Major League Lacrosse team to play at Ohio Wesleyan

Columbus Business First - by Jeff Bell

Date: Monday, August 15, 2011, 2:12pm EDT

 

Delaware is positioned to become a professional sports town as the city is expected to host a new Major League Lacrosse franchise.

 

The league has scheduled a press conference Tuesday morning at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, with sources telling me the outdoor pro league will announce that the Ohio Machine will play at the school’s 9,100-seat Selby Field next year.

 

Major League Lacrosse said in January it would add franchises in Columbus and Charlotte, N.C., next year, joining teams in Denver, Boston, the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., area, Long Island, N.Y., Rochester, N.Y., and Hamilton, Ontario.

 

Read more at: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/08/major-league-lacrosse-team-to-play-at.html

Major League Lacrosse | Machine will move home games to Ohio Dominican

By Andrew Erickson, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 4:54 AM

 

The Ohio Machine of Major League Lacrosse will announce today that it is moving its home venue from Ohio Wesleyan’s Selby Stadium to Ohio Dominican’s Panther Stadium.  The Machine joined MLL — which will have nine franchises to start the 2016 season in April — as an expansion team in 2011 and played its first four seasons at Selby Stadium in Delaware before planning this move to Columbus in an attempt to boost flagging attendance.

( . . . )

In 2012, the Machine averaged 3,553 fans per home game but drew an average of just 2,730 in 2015, when it finished 9-5 and reached the playoffs. ... Ohio has never finished better than fifth in MLL attendance, falling short of the 2015 league attendance average of 4,384.  The Machine’s vice president of business operations Gregg Klein said the move will help draw more interest from growing club and high-school lacrosse programs in Central Ohio.

 

Capacity for Machine games will drop, but the club is hopeful that will mean more sellouts.  Selby Stadium can hold as many as 9,100 fans, but Panther Stadium seats only 1,750.  With temporary seating added and standing-room only admissions, it is expected to hold close to 3,100 for sellouts.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2015/10/27/machine-will-move-home-games-to-odu.html

 

More about this move from Business First:

 

-- Columbus aiming to be ‘Lacrosse Capital of Ohio’ with lift from Ohio Machine:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/10/28/columbus-aiming-to-be-lacrosse-capital-of-ohio.html

The Ohio Machine will face the Denver Outlaws for the 2016 Major League Lacrosse championship on Saturday:

 

https://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/08/14/major-league-lacrosse-ohio-machine-advances-to-final-behind-grants-6-goals.html

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/08/19/machines-schreiber-is-named-league-mvp.html

The Ohio Machine lost the MLL championship game on a goal with 12.9 seconds remaining:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/08/21/major-league-lacrosse-late-goal-gives-outlaws-championship.html

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/08/22/bear-davis-proud-of-machine-but-loss-smarts.html

The village of Obetz (about 10 miles south of Columbus) announced it is building a 6,500-seat stadium on the site of the former Columbus Motor Speedway.  The Ohio Machine pro lacrosse franchise will be the primary tenant for the new stadium.  The plans are to have the stadium ready for the Ohio Machine's first 2017 home game on May 6.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/11/16/obetz-building-6-500-seat-sports-and-concert-venue.html

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/11/16/Obetz-to-build-6500-seat-stadium-for-pro-sports-teams_.html

 

More details and some renderings for the Ohio Machine's new stadium in Obetz:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/more-details-released-on-new-fortress-field-in-obetz-bw1

 

The Columbus area’s newest sports stadium will host its first game in May of next year, according to new details released today.  The $15 million, 6,500-seat stadium, officially dubbed “Obetz Fortress Field,” will serve as the new home for the Ohio Machine of Major League Lacrosse.

 

Newly-released renderings show a large, castle-like structure – the 18,000 square foot building will serve as the entrance to the stadium in addition to housing the front office operations of the Machine.

 

 

The Ohio Machine began their 2017 season in Atlanta last weekend.  Their first home game in their new stadium in Obetz is scheduled for May 6.  The City of Obetz has a webcam showing the construction progress of this new stadium at http://obetz.oh.us/2016/11/fortress-obetz-progress/:

 

The webcam also has a time-lapse feature which shows the project site from the demolition of the former Columbus Motor Speedway last fall to a screengrab of the stadium construction from this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

The Ohio Machine 2017 home opener and debut of their new location is tonight.  The Dispatch ran a piece about the condensed construction schedule to get it ready for tonight's match and the plans for its future:

 

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Pro lacrosse | Fortress coming to fruition for Machine

By Adam Jardy, The Columbus Dispatch

Updated: May 5, 2017 - 8:47 PM

 

In time, the appearance and amenities of Fortress Field in Obetz will reflect its moniker.  The first U.S. stadium designed with a professional lacrosse team as its primary tenant will have all the trappings, complete with a three-story, castle-like structure leading into the eastward-facing, 6,500-capacity grandstand topped with a press box.

