The Vancouver Warriors has had four different ownership groups since it started as an NLL expansion team in 2000.
It’s also gone through different names and locations. The current owners moved the NLL franchise from Washington to Denver.
This article starts with a summary of the owners and a timeline. Then we run through the background of each set of owners.
Timeline Of Ownership Of Vancouver Warriors
Here is the timeline of ownership and how the name and locations have changed.
| Year | Team Name | Owners |
| 2000 | Albany Attack | Herb Chorbajian |
| 2004 | San Jose Stealth | Group of Bay Area investors |
| 2007 | San Jose Stealth | Bill and Denise Watkins, Steve Luczo |
| 2009 | Washington Stealth | Bill and Denise Watkins |
| 2014 | Vancouver Stealth | Bill and Denise Watkins |
| 2018 | Vancouver Warriors | Canuck Sports & Entertainment (Aquilini) |
The location changes should be clear from the team names.
With the summary out of the way, let’s take a detailed look at these owners. We’ll start with the most recent and work backward.
Canuck Sports & Entertainment, Current Owner Of Vancouver Warriors
The Vancouver Warriors franchise is owned by the Aquilini family through their company Canuck Sports & Entertainment.
The company bought the team in 2018.
The Aquilinis also own the Vancouver Canucks and the Rogers Arena. The Warriors now play home games in the Rogers Arena.
When lacrosse fans want to know who owns a team, they are usually wondering if the owner has deep enough pockets to sustain a sports franchise in the long term.
Warriors fans shouldn’t worry about the Aquilinis. Their estimated net worth is over three billion Canadian dollars.
Business background
This family business started when Luigi Aquilini emigrated in 1953 from Italy to Vancouver.
He started a construction company and got involved in property investment in Vancouver, Quebec, and Ontario.
Luigi founded the Aquilini Investment Group in the 1960s. His sons joined the business in the 1980s.
The overall company has several areas of investment and ownership:
- Real estate in Vancouver
- Hotels and office towers across Canada
- Agricultural land and agri-businesses
- Golf courses and sports team ownership
Sports ownership
Francesco Aquilini, one of Luigi’s sons, takes a particular interest in sports investment.
In 2006, the Aquilini family completed their purchase of the company that owned the Vancouver Canucks and the Rogers Arena. The Canucks are an ice hockey team in the NHL.
The Aquilinis renamed the holding company to Canuck Sports & Entertainment. Francesco is the chairman of the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canuck Sports & Entertainment company purchased the NLL franchise in Vancouver in 2018. The team was called the Vancouver Stealth at the time and played their home games in Langley.
The new owners moved the franchise to the Rogers Arena, which they also own. They also renamed the team as the Vancouver Warriors with a corresponding change in logo and branding.
Deep pockets
There’s no doubt that the Aquilinis can fund an NLL team but they will want the team to at least break even.
As they own the home arena, the major expense is the wage bill. We have an overview of the player salaries at the Warriors, and you’ll find the current roster here.
Bill & Denise Atkins, Former Owners Of The San Jose Stealth/Washington Stealth
Bill Watkins was the CEO of a massive manufacturing company when he and his wife purchased an NLL franchise in 2007.
The company was Seagate Technology, the largest producer of hard drives in the world at that time.
Bill and his wife Denise were season-ticket holders of their local NLL team, the San Jose Stealth. The chairman of Seagate, Steve Luczo, approached Bill about buying the franchise.
In an interview with a local newspaper, Denise described how she became the general manager of the lacrosse team:
The way things work in our family is he says, ‘Let’s get into something,’ and then basically it becomes, ‘Here honey, you go run it,’.
Everett Herald, 2013
Before the trio got involved, the franchise was called the San Jose Stealth. The club struggled to compete for a sports audience in the Bay Area.
At some point, Bill and Denise took over the majority ownership, and Steve Luczo’s involvement was reduced.
The Watkins kept the club in the same home arena as the San Jose Sharks (NHL) for two years. Then they moved the franchise to Everett, Washington in 2009.
This is when the name changed to the Washington Stealth. The franchise saw early success and won the championship title in 2010. But the club still struggled to pull an audience.
In 2013, the Watkins moved the franchise to Vancouver. The home games were played in Langley, a Vancouver suburb.
Five years later, the Watkins sold to the Aquilini family (the current owners).
Bay Area Investor Group, Former Owners Of the San Jose Stealth
In 2004, a group of investors based largely in the Bay Area purchased an NLL franchise that was then based in Albany.
The team was called the Albany Attack at the time.
The new group of investors included:
- Lacrosse Owners Group, LLC
- Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment (owners of the San Jose Sharks)
- Business executives from the Bay Area
The investor group moved the franchise to San Jose and renamed it as the San Jose Stealth.
Herb Chorbajian, Original Owner Of The Albany Attack
We’ve arrived right at the beginning of the ownership history of the team that is now the Vancouver Warriors.
The Albany Attack was founded in 1999 to join the NLL as an expansion franchise. Their first season was in 2000.
Herb Chorbajian was the majority owner of the franchise. At the time, he was the Vice President of the Charter One Bank.
The main challenge for Chorbajian was in growing the number of fans. The team shared a home arena with a professional ice hockey team, the Albany River Rats.
The lacrosse team struggled to get the best dates and to get sponsors.
The owner of the River Rats purchased a minority share of the Attack. But that didn’t help progress.
But Herb Chorbajian has few regrets about his four years of owning a lacrosse team.
“I’m very glad I did,” he said. “It wasn’t a financial success by any stretch, but it was fun.”
Times Union, 2021
In 2021, the Firewolves became the new box lacrosse team in the area. Chorbajian wished them the best of luck.
We all hope that the recent arrivals will have better luck. You can check out our overview of the owners of the Albany Firewolves.
