The Saskatchewan Rush franchise has been playing under that name in the National Lacrosse League since moving to Saskatoon in 2016.
The team has changed ownership in recent years for the third time since 1998.
This article starts with the current owners and then runs through the history of the former owners.
Who Owns The Saskatchewan Rush In The NLL?
The Saskatchewan Rush franchise is owned by the Priestner Sports Corporation. Mike Priestner and his two sons, Colin and Jared, are the co-owners.
The Priestners also own the Saskatoon Blakes, a junior ice hockey team. Their main business is a car dealership with franchises across Western Canada.
Colin and Jared are the most involved in the business operations of the lacrosse club. Colin is the Governor of the franchise. Jared is the alternative Governor.
Let’s take a closer look at the interesting backgrounds of the three men.
Mike Priestner, Co-Owner
Mike Priestner is the head of the family business. He played ice hockey in his youth and was a goalie for a junior team (the Kamloops Chiefs).
As a young man, Mike worked in the car dealerships of Peter Pocklington who also owned the Edmonton Oilers. Pocklington famously sold Wayne Gretzky to the LA Kings.
Priestner moved on to start his own business in the Canadian motor industry. The Mike Priestner Auto Group owns several brands, including the Go Auto franchise.
Sports ownership
The Priestners are a sporting family. Aside from Mike playing hockey, his sister won a silver medal in speed skating in the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Cathy Priestner-Allinson was also the Canadian Director of Sport at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics.
Mike Priestner’s first attempt at sports ownership didn’t work out. He wanted to buy a junior hockey team, Kamloops Blazers, in 2007 but another ownership group won out.
But he swooped in successfully to acquire the Saskatoon Blades in 2013. Mike’s son Colin is the General Manager of the Blades.
Buying the Saskatchewan Rush
Bruce Urban, the previous owner of the Rush, moved his lacrosse franchise to Saskatoon in 2016. He took out a five-year lease in the same arena as the Blades.
Urban is also in the auto industry and the two families got on well. Urban never publicly put up his lacrosse club for sale.
It seems that the transfer in ownership arose from conversations between the two businessmen in 2020. The sale was completed in 2021.
Colin Priestner, Co-Owner
Colin Priestner is the son of Mike Priestner and is the Governor of the Saskatchewan Rush.
He juggles that role with being General Manager of the junior hockey team that shares the arena in Saskatoon.
Colin was a talented youth tennis player and competed in the national junior championships. I’ve seen him give Zoom interviews with a wall of mounted tennis racquets behind him.
Perhaps more interestingly, he is also a talented singer-songwriter. He’s toured with Josh Ritter and released several albums.
Aside from music, Colin entered the family business in the mid-2000s. He is a senior manager in one of the Priestner family’s Edmonton dealerships.
Jared Priestner, Co-Owner
Jared Priestner is also the son of Mike Priestner. He is the alternate Governor of the Saskatchewan Rush.
Jared is also the CEO of Go Auto, one of the main business brands of the Priestner Corporation.
He went into the family business at an earlier age than his brother. Part of his college studies included a program for car dealership management.
When he was still at university, his father bought a driving school franchise. Jared worked his way up from teaching kids to drive to learning the sales and management side of the business.
Bruce Urban, Former Owner
Bruce Urban sold the Saskatchewan Rush to the Priestner Corporation in 2021 after owning the club since 2005.
When he purchased the franchise, it had been inactive for two years. The previous incarnation had been called the Ottawa Rebel.
Bruce Urban owned a successful RV dealership based out of Alberta. He had tried to buy a franchise in the Canadian Football League.
Then he spotted the opportunity to bring a lacrosse franchise to Edmonton.
The franchise was now called the Edmonton Rush.
It was reported that he paid about $2 million (Canadian) for the franchise. It’s fair to say that the team struggled for ten seasons.
The franchise also struggled as a business. Urban couldn’t secure a long-term lease on a home arena. He made some critical comments about how several mayors hadn’t supported the club.
Bruce Urban upped sticks and moved the franchise from Edmonton to Saskatchewan at the end of the 2015 season. He renamed it the Saskatchewan Rush.
Brad Watters, Former Owner
Brad Watters was the owner of this franchise dating back to 1997.
An early incarnation of the franchise was in Syracuse, New York. It played from 1997 to 200 as the Syracuse Smash.
Brad Watters sports group moved the franchise to Ottawa in 2001. After several seasons of poor results, they let the franchise lap in 2003.
