By David Fink - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sports Writer - 1/5/1990
The Civic Arena Corp. will begin finding out tonight whether the city is bullish on the Bulls.
The Pittsburgh Bulls of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League will make their local debut at 8 p.m., facing the New England Blazers at the Arena in the regular-season opener for both teams.
“We’ve sold about 6,000 tickets so far,” said Tom Rooney, the Arena director and the CAC’s vice president of marketing. “If we hit 8,000, we’ll be very happy.” “Our thinking is that 6,000 is good for right now, but there’s no precedent or pattern here, so it’s hard to tell. We’ve been selling a couple hundred tickets each day this week, and we think that’s good, too.”
What’s not good is the timing for the MILL opener.
“Traditionally, the week after New Year’s is a weak sales time because everybody is partied out and MasterCarded out,” Rooney said. “And, naturally, we’ve been hurt by all the attention focused on the Steelers, even though we understand that and have no problem with it.”
In the MILL’s first three years, attendance at Friday night games was 40 percent less than for Saturday night games. “So for all those reasons,” said Rooney, “this will probably be the softest attendance for us this season.”
The Bulls’ other three home games will be on Saturday nights — Feb. 3 vs. Baltimore, March 3 vs. Philadelphia, and March 17 vs. Detroit.
“We’re hoping to sell an average of between 8,000 and 10,000 tickets, so, obviously, we anticipate the three Saturday games doing much, much better than this one,” said Rooney. “One of the interesting things will be to see what the walk-up sale is on game nights. We have no way of telling.”
Rooney has been the prime mover in bring indoor lacrosse to the Arena.
Looking for new ways to fill open dates on the Arena calendar, he gambled on a postseason exhibition last April 22 between New England and Detroit. The attendance was almost 9,000, so Rooney pushed for a MILL team when an expansion franchise became available.
Single game tickets are $15, $12.50 and $10, season tickets $50 and $40. Rooney said “a couple hundred” season tickets had been sold, but he would not reveal the exact number.
“But I think that with only four home games, the public will treat this like they would a rock ‘n’ roll concert. It’ll be four separate events in their minds.”
NOTES — The Bulls’ Ernest Lichtfuss, 37, is believed to be the oldest rookie in sports right now….
James Beardmore is due to start in goal against New England. He is part of one of the Bulls’ two brother acts. His brother Steve Beardmore, a forward, is not expected to play tonight.
The other brother combination is Mark and Joe Gold, a pair of forwards who will be in the lineup. …
The Bulls’ colors are — surprise, surprise — black and gold, and Butch Marino, expected to be one of the team’s top scorers, will wear No. 66 just like another high-scoring forward who plays at the Arena.
INDOOR LACROSSE FACTS & FIGURES The Major Indoor Lacrosse League consists of six teams — the Pittsburgh Bulls, Philadelphia Wings, New England Blazers, Detroit Turbos, Baltimore Thunder, New York Saints. Each team plays eight games, four at home and four on road, with all games scheduled Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
The league is 4 years old; Philadelphia is the defending champion. The Bulls were formed as an expansion team after Washington merged with Baltimore.
An indoor lacrosse team is made up of one goalie and five forwards, with forwards rotating in shifts much like hockey. Each team can dress 18 players (16 forwards, two goaltenders). All sticks must be 40-46 inches long, but goalies’ sticks have a wider mouth. The goal is 4 feet by 4 feet; the crease in front of it is 9 feet in diameter; and no offensive player is allowed in the crease.
The artificial surface used at the Civic Arena will be the same one used by the defunct Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League. All MILL surfaces are approximately the same size as hockey rinks, most running 200 feet by 85 feet.
Boards around it must be at least 3-feet high. Games are divided into four 15-minute periods, with each team permitted two timeouts per half.
There is a 45-second shot clock, and tie games are decided in sudden-death overtime. There are two-minute penalties and five-minute penalties, as in hockey.
Players may come out of the penalty box if a goal is scored before the two-minute penalties are finished or, in the case of the five-minute penalties, if two goals are scored before the first three minutes expire.
No team may be down more than two players and, if a third penalty is called, the unpenalized team is awarded a penalty shot.
