One month from today, San Diego’s newest professional sports team will take the field. The San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) will dive into action on Sports Arena Boulevard to commence their inaugural season and the league’s 32nd overall. So, how did we get here where a professional sports franchise chose America’s Finest City as its home?

It was August 2017 when La Jolla resident and co-founder of the e-commerce platform Alibaba Joseph Tsai brought his enthusiasm for the sport of Lacrosse to San Diego to join the National Lacrosse League (NLL) as an expansion market. Two months later, Tsai’s franchise had its identity with a name, logo, and colors revealed in a media event at La Jolla Cove.

The team nickname of Seals was chosen to represent both marine mammals that call the local coastline home, but also as a tribute to the city’s military history. Team colors consisting of Purple as a nod to the sport’s native American roots and Gold to bring to mind images of the San Diego sunshine. The logo incorporates the face of a Seal bearing a gold crown in the form of a trident with a black shield in the shape of a lacrosse stick in the background.

As the calendar turned to 2018, the Seals began constructing their on-field product. Patrick Merill was named both the team’s General Manager and Head Coach on April 3, 2018. In June, the Seals and their expansion partners, the Philadelphia Wings faced off for their time ever at the 2018 NLL Finals as apart of the Expansion Draft coin toss. The Seals won the coin toss and chose to select first in the NLL Entry Draft, deferring the Expansion Draft’s first pick to the Wings.

Before the Expansion Draft came around, the Seals acquired Kyle Buchanan and a 2018 third round pick from the New England Black Wolves. San Diego began to fill out their roster in the expansion draft on July 16th. Making alternating selections with Philadelphia, the Seals selected:

Turner Evans (from Toronto)

Brett Mydske (from Saskatchewan)

Adrian Sorichetti (from Saskatchewan)

Cam Holding (from Colorado)

Bryce Sweeting (from Colorado, subsequently traded to Buffalo)

Frank Scigliano (from Calgary)

Garrett McIntosh (from Calgary)

Casey Jackson (from Vancouver)

Brendan Ranford (from Vancouver)

Community engagement and involvement has been something the organization has taken to heart ever since coming to America’s Finest City from appearances at local weekend events, schools, to the Entry Day watch party event held on September 26th at The Local Eatery and Drinking Hole in Downtown.

The brewery, packed with fans engaging with members of the front office, ticket representatives, Salty the mascot, Sirens dance team and defensemen Cam Holding. Once the entry draft kicked off, San Diego made thirteen (13) selections on draft night, including the first overall pick in the draft. Here is a look at the Seals draft picks:

Austin Statts

Connor Fields

Connor Kearnan

Rylan Hartley

Graydon Bradley

Derek Lloyd

Connor Kelly

Jules Henningburg

Austin Divitcos

Zach Bryant

Zac Christianson

Sean Mayle

Jake Cook

The anticipation for the season continues as the Seals have added more players to a massive training camp roster as the season continues to come into focus. San Diego will host the Buffalo Bandits in their inaugural NLL matchup on Saturday, December 8th at 7 pm.