Could we finally be seeing the end of the Rochester Rattlers?
In another step in what could possibly be the relocation of the Rattlers to Texas, the MLL filed for the "Dallas Rattlers" wordmark with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office last week, which was first reported by Jack Goods of the Buffalo News and College Crosse.
A trademark for the "Dallas Rattlers" was registered last week us the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Bye bye Rochester. #MLL pic.twitter.com/caHmrE4ciK
— Jack Goods (@GoodsOnSports) October 20, 2017
It’s a move that has been rumored for the better part of a year, but one the MLL has not made official up to this point. In addition to the trademarks for the alternate logos that were submitted, Ryan Conwell of Lacrosse All Stars reported that the domain DallasRattlers.com was registered last month. The Dallas Rattlers also had a private Twitter account, which was taken down recently, according to College Crosse.
With the rumors swirling about an impending move to Dallas, MLL Commissioner David Gross reiterated that the league is keeping its options open.
"The potential option of having the Rattlers in Dallas has been openly discussed for a couple of years now,” Gross told Inside Lacrosse. “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."
The Dallas area, and Texas as a whole, is growing in terms of its support for lacrosse. The MLL Championship Game, which was held at the Star in nearby Frisco, boasted 7,543 fans to see the Ohio Machine win it all. The MLL also held its All-Star Game in Houston in 2015.
The Rattlers have been a staple in upper New York since they were founded in 2001. The team dissolved in 2008, but returned two years later when the Chicago Machine made the move to Rochester.
We’ll update this story as more information becomes available.