How The New York Riptide And The National Lacrosse League Have Maintained A Presence While Being Shut Down

When the New York Riptide take the field for their next home game in December, they will be the … [+] Nassau Coliseum’s primary tenant. By then, the New York Islanders will have moved nine miles west to the UBS Arena.

New York Riptide

When the New York Riptide finally take the field sometime in early December for their first home game since March 2020, Rich Lisk knows he will be feeling plenty of emotions. That moment will be the culmination of approximately 21 months of sorrow and frustration followed by optimism and a lot of hard work. 

“It will be really, really special,” said Lisk, the executive vice president of GF Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Riptide, an indoor lacrosse team which by then will be the primary tenant of Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.  

Lisk added, “I’ll want everyone (on the staff) to understand how special it will be and to feel it too.” 

Just getting to that point is an occasion that could be celebrated with say, champagne, although Lisk might more fittingly decide to mark the milestone with a small swig of beer.  

Namely, a little Riptide Double India Pale Ale, a joint venture between the team and the Westhampton Beach Brewing Company. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which raises money and awareness for those affected by cystic fibrosis. 

That brew is merely one of the many ways in which Lisk and the Riptide are trying to maintain interest in a team—and a league, the National Lacrosse League—which will go for nearly two years without playing a game. 

“My goal,” Lisk said, “wasn’t to have the last thing people remembered about the Riptide was us being a 1-12 team.” 

That hasn’t been easy, considering that the Riptide, and the rest of the teams in the NLL, haven’t taken the field since the coronavirus pandemic shut down them and the rest of the sports world in March 2020. 

Thus, toward that end, the Riptide have made sure to maintain a presence on Long Island throughout all that down time. That initiative has included Tide Talks, Zoom sessions which function as virtual round tables for season-ticket holders. In fact, they introduced the beer on a recent Zoom session, which included Lisk and Gunnar Esiason, Boomer’s son, who has CF.    

Their efforts have mirrored those of the NLL itself, whose website has such features as its own regular podcast and “35 Moments,” a weekly feature which looks at some of the most important games, highlights, performances and milestones in league history. 

Despite the hiatus forced upon the NLL, the league is bullish on its future. That’s one reason the league, which has been in existence since 1987, recently added a 14th franchise, the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club, which will play in Fort Worth, Tex. 

For a specialized sport such as indoor, or as it also is called, box lacrosse, the COVID shutdown presented an even bigger problem than it did for larger sports leagues which derive plenty of their revenue from television contracts. Not only would it not be feasible for the NLL to play because of the lack of in-person crowds, but there was another factor, as NLL deputy commissioner Jessica Berman noted. 

“About 70% of our players live in Canada,” she said, “and so the border situation (because of COVID) meant the prospect of playing in the short–term was really challenging, whether we were looking at our traditional (scheduling) model or a bubble.” 

Thus, as Lisk himself said, “How do I keep this team relevant for 19 to 20 months?” 

Their podcast, The Current, has provided one answer, with famous guests who all have a connection to the sport. Those guests have included ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, legendary soccer coach Bruce Arena, MLS star Tim Parker, actor Peter Dante and Reverend Edward Corley of Mount Olive Baptist Church, who played outdoor lacrosse in the 1950s at nearby Manhasset (N.Y.) High School on the same team as the legendary Jim Brown. 

As for the league, Berman pointed to its digital channel, which has allowed the league to continue to “grow our engagement and followers even without playing games. … We’re thankful for those opportunities, despite the fact that our primary business absolutely is playing live events in front of live fans.” The NLL also has its own podcast, called Hot Mics.

The Riptide-oriented craft beer came about after the team had honored Westhampton Beach Brewing Company CEO Brian Sckipp as a “Hometown Hero” at a game during the 2019-20 season and Lisk found out that Sckipp was a “big lacrosse guy.” 

Lisk said the original plan had been to launch Riptide Double India Pale Ale in March 2020, but, of course, COVID intervened. Instead, it finally rolled out in April.  Lisk said when the team’s schedule is finalized in September, a home game will be designated as a cystic fibrosis night with the partial proceeds going to the foundation. Esiason already has mentioned the beer on his WFAN radio show. Sales have been brisk, with demand necessitating a second batch be brewed for shipping. 

Lisk also created the Riptide Training Academy, in which Riptide players conducted instructional camps for area youngsters last year. Lisk said the team hosted 75 kids for the first one last summer and plans on doing more this year. 

“I think it’s great to get out there in the grassroots,” team captain Dan MacRae said. “That’s really how you grow a fan base. Rich has really been trying to do that, even though it’s not ideal timing.” 

