Team logo
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League | MLL |
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Founded | 2001 |
Home stadium | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium |
Based in | Annapolis, Maryland |
Colors | Blue, silver, green, white |
Head coach | Brian Reese |
Owner(s) | Brendan Kelly |
Local media |
Washington Post Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic |
Steinfeld Cups | 5 (2002, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013) |
Division Championships | 4 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) |
Formerly |
Baltimore Bayhawks 2001–2006 Washington Bayhawks 2007–2009 Chesapeake Bayhawks 2010–present |
Website | www.thebayhawks.com |
The Chesapeake Bayhawks are a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland. They have played in the MLL since the 2001 season. From the league's inception in 2001 through 2005, they were in the National Division and from 2006 to 2008, they were in the Eastern Conference. After the MLL contraction for the 2009 season from 10 to 6 teams, there is only one conference. The team was based in the Baltimore, Maryland metro area as the Baltimore Bayhawks from 2001–2006. From 2007–2009 they were called the Washington Bayhawks and were renamed the Chesapeake Bayhawks in 2010 to encompass the entire Chesapeake Bay area.
The Bayhawks played two seasons at Homewood Field on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University (2001 and 2003) and played their home games during the 2002 season at Ravens Stadium now called M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore, currently the home of the Baltimore Ravens. They played their home games at Johnny Unitas Stadium on the campus of Towson University from 2004 to 2006. The Bayhawks won National Division championships in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. They made the 2004 playoffs as a wild card.
The Bayhawks were the only Major League Lacrosse charter team to have a winning season in each of the first five years of the league.
There had been months of rumors about the Bayhawks moving from Baltimore, and a lot of the speculation centered on the team's moving to Washington, D.C. On November 3, 2006, Inside Lacrosse received an email entitled “Major League Lacrosse is coming to Washington D.C.” announcing a pre-season press conference at Nathan’s of Georgetown on November 14. In addition, the domain name washingtonbayhawks.com is registered with a contact name of Kerry Pucillo, Director of Corporate Operations for Major League Lacrosse. The e-mail contact for the domain was her e-mail address and the street address given for the domain registry is that of Major League Lacrosse’s headquarters. The domain was registered September 2006.