National Lacrosse League. The league welcomed the Oshawa FireWolves for their first season after moving from Albany. Partway through the season the league received word that the ownership of the Philadelphia Wings would not continue to operate the franchise after the 2026 season. At the time of writing, no alternative location for the Wings had been revealed and it is possible the franchise will just be folded.
Keegan Bal of the Vancouver Warriors led the league with 124 points while Tanner Cook of the Calgary Roughnecks led the league with 49 goals. Brett Dobson of the Georgia Swarm was the top goaltender with a 7.86 GAA and an 85% save percentage. Dobson brought home the awards for both Goaltender of the Year and NLL MVP.
The Vancouver Warriors ended the regular season in first place with 13 wins. However, the Toronto Rock defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds two games to none to take home their 7th NLL Championship. Sam English of the Rock was named NLL Playoff MVP. The Rock are now tied with the Buffalo Bandits for most NLL Championships.
Stadium Journey was in the front row this lacrosse season with updated reviews in Calgary and the newly renovated arena for the Rock. Brand new reviews were produced for Oshawa and Vancouver.
The annual NLL rankings at Stadium Journey are based on the FANFARE metric used on the website, where a number of different writers assess the hockey experience based on the categories of Food, Atmosphere, Neighborhood, Fans, Access, Return on Investment and any extras that the writers experienced. The stakes are high, with an average grading of 3.63 being earned out of a possible perfect 5.0.
Without further ado, Stadium Journey is proud to present the 2026 Rankings of the National Lacrosse League Experiences.
14. Lee’s Family Forum - Las Vegas Desert Dogs - NR
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Dave Cottenie - After being the final event in the venerable Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Rock moved south to join the Leafs and Raptors at what was then known as the Air Canada Centre. The Rock enjoyed great success in Downtown Toronto, but decided to make the move west, back to Hamilton in 2021. While maintaining the Toronto Rock brand, the team, under the ownership of Jamie Dawick, helped push the FirstOntario Centre to a much-needed renovation. After a year in Mississauga during construction, the Rock have returned to the newly christened TD Coliseum and are optimistic about the future in the Hammer. TD Coliseum opened in 1985 as Copps Coliseum to attract an NHL expansion franchise in the forefront. The shock of Ottawa gaining the Senators at the detriment of Hamilton still has not fully healed. The Coliseum has been home to a host of AHL franchises and the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. In 2024, the City of Hamilton began a $300 million renovation on what would become TD Coliseum.
Meg Minard - The Mammoth put on a good show; it is all very well coordinated. The introduction includes motorcycles on the court and smoke and fire when the Mammoth players are announced. The young, pretty, athletic Wild Bunch dancers entertain the crowd during breaks in the game. And, a half time show includes various entertainment acts.
Dave Cottenie - It was a somewhat surprising announcement that saw the rebirth of box lacrosse in Ottawa. GF Sports, the New York-based owner of the New York Riptide, announced the relocation of the National Lacrosse League franchise to the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. The circumstances surrounding the move were a little bit hazy, however, it is believed that the Riptide were evicted from their home, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, due to low attendance. The return of lacrosse to the Capital Region is a welcome one. The NLL left Ottawa as the Ottawa Rebel struggled at the gate, playing from 2001 to 2003. The Rebel would move to Edmonton and eventually become the current Saskatchewan Rush.
Dave Cottenie - In 2021, the Toronto Rock moved westward from Toronto to the city of Hamilton. Among the most controversial issues surrounding this move, along with keeping the Toronto brand, was the greater distance that lacrosse fans on the east side of Toronto would now have to travel for the highest level of professional lacrosse. In 2025, a plan to help alleviate this issue was hatched with the relocation of the Albany FireWolves to Oshawa. Oshawa is 63 km east of downtown Toronto, about equidistant east of Hamilton is west. The FireWolves franchise lineage dates back to the original Philadelphia Wings, who were an original Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, now the National Lacrosse League, team in 1987. The Wings moved to Connecticut in 2015 to become the New England Black Wolves, and Albany in 2021 to become the FireWolves.
Jim Flannery - Until 2016 the province of Saskatchewan was home to just a single professional sports franchise: the Roughriders, playing in Regina as part of the Canadian Football League. That is no longer the case as the Saskatchewan Rush are now residing in Saskatoon. The Rush had a busy and exciting 2015. In their 10th year of operation in the National Lacrosse League, they won their division for the third straight season, went to the Champion’s Cup for the second time, and won their first championship. A few weeks later, the team announced that they were relocating from Edmonton to Saskatoon. As a result, folks in Saskatoon are not only getting their first pro sports franchise, but they’re getting to see it played at the highest level, with a top-ranked squad coming to town. The Rush now play indoor (aka ‘box’) lacrosse at SaskTel Centre. The arena has undergone a number of renovations, expansions and improvements since it opened its doors in 1988, with seating capacity more than doubled in that time, such that the facility can now hold more than 15,000 people.
