OLA ruling requires MSL to put Excelsiors back in Brampton
Chris Corbeil, Brampton Excelsiors, 2015 (Photo: Dave Fryer)
In recent weeks, Major Series Lacrosse announced their 2022 regular-season schedule. A month ago, the league held their 2022 Entry Draft.
Both included the Owen Sound (formerly the iconic Brampton Excelsiors) Lacrosse Club.
The Ontario Lacrosse Association, the provincial body that MSL is governed by, has told the league, seemingly several times now, that they do not recognize an Owen Sound-based club.
In addition to not acknowledging Owen Sound, the OLA has now more forcefully instructed MSL to revert “…the Major Excelsiors by April 30 or the OLA will assume sole responsibility for determining who will compete to represent the OLA in the Mann Cup.” (Source: Excelsiors Lacrosse Legacy Association Director, Nikki Bettinelli)
Reading between the lines, an MSL club will not be representing Ontario in the 2022 Mann Cup unless the Excelsiors are back in Brampton by the end of the month.
For those not following along, a difficult task for even the most informed, here’s recap…
On April 16, 2018, the ownership of the MSL’s Brampton Excelsiors was transferred to Michigan-based businessman, Joe Norton, who also owns the children’s drink brand Bug Juice. Norton also took over the OLA’s Senior B Owen Sound North Stars. On that previously mentioned date, the Excelsiors (@BramsExcels) tweeted, “We are pleased to announce the Brampton Major Excelsior Lacrosse Club has transferred ownership to Joe Norton, owner of Bug Juice Company…The Major Excelsiors will always remain in Brampton and will continue to be part of the illustrious history of lacrosse in this great city.”
As stated in the agreement between Major Excelsiors Lacrosse Team (Joe Norton) and the not-for-profit Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, the team was purchased (“Goodwill”) for only $1,500 (CAD) and had inventory that amounted to just $2 (CAD). Since-suspended BELC board member, Trevor Small, told the Owen Sound Sun Times that, “…Norton paid nothing for the team, but took on the team’s debt and absorbed the operating costs,” and the $1,500 included in the agreement was simply to cover accounting & legal fees.
Below is the copy of the “Offer to Purchase” signed by Norton and then BELC President, Ziggy Musial. There has been considerable debate on what authority Musial was provided to actually sign a final agreement on behalf of the BELC board, a number of which claim they only saw the agreement after multiple requests and nearly two years after being signed.
Update (Apr. 20, 2022): BELC meeting minutes from February 26, 2018 confirm that a motion to transfer ownership of the team to Norton was defeated. An additional motion allowing Musial “…to negotiate the transfer of the Brampton Major Excelsiors to Joe Norton,” did pass. The Lax Mag has obtained an additional Transfer Agreement between Musial (on behalf of BELC) and Norton for the club that was signed by Norton but not Musial. The agreement was dated February 21, 2018, eight days before the BELC provided Musial the authority to negotiate a transfer, let alone finalize a deal between the two sides.
During Norton’s management of the club in Brampton over two seasons, the team was rebranded significantly, swapping their iconic gold & maroon colours for what was essentially a full-uniform advertisement for his Bug Juice brand. The over-the-top transformation was not well received by most players, fans, and well, pretty much everyone.
The team finished 5-9-2 in 2018 and 9-9-0 a season later, playing their home dates at the historic Brampton Memorial Arena. A 2020 season was never played due to pandemic-related restrictions.
At that point, Norton was seemingly done trying to make things work in Brampton.
In the same Owen Sound Sun Times article, Small suspected Norton had spent as much as $400,000 operating the team over at least two seasons. “In order for any major team to put a competitive team on the floor, you’re looking at approximately $150,000 to $200,000 per year,” Small told the Sun Times. “Joe has indicated he’s spent that much and there is no reason to doubt what he’s said.”
MSL approved the transfer of the Excelsiors to Owen Sound in the fall of 2020, Norton telling Bayshore Broadcasting, “It’s not uncommon for smaller teams in these major markets to not garner enough fan support to sustain them, and that is what eventually happened. In Brampton, we just couldn’t get enough fans to support the team."
Jeff Teat, Brampton Excelsiors, 2019 (Photo: Dave Fryer)
While the move was okayed by the BELC (although, as previously mentioned, some would disagree with that statement) and MSL officials, it was never signed off by the OLA, who as previously mentioned, governs the league.
MSL Commissioner Doug Luey asked the OLA’s Board of Governors to approve the move in March of last year, but the decision was quickly overturned as only the OLA’s Board of Directors have the authority to vote on such matters.
As stated in the OLA Rules & Regulations (R25.03), “The franchise of a member team may be sold, assigned or otherwise transferred if the club is to continue to operate in the same city, town, police village or rural district, subject to the approval of a majority of the group council and the Board of Directors. If, however the purchaser of the franchise or the present holder desires to move the club from its location to another city, town, policy village or rural district, approval of a majority of the members of the group and the Board of Directors shall be required.”
Although the OLA Board of Directors had yet to approve or deny the original transfer of the team to Norton, Owen Sound (albeit registered as the Brampton Excelsiors) still competed in the MSL Classic, an exhibition season held at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre from late July through August of last year.
On August 18, 2021, a week before the MSL Classic would be complete, two motions were voted on by the OLA Board Directors.
The first read, “To approve the franchise sale and relocation of the Brampton Major Excelsiors, based on the information provided.” That motion was defeated.
The second said, “To direct the commissioner of Major Series Lacrosse, as the governing league in which the Major Excelsiors lacrosse team participates, to resolve this matter between the stakeholders consistent with the requirements as outlined in the attached document, prior to returning the matter to the OLA’s Board of Directors for final approval of the sale and/or relocation of the franchise.” That motion was carried.
As part of the second motion, specific sale-related documentation between Norton and the BELC had been requested. Several months later, it’s believed the OLA has still yet to receive any such documentation.
In recently posted OLA Board of Directors meeting minutes, the OLA has also deemed 49 MSL players as free agents due to outstanding unpaid fees owed to Junior teams. The specific minutes in full read, “Major Series Lacrosse has announced its Entry Draft for March 20th, 2022. Despite the Board of Directors’ decision (upheld on appeal) against the franchise transfer and relocation, the league has continued to demonstrate its unwillingness to respect the outcome and comply with the Board of Directors. MSL has also failed to satisfy previous seasons’ entry draft fees to the applicable Junior leagues. Under OLA Regulation 6.23(d), those 49 graduated Junior players whose draft fees are not paid by the annual deadline are automatically deemed to be free agents.”
Yesterday, the MSL published a post filled with positive Owen Sound endorsements from various league and team officials, including league leader Luey, who said, “Owen Sound lacrosse fans are among the most loyal and knowledgeable supporters of our national summer sport. With a young talented team, lacrosse fans can expect them to be competitive right out of the gate. Do not be surprised, if in the near future, the Owen Sound lacrosse community is celebrating a Mann Cup victory.”