New York Riptide defenseman Dan MacRae was selected in the expansion draft from the Calgary … [+] Roughnecks before the 2019-20 season, and had chosen to stay because he likes the direction in which the franchise is going.

New York Riptide

Lisk’s marketing plan emphasizes the fact that once the New York Islanders finish their season—they are in the second round of the NHL playoffs—the Riptide will become the main tenant of Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders are moving to the UBS Arena in Elmont, nine miles west of Uniondale, in the fall of 2021. 

“We’re going to be here,” Lisk said. “We’re not going anywhere. This is our place. This is our home.” 

Lisk said he has told players, “Even though you live in Canada, you need to understand this marketplace. You need to want to be here. I preach this and I will live by this. I don’t need lacrosse players. I need New York Riptide players. And if you can’t agree to that, there’s 13 other teams you can go to. I’m fine with that.” 

At this point, the Riptide have 35 players under contract for the fall 2021 training camp. During the NLL season, in which 18 games normally are played in a span of 22 weeks, 20 players are on the active roster, with four on the practice roster. 

“The average salary in our league is about $20,000,” Lisk said. “When I say it’s for the love of the game, it truly is.”  

Neither the Riptide nor the NLL itself had to lay off or terminate any personnel because of the missed season. Berman said the “lean infrastructure” which always has been a part of the NLL enabled it to continue to do business without firing any staff. 

Berman had worked on a bubble concept during the fall of 2020, but it ultimately proved unworkable. 

“The bubble was something we were talking about but the bubble became impossible to do because the borders aren’t open” with Canada, Berman said. “It just made sense for us to push the season back.” 

Berman recalled that “the hardest time was the mid-fall.”  Around that time, Berman and the league had been working on that bubble, with a planned location in Hamilton, Ontario, for a winter season. 

But “reality sort of set in around Thanksgiving,” Berman said. “I think that was a big disappointment for us, for me personally, when we had to recalibrate” toward 2021-22. “I had invested three months of my life,” she said, on the plan. 

But now, Berman said, ““I feel like we’ve turned a corner recently, emotionally,” she said, “because there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. … Our spirits are high. We’re all focused on next season. 

“All things considered,” she added, “I’m really proud of our league and our commissioner in how we’ve led our league through this and I’m looking forward to coming back strong.” 

And she said some of the bubble concepts have been repurposed, such as “enhancements for the experience for the at-home viewer,” including second-screen options, as well as integrating sports betting into the broadcast. 

Berman said, “that’s the silver lining of having done that work.” 

The NLL is very optimistic about its financial health. Berman cited the fact that 80% of the season-ticket holders for NLL teams chose to roll over their payments for unused tickets for games that weren’t played toward the 2021-22 season, rather than requesting refunds.  

Also, Berman said through a survey, “we learned that 58% of the fans say the NLL team is their favorite sports team, which is a really good indicator of how engaged and supportive our fan base is.” 

The league’s relationship with the Riptide is a crucial one. 

“Having a professional team there obviously is critically important to us,” Berman said. “From a business perspective, having a team in the New York metropolitan area is hugely important because media partners and sponsors, many of whom are based in New York City, are able to observe and learn about the NLL through the performance of the Riptide.  

“We work very closely with the Riptide to use their game experience,” she added, “to expose potential partners or investors, expansion owners, etc. to the NLL and to box lacrosse.” 

MacRae was exposed to it at an early age, growing up in Oakville, Ontario. The indoor version is more popular in Canada than in the U.S., and thus the 11-year NLL veteran has been playing both indoor and outdoor for a long time. The defenseman came to the Riptide from the Calgary Roughnecks in the expansion draft for the 2019-20 season and could have elected free agency, but liked what Lisk was building. 

“I’m excited to turn our team into a successful sports team in that area,” MacRae said, “because I think it will catch on like absolute wildfire because of all of (Long Island’s) ties to the sport historically.” 

MacRae, who lives in southern Ontario and whose 9-to-5 job is in sales and account management for a global staffing agency, says, “Guys leave their families and their jobs on Friday afternoons to go play a sport that they love. It’s not for a lot of money. It’s for pride and for the passion and the love of the game. 

“What I miss the most,” he added, “is being in that locker-room environment and sacrificing for the good of the team. … You have this other life away from sitting behind a desk.” 

Eventually he will be out from behind that desk and on the field for that long-awaited home opener. 

“People say take a minute to breathe it in because it goes so quick,” Lisk said. “I guarantee you personally, for me and my staff, I’m going to make them all take a minute to breathe it in.” 

And savor it.