SPORTS STEVE MILTON
Pro field lacrosse league set to play here
Brodie Merrill has been playing indoor and outdoor lacrosse all of his life — the last 14 years as a marquee pro — and this summer he’s taking a chance on the Premier Lacrosse League.
“It was kind of a unique opportunity to be on the ground floor of a new direction for lacrosse,” says the box and field lacrosse star from Orangeville, who played for the Hamilton Nationals (2011-13) in Major League Lacrosse, the established professional field lacrosse league the nascent PLL is tackling head-on.
“And, of course, there are the increased wages and the overall standard of treatment for players.”
The PLL announced that its six teams will play regular-season games at Tim Hortons Field on Aug. 17-18, as part of its 13-city tour of North America in its inaugural season. Playoffs begin in early September.
As part of their agreement with the city, which allows them four such licensee events at the stadium per year, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are partnering with the PLL for the games here. According to league CEO Mike Rabil, the PLL is renting the stadium and managing the event. Tickets will go on sale at a later date.
“Lacrosse has a storied history in Canada,” says Rabil, who founded the league with his brother Paul. “Having an event in Canada is a big part of our league. We spent a lot of time doing a thorough analysis of the different cities and we think Hamilton is a great place to host. It’s an intimate venue. Sleek and modern.”
The PLL is a touring-model league, with six teams — branded with names like Chaos, Chrome and Whipsnakes — making 13 stops across North America. Hamilton is the first non-American city among the 11 announced sites. Other venues include Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Jose. Hamilton’s proximity to Buffalo and Toronto, big lacrosse markets that have teams in the professional box lacrosse NLL, was a factor.
The league’s six teams are not associated with individual cities, but some players have been grouped together on a geographical basis, according to their U.S. colleges or where they grew up.
There is, justifiably, skepticism as to whether this kind of structure will succeed because fans don’t have a permanent or local rooting interest.
Rabil counters that lacrosse fans will care about the teams, “because you care about the top
indoor and outdoor players in the world. You’ll see them on TV, get interested, and this will be the chance to see them live in your area. Over time, we can explore a city-based model, but the outdoor game is not yet popular enough to warrant that right now.”
The PLL, he told The Spectator, should increase lacrosse’s popularity through these tournaments and by nurturing a broader audience through its broadcasts on NBCSN, “which immediately elevates the sport of lacrosse.”
According to its website, the L.A.-based league, which characterizes itself as player-centric, has some major capital funding behind it.
The PLL has said it will pay significantly higher salaries than the MLL, provide health insurance to the players and eventually offer them stock options. A handful of lacrosse insiders told The Spectator that the PLL players they know will make at least twice as much as in they did in the MLL. Many of the top American players, who made their reputations on iconic college field lacrosse teams, have signed up.
The MLL is also making moves. Two weeks ago, they contracted from nine to six teams. They’ve also regained their own broadcast rights, are hoping to expand into several big markets soon and have partnered with a company to track player performance and health.
The Hamilton Nationals reached the MLL finals in 2011, but never averaged more than 1,900 fans per game in their three years at McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium. Team owners decided not to play the 2014 season and many of the players were dispersed to the expansion Florida Launch, which was disbanded this month.
Rabil told The Spectator that the league hopes to draw at least 10,000 fans for its games here.
“It’s a bit of the unknown, but definitely there’s a good upside,” says Merrill, who’s currently in the NLL for San Diego. “I think everyone is optimistic. It’s a different model than what we’re used to in professional lacrosse, but I can see certain teams taking shape and getting an identity. It’s a good time to be a professional lacrosse player.”