Fort Worth Texas is one of the fifteen largest cities in the United States. What’s known as Cowtown is also known for being one of the biggest cities in the nation that does not have a pro sports team.

Over the years, many minor league teams have tried to gain traction in DFW’s second-largest city but success stories are few and far between.

The Fort Worth Cats (Baseball), The Fort Worth Flyers (basketball), The Fort Worth Cavalry (Arena Football), and The Fort Worth Fire (hockey) have all been left void.

Last week, another team got added to the list as The National Lacrosse League announced that Panther City Lacrosse Club would be ceasing all operations and shutting down instantly.

“We have worked tirelessly to resolve a complex situation, but this untimely withdrawal of Panther City’s membership placed the league in an unprecedented situation,” NLL Commissioner Brett Frood said in a statement.

Back in 2021, the NLL brought an expansion team to Fort Worth called Panther City due to the city’s longtime nickname.

Advertising as a similar game to hockey, the NLL hoped to grow lacrosse in North Texas, somewhere that the sport isn’t seen as “popular”.

Despite the team severely overachieving on the field, things never really caught on in the stands.

Panther City made the playoffs in two of their three seasons falling out in overtime of the single-game first round this past season.

Even with all of the onfield success, PCLC only brought in an average of 2,812 fans a game, while playing at 14,000 capacity Dickies Arena.

I was often one of those 2,812 fans. Back in 2021, I had to convince my family to go and try out this new Lacrosse thing and when we finally did it was a hit.

After falling just short of the playoffs in their first season in the NLL, I knew we had to get back to Dickies Arena the following year.

Only this time, it wasn’t just me, my mom, and my grandma. The entire family showed up and lo and behold, despite some (most) of them having no idea what was going on, they enjoyed it.

Said enjoyment turned into many upon many of Friday and Saturday nights heading to watch PCLC after going to a restaurant beforehand.

Those times are what I’ll miss most about Panther City. Sure, much like any sports fan we cheered hard every single game and were invested in what was going on in the box.

However, I can say that I speak for a lot of PCLC fans in saying that it’s the time together and the memories created that I will miss most.