Lacrosse is one of the first recorded sports played in the world. It is also one of the fastest sports on the field and a growing sport in America and all over the world. A problem lacrosse has as a sport is its professional level. Low attendance, low wages, and high athletic demand make professional lacrosse a hardship that the players have to go through. 

In 2019 Paul Rabil started the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) with new groundbreaking player assistance programs. The league covers insurance for players and assists them in getting sponsorship deals to support themselves. A deal was signed with Adidas to be the official jersey sponsor for all the teams in the league.

Collaborations with Vineyard Vines, Champion and Gatorade bring fans closer to the players and the teams. It also brings the sport from just a game to a full on culture subject. Paul Rabil is a marketing genius, as well as a great lacrosse player. During the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 Paul Rabil and his team were the first sports league in America to come with a plan to continue their season. This is the origin of the “bubble games” in sports. The PLL went to Salt Lake City for a month-long event where one team would be crowned PLL champions.  This inspired leagues like the MLS, NHL, and NBA to do a similar event in a secluded no fans allowed bubble. 

In 2019 the PLL signed a tv deal with NBC to show all games on NBC and NBCSN. The deal was going great until NBC Gold was brought into it. A subscription service for a sport that is growing and trying to get worldwide recognition is not the way to go. Then, in 2021 with the introduction of Peacock all PLL games were now subscription only.

Now, for someone who loves watching the sport they most likely would be willing to pay for the subscription to Peacock, but to grow the game a subscription service puts a wall between the accessibility of watching and the growth of the game.

On Mar 23, 2022, the PLL and ESPN/ABC came to a 4 year TV deal with 47 games streaming on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN+. Although ESPN+ is a subscription service, ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2 are available on cable.  ESPN has been showing college lacrosse for years including the ACC, NCAA championship, Ivy League, and the Patriot League. It is a risk that ESPN is willing to take to push the game out to their millions of viewers. 

Seeing a sport that I have grown up playing now on TV (and in the media) is something that makes me happy because it is not the most popular sport: but with the help of ESPN and the PLL it could very soon be one of the biggest sports in America.