By Steven Goff,June 15, 1989 - Washington Post
The Wave, Washington’s entry in the 3-year-old Major Indoor Lacrosse League, has folded and will be replaced by a Pittsburgh franchise. Attendance at Capital Centre averaged about 7,600 over three years, but one of the league’s six teams is in Baltimore, and MILL officials decided to concentrate their area efforts on that franchise. “No other professional sports league maintains franchises in both the Baltimore and Washington markets,” league co-owner Russ Cline said.
“We feel we can capitalize on the support in the area by consolidating the franchises. It is a positive move for the league.” Another reason for the decision to keep the Baltimore Thunder instead of the Wave was the availability of Baltimore Arena, which is the home of the Baltimore Skipjacks, a minor league hockey team. Capital Centre has the NBA’s Washington Bullets and the NHL’s Washington Capitals as higher priorities.
In each of the first two years of the league’s existence, the Wave lost in the title game, but it won only one of eight games last winter. Other teams in the league are the New York Saints, Philadelphia Wings, Detroit Turbos and New England Blazers. Pittsburgh’s franchise will be called the Bulls and will play home games at the Civic Center. The Wings are the league’s most solid club, having drawn an average of 14,000 fans at the Spectrum. The Turbos, consisting of many players from Canada, where the sport is very popular, and the Blazers joined the league last year. Many of the Wave’s players who live in the Baltimore-Annapolis area are expected to join the Thunder. Among them are Joe and Mark Gold, two of the league’s best scorers. Goalkeeper Tim Hastings said he hoped to join the Bulls.
odd was that the wave outdrew the thunder. kinda wonder if we would had done better if we moved the thunder to pittsburgh instead.