UPDATE: MLL Commissioner David Gross provided a statement to College Crosse regarding the situation:
“The potential option of having the Rattlers in Dallas has been openly discussed for a couple of years now,” Gross stated. “As with keeping all potential options open we filed for a trademark, have obtained a domain name and social media handles. This is not the first time the league has done this as a way to keep our potential options from being encumbered.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
It appears the end of the second era of the Rochester Rattlers is over.
As first discovered by Jack Goods this afternoon, Major League Lacrosse has registered a trademark for the use of “Dallas Rattlers” last week.
When searching for “Dallas Rattlers” on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, there are six results that are all live.
All of the results refer to lacrosse and were submitted by Major League Lacrosse.
I said “had” because right before publishing, the account was taken down. It was set up back in June.
Back in August, I initially reported a couple of sources told me the Rattlers were indeed moving to Dallas in 2018. MLL Commissioner David Gross, who’s currently still the commissioner, told me the information I had was incorrect “at this time.”
At the end of the season, the Rattlers pretty much said thank you and good bye to their Rochester fans with this post. It sounded like the team would not be in the area for 2018.
Also at the end of the season, when the team held their end of year meeting, the logo at the top of a letter players received read “Dallas Rattlers” instead of “Rochester Rattlers.” This may have been planned out for quite some time.
It’s another blow to lacrosse in the Rochester area and for Central New [lacrosse]. Will pro field lacrosse return to the area? The Rochester Knighthawks appear to stay in the area for a long time, which is a positive for lacrosse fans in the area.
This is great for the growth of the sport in the Texas area. The MLL Championship game was held inside The Star in Frisco back in August, with 7,543 fans attending the game. Now the question is can it sustain a stable fan base.
If we get more info, we will pass it along.
