Philadelphia Wings (National Lacrosse League) @ Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, PA)

GET. IN. THE. BOX.

*This post is somewhat unique in that it covers two trips - February 8, 2025 and March 15, 2025. Yes, the first trip occurred BEFORE the Rutgers lacrosse game I talked about yesterday, but I ended up moving the order of these posts around to smooth out certain "narratives", so to speak. This is also our first venture into the "great indoors", but be forewarned that these indoor arena posts may be very different because I feel like I struggle to come up with things to say about indoor arenas as in my opinion, they all kinda feel the same - moreso than outdoor stadiums (maybe it's the lack of a backdrop).

Some of you astute readers may have also realized that I used an old name for the arena in the title - it was recently renamed to "Xfinity Mobile Arena", but was "Wells Fargo Center" for both of my visits, so I'm sticking with that name.

Let me start this post by discussing box lacrosse and the NLL, as it may be more unfamiliar to many people.

Box lacrosse can probably be best described as a hybrid of field lacrosse, hockey, and basketball. The game is, by name, a variation of lacrosse, but has a lot of similarities to hockey (as it is mainly a game to play in the summer when ice isn’t readily available). The field has the same dimensions as a hockey rink (200 x 85 feet), players typically have more padding like in hockey, and the game features a very similar penalty system (i.e. players who are penalized spend two minutes off the field instead of 30 seconds). In addition, the game has a more basketball-like cadence with its possessions and a much shorter shot clock than its outdoor counterpart (the field lacrosse shot clock is at least a minute).

The National Lacrosse League is the highest tier of professional box lacrosse in the United States and Canada. I don't think that going into its history is necessary here (as it will probably take a while given how many teams have been created then subsequently folded over the course of nearly 40 years), but I will note two things:

1. Most box lacrosse leagues play 3 periods of 20 minutes each (much like hockey). The NLL, however, plays 4 quarters of 15 minutes (which is actually standard in field lacrosse outside of the PLL).
2. One of the most notable things you’ll notice if you ever watch a NLL game is the music: it plays non-stop throughout the game, which is probably one of the most polarizing things about the league (Banana Ball does the same thing, with the same debate). However, it does contribute to the league’s atmosphere, which IMO is honestly kinda fun (though certain things can mitigate that somewhat - you’ll see what I mean soon).

I've been following the league on and off for a while now, and that's for a very unfortunate reason: lack of a local team. The league was only in the New York metropolitan area (i.e. where I live) for a very short time (RIP New York Titans), and I was only a kid at that time, so I was never able to get to any of their games (they were at the Prudential Center). There was another attempt to breach the New York market a few years ago, but that team played on Long Island and has since moved out. Therefore, the closest team to me for most of my time in New Jersey has been the Philadelphia Wings...but even they weren't around for a little bit.

The Philadelphia Wings WERE one of the National Lacrosse League’s most famous teams. Established in 1987 as one of the founding members of what eventually became the National Lacrosse League, they were known for having several elite talents, and won six titles - a record that stood until the recent Buffalo Bandits dynasty (they’ve won three in a row as of me writing this, and their most recent title was their seventh). However, in 2014, the team moved to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, as they were sold amid falling attendances and financial problems (and that team has since moved - twice).

In 2018, the league expanded back into Philadelphia with the establishment of “Wings 2.0”. Unfortunately, this franchise hasn’t seen the same level of success as the original franchise did - evidenced by the fact that they only have one playoff appearance. With my interest in the NLL growing a bit last winter, I felt it was time to make the trip down to Philly to check the game out. As mentioned at the top, I came here twice in 2025; while I found that both games were kinda fun, unfortunately they were also part of the Wings’ long losing streak that torpedoed a strong start and ended up seeing the team finish third from last...

As for the arena, it’s part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex which includes Lincoln Financial Field (home of the Eagles) and Citizens Bank Park (home of the Phillies), but is probably more well known for being the home of the Philadelphia Flyers and the neverending process that is the Philadelphia 76ers (thanks for leaving us Brown and Tatum in those two drafts)¹. From what I’ve heard, the concourse area got a major renovation recently, and it shows - it felt much more modern than the Prudential Center, which hasn’t changed much since it opened in 2007². It’s hard for me to talk about indoor arenas as they all kinda feel the same inside (especially at the pro level), but two things that makes this place unique:

1. The main concourse is at ground level, and the arena floor is sunk into the ground (which I actually like a lot as there’s a lot of natural light on the concourse)³; of the indoor arenas I’ve been to, I’m fairly sure it’s the only one built like this (though this will change once I finally make it to Seattle someday...)
2. The scoreboard has frickin’ FLAMETHROWERS.

MERCH

There was a surprisingly wide selection of merch at the arena. All of it was located in one little corner space, but it was rather spacious (even with parts of the room blocked off), and there were a lot of fun novelty items such as foam hats and mini lacrosse sticks. I did see other merchandise areas in the concourse (mainly featuring Philadelphia Flyers items), but none of them were open.

Notably, if you’re like me and this one woman I met at the first game, the big draw here is the fact that you can get a jersey with a stitched-on front logo! Most NLL teams, sadly, have sublimated logos on basically all of their jerseys - even on the players themselves. There are a few that do stitched-on logos (Philly being one of them), but those typically aren’t easy to find online (and the team store had a ton of sublimated jerseys as well). In addition, the first game featured special Marvel jerseys that sold VERY well - I went back and forth on whether or not to get one as they were sublimated, but by the time I felt like going for one (around halftime), the adult sizes were basically gone.

Also, there is the unfortunate situation of jerseys being a bit tight around the stomach area; I did try sizing up to combat this, but the upper area didn’t look or feel right. The NLL is getting a new jersey manufacturer in 2025, so it’s yet to be seen how the new jerseys are going to fit (though given what’s known about the new manufacturer’s previous history in soccer, optimism is not high).

Between the two games, I ended up with two jerseys, two hats, and a windbreaker that was on clearance. To illustrate some of the subtle differences between stitched and sublimated, here's a photo of the jerseys:

The one on the left features a stitched on team logo (the winged "W"), while the one on the right has a sublimated team logo, but stitched on sponsor patch (yay...). Both feature stitched on names and numbers on the back (with the one on the right featuring a number on the front as well); however, they don't exactly fit the same: the sublimated jersey (on the right) is a bit tighter around the stomach...

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While I did enjoy the box lacrosse experience, there is the sad reality that these two Wings games may be the only NLL games I see live for a while: the Wings are rumored to be moving out soon (again), as there are questions involving ownership (who also own the Philadelphia Flyers and the arena they play in) and their desire to keep the team running. Unfortunately, what would have been the next "closest" team (in Albany, NY) just moved to Canada, so I'm pretty sure there's going to be nothing closer than Rochester, NY soon (without crossing the border)...