MAJOR LEAGUE LACROSSE: LACROSSE, L.A. STYLE PRO LEAGUE BRINGS SHOWCASE GAME TO HDC.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND Staff Writer

Playing a championship lacrosse event in Southern California might seem akin to staging a surf festival in Georgia, but Major League Lacrosse officials are thinking big picture this weekend.

In an attempt to advance the niche sport in what is basically a foreign market, MLL, the country's premier professional outdoor lacrosse league, will play its semifinals and championship game at Home Depot Center in Carson. The league's goal is to grow the seed it planted by putting a franchise in Los Angeles.

``For the league to say it's hosting its championship in L.A., that's a big deal,'' said G.W. Mix, general manager of the L.A. Riptide, one of MLL's 10 teams. ``It's a tremendous opportunity, not just to boost our team but to help the league promote that it's a national league, not just an East Coast league.''

Today's semifinals, held at the center's track stadium, feature Denver vs. San Francisco, followed Boston vs. Philadelphia. The title game is Sunday.

In its inaugural season, the Riptide finished 6-6, one victory short of making the league's four-team playoffs. The Riptide drew 4,198 fans per game, the third-best average in the league.

So while the league, which began play in 2001, has a distinct Northeast feel -- until this season, there had been no teams Wwest of Rochester, N.Y. -- the migration West is part of a slow-growth plan.

MLL games drew an average of 4,295 fans, most in league history. ESPN2 broadcast a regular-season game of the week and the league attracts America's best lacrosse players with a pay scale that ranges from $6,500 to $18,000 per year. But MLL hasn't become an instant sensation, and doesn't intend to be.

``We know what we are -- we're not the NFL,'' league commissioner David Gross said. ``We're looking for measured growth. We started the same year as the XFL and the WUSA. If you had asked people which league would still be around five years later, I don't think many people would have picked us.''

Gross said the MLL finished ``small numbers in the red'' this year but is heading toward profitability.

MLL started with six franchises and they're all still around, although the Bridgeport (Conn.) Barrage moved to Philadelphia in 2004. That type of stability is rare in niche leagues, and this season the league expanded for the first time, with a West Coast division of L.A., Chicago, Denver and San Francisco.

Only two of the 56 NCAA Div. I men's lacrosse programs are located west of Indiana and that lacrosse is not sanctioned by the CIF Southern Section.

But the Riptide's venue is new and attractive and the team is owned by AEG, parent group of the Kings and Galaxy, which allows extensive cross promotion.

The Riptide has partnered with several local restaurants and businesses but discovered a stumbling block: the rape accusations involving several Duke lacrosse players, which has put the sport in a negative light.

``I think to a degree it helped us,'' Mix said. ``The word `lacrosse' was a mainstream word for a while, albeit for the wrong reason. But there were a couple meetings with sponsors who said, `We're not equating the two, but we're not comfortable being associated with lacrosse right now, let's give it a year.'''

Mix and Gross already are looking forward to year two of the Riptide. Before becoming commissioner, Gross ran the successful Boston franchise and said he sees great potential for lacrosse in Los Angeles.

``L.A. is an incredibly crowded market and we realize that,'' Gross said. ``We can't spend enough in marketing and advertising to make a difference that way. Our goal is to build it one fan at a time.''

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Photo:

Ryan Powell of the San Francisco Dragons, left, helped get his team in the MLL semifinals.

Benjamin Sklar/Associated Press

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MLL FINAL FOUR