ONE LEAGUE TO RULE THEM ALL: The PLL And MLL Have Finally Merged, The Lacrosse Takeover Is Imminent
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.PLL - The Premier Lacrosse League (“PLL”) and Major League Lacrosse (“MLL”) have merged with subsequent season operations and activities to formally exist under the Premier Lacrosse League.
As part of the merger, the PLL will immediately expand to include the Boston Cannons as the PLL’s eighth team, under the rebranded name Cannons Lacrosse Club. The Cannons Lacrosse Club roster will be entirely selected through an Expansion Draft in 2021. Additionally, the PLL will retain the rights to all of the former MLL teams for future expansion considerations.
UPDATE: The boys hit the mics to record an emergency podcast episode. Listen here on iTunes
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Well holy hecking shit. It actually happened.
The moment the PLL was first announced a couple years ago, you knew there was only two possible ways this could have ended. Either the MLL would end up folding completely, or they'd work towards an eventual merger. We've seen this happen with virtually every major professional sport at some point or another. You had the AFL merging with the NFL. You had the ABA merging with the NBA. You had the WHA merging with the NHL. Because two professional leagues in the same sport just isn't sustainable. It doesn't make sense. And then as soon as those mergers happened, boom, the sport takes off.
Lacrosse is in that moment right now. The PLL went out and proved that they could do this thing better than the MLL could. They proved that they could get major broadcasting deals and big name sponsors. They proved that there is a way to make professional lacrosse a full-time career instead of guys just playing on the weekend while having some job in finance the rest of the time. And it didn't necessarily have to get to the point where Paul Rabil had to go out and create another league to prove that, but that's just how the situation unfolded.
And now it's time for the two leagues to merge together under the Premier Lacrosse League. And any fan of lacrosse should be pretty pumped about a merger rather than just the MLL folding. That's for a few of reasons. 1) You get to keep the Cannons as an immediate 8th team, and the league will have the rights to all the other former MLL teams for the future. 2) It's just a better look for the game overall. A rising tide floats all ships, competition breeds excellence, that whole sort of thing. I And finally, 3) it's not like the MLL is a completely failed operation. I'm sure there are still some pieces there on the business side that can help the PLL grow. So it's better to work together instead of the two leagues just trying to devour each other.
So yeah, definitely a huge day in the world of lacrosse. And it's a huge day for all of us who have friends that aren't the biggest lacrosse friends in the world and constantly asked why there are two leagues, and which league is which, and all that other nonsense lacrosse fans have had to deal with over the past couple of years. If you have two pro leagues, you really don't have one. That's no longer the case, so let's get to some lax.