Meg Minard - The San Diego Seals are members of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), beginning play in the 2018-2019 season. They have been successful, enjoying winning seasons since their inception. The Seals play their home games at Pechanga Arena in the Midway District of San Diego, CA. Pechanga Arena also hosts the San Diego Gulls (AHL hockey). It is also home to a variety of other entertainment such as concerts, Disney on Ice, Harlem Globetrotters, and more. A busy and popular Kobey’s Swap Meet is held every weekend in the parking lot of the arena. Built in 1966, the arena is set up to be functional, not like the whiz-bang marvels built these days for sports facilities. It serves the Seals well from a fan perspective.
David Welch - Lacrosse has long been popular in the mid-Atlantic, northeastern states, and throughout Canada, but the sport’s popularity in the south has just started to blossom in the last decade. The growth of lacrosse in Georgia has been helped by the addition of the Georgia Swarm of the National Lacrosse League. The NLL is a 14-team indoor lacrosse league with teams throughout the United States and Canada, playing their inaugural season in 1987. Indoor lacrosse is a combination of field lacrosse, played within a hockey rink on sports turf, with the production level of professional basketball.
Greg Johnston - Halifax, Nova Scotia has quickly become an enticing city for attracting professional sports franchises. Curt Styres pursued an opportunity to relocate his National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) franchise. The Halifax Thunderbirds commenced play at Scotiabank Centre in 2019 after twenty-five seasons competing in Rochester, New York. Formally known as the Knighthawks, the team celebrated much success on the field winning five championships (1997, 2007, 2012, 2013 & 2014) and ten division titles. In an unusual turn of events, the Knighthawks are still in existence, but now as an expansion team with new owners, players and logo. The records and championships belong to the Thunderbird franchise.
Dave Cottenie - RIP Philadelphia Wings
Dave Cottenie - The National Lacrosse League has long been known as an everyman league, where the players are generally more accessible than those in other major leagues, and many are actually “weekend warriors” who have regular jobs during the week. In 2018, the Vancouver Stealth were sold to Francesco Aquilini and his Canucks Sports and Entertainment and moved from the Langley Events Centre in Langley, a significant distance from downtown Vancouver, to Rogers Arena. This was a huge moment for the newly minted Vancouver Warriors bringing NLL lacrosse back downtown for the first time since the days of the Vancouver Ravens in 2004. The Warriors franchise was originally the Albany Attack in 2000. The team moved to San Jose in 2004 to become the Stealth and then up to Everett, Washington in 2010. The move was made to Langley in 2014.
Jim Flannery - The Calgary Roughnecks (NLL) are one of the most successful franchises in Calgary sports history. Since they started playing in November, 2001, they have won three championships, in 2004, 2009, and 2019. Needless to say, their standards for performance are high and their fanbase are dedicated and enthusiastic. While the Saddledome was state-of-the-art when it opened for business, it is starting to be a little long in the tooth more than 30 years later. However, a new arena is now under construction just north of the Saddledome. It is slated to open in 2027, so the clock is officially ticking on when the Saddledome will close its doors.
Meg Minard - The Rochester Knighthawks are a member of the NLL (National Lacrosse League), an action-packed game of box lacrosse. This is the second Knighthawk franchise to call the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in Rochester, NY its home. The first was a very successful franchise that operated from 1995 to 2019. Its owner relocated the team to Nova Scotia and rebranded them as the Thunderbirds after the 2019 season. The NLL granted an expansion franchise to Pegula Sports and Entertainment (owners of four other professional sports teams in Western New York) to begin playing the 2019-2020 season. Pegula Sports purchased the Knighthawks name to keep that name and lacrosse in Rochester. The organization hired new players and staff and designed new logos and colors for the new team. All championship records of the former team moved with them to Nova Scotia.
Dave Cottenie - The year was 1992. The Buffalo Bandits were founded in what was then the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. The fledgling league was only five years into their existence and four from being the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League. Of that group of seven teams from the 1992 season, only the Bandits remain, uninterrupted and undeterred. The Bandits even predate the current National Lacrosse League, which is what the MiLL would eventually become. Since then, the Buffalo Bandits have been the crown jewel of the league, which has seen plenty of change, strong years and lean years, and looks currently to be stronger than ever.
