{"id":108645,"date":"2026-09-11T08:54:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=108645"},"modified":"2026-09-11T08:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:55:02","slug":"nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\/","title":{"rendered":"NLL down to 12 teams after Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings fold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings have discontinued operations, the National Lacrosse League said Thursday. A dispersal draft was scheduled for Tuesday as the league prepared to continue with 12 clubs for the upcoming season. \u201cToday is a difficult day for the National Lacrosse League and most importantly, for the fans, players, employees and partners who have supported the Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings,\u201d NLL commissioner Brett Frood said in a statement. \u201cThese are proud lacrosse markets with passionate communities, and we are grateful to everyone who has invested their time, energy and belief in these clubs. &#8220;As we enter our 40th anniversary season, our responsibility is to provide certainty for our constituents and move forward with 12 active member clubs aligned behind the league\u2019s collective future.\u201d The&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F09%2F11%2Fnll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings have discontinued operations, the National Lacrosse League said Thursday. A dispersal draft was scheduled for Tuesday as the league prepared to continue with 12 clubs for the upcoming season. \u201cToday is a difficult day for the National Lacrosse League and most importantly, for the fans, players, employees and partners who have supported the Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings,\u201d NLL commissioner Brett Frood said in a statement. \u201cThese are proud lacrosse markets with passionate communities, and we are grateful to everyone who has invested their time, energy and belief in these clubs. &#8220;As we enter our 40th anniversary season, our responsibility is to provide certainty for our constituents and move forward with 12 active member clubs aligned behind the league\u2019s collective future.\u201d The... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F09%2F11%2Fnll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NLL down to 12 teams after Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings fold - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NLL down to 12 teams after Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings fold - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings have discontinued operations, the National Lacrosse League said Thursday. A dispersal draft was scheduled for Tuesday as the league prepared to continue with 12 clubs for the upcoming season. \u201cToday is a difficult day for the National Lacrosse League and most importantly, for the fans, players, employees and partners who have supported the Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings,\u201d NLL commissioner Brett Frood said in a statement. \u201cThese are proud lacrosse markets with passionate communities, and we are grateful to everyone who has invested their time, energy and belief in these clubs. &#8220;As we enter our 40th anniversary season, our responsibility is to provide certainty for our constituents and move forward with 12 active member clubs aligned behind the league\u2019s collective future.\u201d The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T12:54:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T12:55:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/11\\\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/11\\\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"NLL down to 12 teams after Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings fold\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T12:54:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-11T12:55:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/11\\\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":338,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/11\\\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/11\\\/nll-down-to-12-teams-after-ottawa-black-bears-and-philadelphia-wings-fold\\\/\",\"name\":\"NLL down to 12 teams after Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings fold - 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