From the podcast: Rich Lisk on growing the box game in U.S.

Rich Lisk is in his third year in the front office with the NLL's New York Riptide. (Courtesy)

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Jack Piatelli were joined by New York Riptide executive vice president Rich Lisk.

Lisk is in his third year with the NLL franchise. Previously, he oversaw the New England Black Wolves as their general manager in that league. The team reached the playoffs four times in a row while he was in charge, and Inside Lacrosse named Lisk its 2016 General Manager of the Year for his efforts.

Lisk also served as the president and GM of the Trenton Titans of the ECHL, a Philadelphia Flyers affiliate and the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League.

Most recently, Lisk oversaw the drafting of current Riptide star and former Cornell attackman Jeff Teat. Teat is currently leading the NLL in goals with 34 and is second overall in points with 74.

The full podcast can be accessed below and is available on all major platforms. If you enjoy it please leave a rating and a review.

Kyle Devitte: I want to talk to you a little bit about how you got into box lacrosse and how you’re now in an executive position with the Riptide. What is your origin with the game? 

Rich Lisk: Way back when I really started in the hockey business. I was the first marketing director of the (AHL’s) Philadelphia Phantoms and the Trenton Titans. The East Coast League came in and I got involved with the Trenton Titans and was there for seven years. For the last three, I was the president and general manager. Hockey and lacrosse are very, very, very closely tied together. You’re dealing with almost the same athletes. And actually, a funny story is after I left the Titans, I got involved with the (Philadelphia) Wings. I became their CEO, then went to their GM and I signed a guy, Kyle Buchanan.

And when I talked to Kyle about signing, Kyle said, “We met once before.” And I said, “Really?” He goes, “Yeah. When I was 13-years-old, I used to run around your locker room in Trenton because my uncle was Mike Hall, who was your captain in Trenton.”

So, the combinations were so close. So, just being around that hockey world translated very well to the lacrosse world. I was two years in Philly with them and then we got sold to Mohegan Sun casino. I was the GM there in New England for six years and then over here for three years. 

Jack Piatelli: I think in order to get more American lacrosse people into the stands, you need more American players playing the game. And I’m not saying that having Canadian coaches and Canadian players a part of the league (is a problem); they know the game as well, if not better, than anybody. But I think having American coaches draws American players. 

The PLL has a great following outside of the stadium because they followed all these players in college and now they’re playing in the PLL. So, there’s a correlation between college and the PLL which you don’t have in the NLL. The No. 1 college sport in America for lacrosse players is (NCAA) men’s lacrosse.

Rich Lisk: Look, you’re right. I know that’s a tough thing that we as American teens struggle with, right? Canadian teens don’t struggle with that so much. But also, our league needs to start developing more Americans because the talent pool is thinning out as we get more teams. (When) I first came into the league, it was nine teams. So you had a talent pool with nine teams. Now we have 15 teams. 

Where does that talent coach from? Who do you get? How do you bring them in? And you’re going to more nontraditional lacrosse markets, right, San Diego? A nontraditional lacrosse market. Las Vegas. A nontraditional lacrosse market. How are you going to get people there?

Yes, you have got to go to the people they know and who they understand and who they follow. And those are American players. And that is something I think as a league we have to do. I know, personally, for our team here on Long Island, we have a plethora of talent on Long Island, right? Long Island is known for lacrosse. How do I develop that American Long Island lacrosse player who now will end up playing for the Riptide? And that’s a huge part of my five-year plan with this team. 

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