Chris Hogan, Extremely Smart Man And Former Lacrosse Player, Invests In The Premier Lacrosse League
Boston Herald - With last week’s announcement of the new Premier Lacrosse League, headed by former Cannons star Paul Rabil, Hogan’s name made the rounds in lacrosse circles again.
Hogan is listed as an investor for the league, which was founded by and is led by professional lacrosse players that defected from Major League Lacrosse. It’s the first lacrosse league in which players are full-time employees, and the first that has a media rights deal — all games will be broadcast on NBC platforms, including a pair on the network itself.
“I am excited about the concept of the Premier Lacrosse League,” Hogan said. “The idea is to bring the best lacrosse players from around the world together and showcase their talent to the fans. Lacrosse has a special place in my heart after starting my career as a lacrosse player at Penn State.”
So I’m not sure if I ever told you guys this or not, but Chris Hogan actually used to play lacrosse. He did so collegiately for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Don’t believe me? Here is photographic evidence.
Personally I would like to see him protect his stick a little better than that. I understand he’s going up against a SSDM so it’s not like he has to worry about any crazy checks coming his way but the stick just isn’t in a great position there. You can’t do anything when the head of your stick is at your hip. That’s not a spot where you can get a pass off from or take a shot. But that’s neither here nor there. Because the fact of the matter is that Chris Hogan eventually put the lacrosse gloves down for a pair of receiver gloves instead, and with those receiver gloves he’s been able to make a decent amount of coin playing football professionally in the NFL. Maybe some of you New England Patriots fans have noticed him a time or two out there on the field.
The very unfortunate reality of the NFL is that many players end up going broke shortly after they retire. But Chris Hogan will not be one of those stories because he is extremely smart with his money. And in being so smart with his money, he has decided to invest in the Premier Lacrosse League. Want to know who else invested in the Premier Lacrosse League? The Chernin Group. And they’re the smartest people in the world. So Chris Hogan and Peter Chernin both have two of the biggest brains on the planet because the return these guys are going to get in their investment is going to be huge.
We talked about the Premier Lacrosse League a ton last week. I wrote a blog on it last Monday and then we had an episode of The Crease Dive solely dedicated to the league last Friday. So if you’re just finding out about the PLL today because Chris Hogan is investing in it and you’re interested to read/hear what it’s all about, I highly suggest checking those two things out. At the very least, just click the links so I can get some pageviews. Either way, it’s going to be huge. It’s the only professional sports league in the world right now that is purely aimed toward the players and fans. There are no team owners who are just looking to turn a profit. There’s not a league commissioner there to fuck everything up and get in the league’s own way. It’s built for the fans, by the players. And it is going to take the sport of lacrosse into the future by giving fans the ultimate access to the athletes as well as putting the games on NBCSN and NBC. There is a lot to be excited about in terms of the PLL, so it definitely makes a lot of sense to see a guy like Chris Hogan get on board financially. It also makes sense considering Chris is probably looking to make his coach happy and it just so happens that Coach Belichick is pretty good buddies with Paul Rabil.
I would love if somehow this investment made it possible for Chris Hogan to become the first athlete to be a professional lacrosse player as well as a professional football player. But the only problem is that the PLL is no joke. These are 120+ of the best lacrosse players in the world. I know Chris Hogan is a freak athlete and everything like that, and I’m sure he’d be a pretty solid D-middie out there, but it would be tough for him to crack one of these 6 lineups. This isn’t like the MLB where anybody who has ever thrown a ball before can get out there and play. Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders had it way easier than Chris Hogan would have it trying to play in both the NFL and the PLL. But maybe if he works on those stick skills between the end of the Patriots season and June 1, he could make it happen.
But yeah. I know I joke around about Chris Hogan being a former lax player all the time and it’s become a shtick at this point. But it’s actually really cool to see him giving back to the game like this. The PLL is the future and it’s awesome to see Chris Hogan being a part of that, even if it is just financially.
P.S. – It’s also great seeing Chris Hogan out there with the lime green laces in his cleats for the HEADstrong Foundation. Bringing big time awareness to an incredible cause.