The New York Titans, a member of the National Lacrosse League for three seasons, will move to Orlando, pending a vote by the league’s board of governors, The Post has learned.
According to a source, the Titans, who won the East Division Championship last season, finally settled on the Central Florida city after months of negotiations following their 12-10 loss to Calgary in the Champions Cup game May 15.
The Titans played home games at Madison Square Garden and Newark’s Prudential Center last season in front of sparse crowds, yet the prevailing thought was that Newark might become their permanent home.
But negotiations, a source said, didn’t proceed as planned with The Rock. A compromise rental fee — one feasible to both parties — could not be met. There were talks, as well, with The Garden, according to a source, but they met a similar fate.
The Titans, another source said, also looked into the possibility of moving to Connecticut — Hartford and Bridgeport — as a means of staying in the metropolitan area.
In the end, Orlando made the most sense.
George Daniel, the NLL commissioner, still has to meet with the board to finalize a vote on the relocation, but, according to a source, that’s just a matter of making things “official” at this point.
The move has been in the works for weeks. In fact, a new Web site domain name — orlandotitans.com — was registered to Daniel on July 14, according to http://www.networksolutions.com.
The Titans have one of the finest collections of talent in the NLL, including former Syracuse star Casey Powell. And they were quite fan-friendly during their stay here, offering free tickets to a Garden playoff game vs. Rochester, and orchestrating player-fan meet-and-greets after home games. That said, they drew less than 5,000 fans on average in their 10 home games this season.
The Post spoke with Titans coach-general manager Ed Comeau, the league’s GM of the Year, two months ago, when the rumors began to surface.
“Our owners are looking for ways to cut their losses,” he said at the time. “It’s not something we, as coaches and players, can control. We like the area. We like the market. We just have to find a place where it will work.”
The Titans, who also played at Nassau Coliseum during their stay, won 10 games in each of their final two regular seasons, making the postseason in both. For their life, they went 27-26, losing in the East Division Final in 2008 and the league title game this year.
Daniel, when interviewed regarding the possible move last month, was optimistic that — should this be the end of the Titans — lacrosse would still have a presence in the area.
“It’s a great game, and we believe we have a great product,” he said. “Our players are the best in the world. We’re confident that we can make lacrosse work in New York. It may not be next year, but in the years to come.”
It remains to be seen how Orlando — with just one major pro sports team, the NBA’s Magic — will take to professional lacrosse in a down economic market. It seemed, after all, like a great idea here just three years ago. Perhaps, midtown Manhattan and The Garden was a bit of a reach, but Newark, Long Island or Hartford seemed like they would be beneficial on a long-term basis, as the sport — among suburban youth — continues to grow.
But in the Titans’ two postseason games this year, they drew a combined total of just 10,522 for an average of 5,261. In the regular season, they averaged 4,692, second worst in the league.
tsullivan@nypost.com