The National Lacrosse League released the 2025-26 season schedule today and it’s one that sets up nicely for early success for the San Diego Seals, who will play five of their first eight inside Pechanga Arena, or as it’s better known among the team’s local fanbase, “The Electric Factory.”
“It’s always exciting for our fans when the schedule comes out,” said Seals Head Coach Patrick Merrill. “We know there’s no easy games in this League, but with five of our first eight at home at Pechanga Arena, it’s a great opportunity to take care of our business and get off to a great start. We’ll be ready!”
It’s a very early start to this year’s lacrosse campaign as the Seals will begin their season in November for the first time in franchise history. That’ll happen when they open the 2025-26 NLL season on the road Thanksgiving Weekend against the Ottawa Black Bears at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday, Nov. 29. Last year when the Seals opened at home on Dec. 1, 2024, that marked the previous earliest start to the season. The Seals and Black Bears met just once last season with the Seals eking out a 6-5 win at Pechanga Arena in the lowest scoring game of the regular season for both teams.
Upon returning from the Canadian capital, the Seals will launch into a three-game homestand that will begin on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. with their home opener at Pechanga Arena against the Rochester. The Knighthawks went 10-8 and were a playoff team a season ago. The Seals will be eager to face the Knighthawks with revenge on their minds after Rochester won last season’s only meeting on a goal with 11 seconds remaining after the Seals had erased a six-goal deficit to tie the game late. Rochester was eliminated in the first round of the 2024-25 NLL playoffs, falling to Vancouver, 15-10.
In addition to season tickets, single-game tickets for the Dec. 14 home opener against Rochester are currently available HERE and parking at Pechanga Arena will be FREE for the home opener for all fans in attendance. Single-game tickets for the remaining eight home games will go on sale at a later date once all faceoff times have been confirmed.
After a break for Christmas and New Year’s, the Seals homestand will conclude with a pair of matchups on consecutive weekends against the Calgary Roughnecks (Country Night at Pechanga Arena) on Saturday, Jan. 3 and the Toronto Rock (Retro Night) on Friday, Jan. 9. Like Rochester, Calgary too went 10-8 a season ago before falling to Halifax, 16-12, in the opening round of the NLL Playoffs. The Seals and Roughnecks met once last season, a 16-12 Seals win at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Toronto meanwhile struggled to a 6-12 finish in 2024-25, also falling to the Seals by a 11-10 score on Feb. 8 in Toronto.
The Seals will spend their next two Fridays on the road with games against Vancouver (Friday, Jan. 16) and Philadelphia (Friday, Jan. 23) before returning home to host Philadelphia (Friday, Jan. 30 – Heroes Night) and Saskatchewan (Saturday, Feb. 7 – Rock the Box Night) on consecutive weekends. Despite falling to the Seals in the 2024-25 season opener (18-15), Philadelphia started the season 5-2, but dropped nine of their final 11 to finish the season 7-11. Saskatchewan, on the flip side, was solid throughout en route to posting a 13-5 record and a berth in the NLL Finals where they fell to eventual champion Buffalo, two games to one. One of those 13 victories during the regular season was a 12-8 win over the Seals at Pechanga Arena.
Following the Saskatchewan contest, the Seals will alternate home and away contests for their next six games. The three road contests include games against the Oshawa FireWolves, formerly the Albany Firewolves, on Saturday, Feb. 14, the Colorado Mammoth on Friday, Feb. 27 and Saskatchewan on Saturday, March 14. The home portion meanwhile includes games against three playoff teams and the two League finalists from a season ago: Halifax (Saturday, Feb. 21 – Margaritaville Night), Vancouver (Sunday, March 1 – Celebrate San Diego Night) and Buffalo (Saturday, March 21 – Seals Mania Night).
Halifax went 11-7 last season, including a 13-10 victory over the Seals at the Scotiabank Centre, and advanced to the NLL semifinals where they eventually fell to Saskatchewan. Vancouver also went 11-7, splitting the home-and-home season series with the Seals, before they too advanced to the NLL semifinals where they fell to the eventual League champion Bandits. And speaking of Buffalo, it was the three-time reigning champions who ended the Seals quest for their first-ever title last season with a 5-4 quarterfinal victory in the lowest scoring playoff game in NLL history. The Bandits went 13-5 during the 2024-25 regular season. They split a pair of games with the Seals during the regular season with each team winning on the other’s home turf.
Following their clash with the Bandits, the Seals will face a daunting stretch to close out the regular season when they play three of their final four away from their home confines at Pechanga Arena. The stretch includes road games at Toronto on Saturday, April 4 and Georgia on Sunday, April 12 before the Seals conclude the regular season with a Friday-Saturday home-and-home against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Friday, April 17 in San Diego (Fan Appreciation Night) and Saturday, April 18 in Sin City.
Despite finishing 5-13 two seasons ago and 4-14 last year, the Desert Dogs have been a thorn in the Seals’ side, winning the last two contests played in Las Vegas, including a 10-12 victory on Jan. 18 of last season. The Seals though have been dominant inside the Electric Factory where they are a perfect 4-0 against the Desert Dogs, including a 20-11 win last March 16 in which the Seals netted a season-high 20 goals against their rivals from Las Vegas.
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