 

The full vision will be realized as the season progresses. ... For now, the basic outline has been laid on the former site of the Columbus Motor Speedway for Saturday’s official unveiling as the Ohio Machine hosts Rochester in its Major League Lacrosse home opener.  The stands are in place, the synthetic turf field and locker rooms have been installed and four light towers loom over the facility.

 

Announced in November, the development of the facility was essentially a two-year project that the Machine has compressed as much as possible into less than six months.  No significant contingency plans were made other than to have the stadium ready for the first game, although team president Ryan Chenault described it as a “soft opening.” ... Each week going forward will see new sections being completed, and fans that attend the next home game — May 20 against Charlotte — will see a vastly improved experience, Chenault said.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170505/pro-lacrosse--fortress-coming-to-fruition-for-machine

A few photos of the still on-going construction from the Dispatch article and today's webcam at http://obetz.oh.us/2016/11/fortress-obetz-progress/:

 

 

 

The 2017 season was an important one for the Ohio Machine.  It was their first season in their new home stadium of Fortress Obetz.  As was noted in the Dispatch article from May, the team had to rush construction to get the basics of the new facility ready by their home opener on May 6.  Since then, Fortress Obetz construction was finished out over the next few months into July.  Below are some photos of the stadium as it was being finished and after completion in July:

 

June 20, 2017 view of the not-quite-yet completed Fortress Obetz. (This was one of the last construction cam photos before the camera was shut off):

 

 

This is a July aerial view of Fortress Obetz from the stadium facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FortressObetz/.  This aerial image was taken during one of the Ohio Machine games:

 

 

Another July aerial view from the facebook page.  This aerial pulls back to show the full extent of the new Fortress Obetz facility:

In addition to getting a new stadium in 2017, the Ohio Machine are also making a return trip to the MLL Championship Game.  The Ohio Machine face the Denver Outlaws in a rematch of last season's championship game.  Last season's game saw Denver win on a last second goal.

 

Tonight's MLL Championship Game will be held at 7PM in the Ford Center at Frisco, Texas and will be televised on CBSSN:

 

https://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/

 

http://champ.majorleaguelacrosse.com/2017-mll-championship-game

 

http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170818/pro-lacrosse--ohio-machine-gets-chance-to-avenge-title-game-loss

The Ohio Machine avenged last season's championship game loss to the Denver Outlaws with a 17-12 victory over the same team in last night's 2017 MLL Championship Game.

 

This is the first-ever Major League Lacrosse Championship for the Ohio Machine in the franchise's sixth season in the league:

 

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http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170819/machine-17-outlaws-12--late-surge-delivers-league-title

 

https://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/articles/ohio-machine-earn-2017-mll-championship-with-17-12-win

Ohio named lacrosse 'hotbed' after magical runs by Buckeyes, Ohio Machine in 2017

 

 

A magical run by Ohio State University's men's lacrosse team and a championship by the Ohio Machine propelled the state into a "hotbed" for the sport in 2017, according to a magazine.

 

USLacrosse Magazine recently featured all the positive things happening for lacrosse in Ohio, including the opening of Fortress Field in Obetz, the nation’s first professional lacrosse-focused stadium. It's the home of the Machine, which won the Major League Lacrosse championship over the summer.

 

Columbus, for several years, has been interested in boosting its standing in the lacrosse community.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/12/19/ohio-named-lacrosse-hotbed-after-magical-runs-by.html

Ohio Machine touts fan-friendly amenities to boost attendance at Fortress Obetz

 

Ohio Machine lacrosse is looking to compete against Columbus Crew SC, Columbus Blue Jackets and Columbus Clippers by selling the point that it's different from the rest of the professional sports teams in town.

 

For example, Ohio Machine games offer food trucks rather than concession stands and an end-zone beer garden. And the team recently shifted the field 10 yards closer to the stands to provide a better view of the action.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/03/14/ohio-machine-lacrosse-looking-to-prove-itself.html

Ohio Machine folds as Major League Lacrosse contracts nationwide

 

Major League Lacrosse is shrinking from nine teams to six for the coming 2019 season, the league announced Monday, and the Ohio Machine will not be one of the teams continuing on.

 

In a statement, the Columbus team said it is not scheduled to compete this season and that business partners and ticket purchasers for the 2019 season will be contacted for a refund.

 

"This announcement comes as a terrible surprise to all of us at the Machine," the team said in its statement. "We share in the incredible disappointment in this upsetting news with all those that have supported us over the years. As shocking as this news is, it should not be seen as a reflection of the tremendous success that the Machine, and the game of lacrosse in Ohio, has experienced in recent years."

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/04/01/ohio-machine-folds-as-major-league-lacrosse.html