I arrived at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday night with my mind made up.

I know it’s unwise to enter any new endeavor with preconceived notions, and it’s not something I typically do. But I was so sure of my conviction that I had no problem with it for this particular occasion.

It’s ridiculous to bring a Major League Lacrosse team to Cary, I thought. No matter what I saw during Saturday’s contest between the Rochester Rattlers and Philadelphia Barrage, I planned to eviscerate the idea that a team belongs here.

A funny thing happened. The atmosphere was great — and you could argue it was exceptional considering a late-day thunderstorm surely kept people away — and the game was a tremendous advertisement for the league. Rochester won 20-17 and the result was in question until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. There were several “Wow” moments, and thousands hung around after the final whistle to get autographs and mingle with players.

The game was meant to test the Triangle market as a potential expansion site for Major League Lacrosse, and Saturday’s display passed with flying colors.

Nevertheless, it’d be foolish for Triangle Professional Sports to add a lacrosse team to its stable right now. Managing Partner Chris Economides indicated that without additional investors, it’s not going to happen.

TPS is the ownership group of the Carolina RailHawks. When it signed its lease with the Town of Cary for WakeMed Soccer Park, it included an item in the agreement that gave the group control of the stadium for any professional soccer and lacrosse events at the facility.

Economides has been down this road before. After helping launch the Rhinos soccer team in Rochester, N.Y., in 1996, he brought the Rattlers lacrosse team to upstate New York in 2001.

That’s proven a success.

However, the Rhinos were already an established brand in town, having experienced tremendous on-field success in the late ’90s.

The same cannot be said for the RailHawks so far. Bringing a lacrosse team to Cary would be a detriment to the soccer team that’s already here.

The RailHawks hardly have a foothold on the Triangle sports landscape. Since they are still in their infancy, they need all the attention they can get. The club has made tremendous inroads in the business community, but the soccer team is playing before a considerably smaller audience than it did during its debut season in 2007.

This season, the RailHawks are averaging 3,946 fans through their first five home games — 960 fewer than they drew for the first five games last year. That is a significant decrease, and it demands attention.

You can argue that adding a lacrosse team would have little or no impact on the soccer team at the gate. They are two different sports with two different sets of fans. And you’re probably right.

Lacrosse has exploded nationwide during the last decade, expanding from its stranglehold in New England and the mid-Atlantic states to all points south and west.

Thousands in the Triangle have been swept up in the fever. But it’s a dangerously slippery slope to assume that if thousands of kids are playing lacrosse, surely they and their families will pay to watch it. Soccer promoters have mistakenly operated under that assumption for years. Though hundreds of thousands of kids play soccer around the country, it’s still easy enough to walk up to any pro game on any level and buy a ticket on game day.

While TPS will be attracting a different type of fan with lacrosse, it will have to approach the same businesses for advertising and sponsorship money, which is the lifeblood of any franchise. With the economy in the tank and no rebound in sight, it’s hard to believe there’s more corporate money out there for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, a lacrosse team would require TPS’ promotional resources, which are already stretched thin devoting their energy to growing the soccer team’s visibility. With attendance down, they should devote themselves to bringing it back up.

Major League Lacrosse has a very good product, anyone at WakeMed Soccer Park for Saturday’s exhibition went home feeling that way. But it was a one-time deal. For now, that’s all it should be.