The Pro Lacrosse Problem 

Honestly, in my opinion, I think it's good that every team has their own location (so people can grow a stronger connection to a team), but I would have preferred if they had kept the touring system for a few more years to grow the game in less mainstream areas. Also, I don't like how every week a team has a bye. Besides that, I agree the NLL and PLL should collaborate more. For example, perhaps a skills competition could be a cool little event.

i love lacrosse but you know we have problem when Lyle won play in this league

I love what you are saying, I do agree we need to be far more united, but I don’t think it’s “both leagues fault”, the NLL regularly talks about the PLL players and post on ig about it but it is the PLL that actually goes out of its way to not mention the NLL

Growing up in rural canada there was a hockey arena in every town making Box lacrosse way more accessible, plus the less players needed to start a team helps, my finally midget season we had 11 runners plus a goalie. If you don’t live in a major center you’re not playing field. So I get why NLL/box lacrosse is way bigger in Canada than the PLL/field. But it’s looking like Sixes will hopefully help grow field lacrosse in Canada and I think that’s where the PLL and NLL should help each other out to grow the game as a whole.

Both the NLL and PLL are far more concerned about profit over growth of the game. It’s heart breaking because this is the same degenerative mindset that infects the health insurance industry and housing to the point so many people are struggling for basic necessities to survive. Our government allows these crucial industries to be run by greed so I have no hope in my mind something like lacrosse won’t also be swallowed whole by corporate greed.

It will take twenty years for lacrosse to become mainstream. There needs to be more promotion for kids to play, and get there parents involved. It does not happen overnight. Also having a connection to all things lacrosse and making sure it’s fun to watch and participate in whether you’re younger or older. The more people involved the more the growth.

Played in middle and high school from 2007-2017 the Paul rabil part about his vlogs and having a life was so crazy. Dude was the best player we’ve ever seen so far and was struggling to just live day to day.

as someone who personally prefers indoor lacrosse because that is the sport i've chosen to play, i still follow the PLL to the utmost extreme, especially now that the teams are linked to specific cities. being someone from philadelphia who got into lacrosse not too long ago and seeing the waterdogs come into our city to play for us helps me to link myself to a team which helps me to become more engrossed with the game. i think that both leagues need to do whats right for the sport and understand that NLL fans ARE PLL fans, theyre not 2 seperate people.

I love how I just hoped onto your channel today and then like 20 minutes after I subbed, a new vid dropped Cant wait to see more from you

Good point about combining the powers of the NLL/PLL to supercharge growth. Great vid!

Very well done video, I think lacrosse needs more of these types of videos

The reason the focus for things like the number of teams, where championship series is being in the NE all comes down to cost and population. It's the most central location for a majority of players and a central location for where the majority of lacrosse is. Lacrosse is growing rapdily, but the NE is still, by far, the HUB of the lacrosse world

You mentioned playing in the middle of the country… yet the PLL has completely neglected the entire central time zone. Outside of this upcoming weekend in Minny, not a single team or game for year in the entire central time zone.

No sane person can live comfortably off of $35k in 2024.

NLL and PLL merger/collab might be huge. Getting continuity over both leagues would be amazing. This probably means taking the NLL teams and fanbases and bringing them to the PLL as they are more established but there are lots of ways to go about this. Would love to see accessibility increased too. I live in northern CT and I can't even find a mens league anywhere from central CT to central MA! That's crazy how is one of the places lacrosse is supposed to be the most popular not even have mens leagues? I wonder if Maryland/denver/tri state? struggle with similar things.

Kinda reminds me of the division with the PPA and MLP for pickleball up until the recent merger

My dream would be for the same organization to run a pro box and field lacrosse league. Two seasons with the same teams and the same players under contract. Some players would only play box, some would only play field, but basically have a single league with a box and a field season. Throw in the 6's championship series between seasons, just for fun. Now THAT would be awesome!

Nice vid man! NLL teams seem to have little or no issue shouting out players playing in the PLL.. check out Albany’s recent post about Tye Kurtz and Josh Byrne! From a good source with the PLL they’re told to not mention the NLL at all. He got in trouble for mentioning the NLL in an article that was written about a player playing in both leagues. Seems a little one sided on the hatred to me. I’m biased as well being a box lacrosse guy, but the NLL feels like a legit league while the PLL feels like a social media experiment for kids. The NLL should takes some notes from the PLL on branding and using social media more but overall I think the NLL is a better product.

Nice video man

As a lacrosse fan I want to see the sport grow both professionally and otherwise. I love and am a die hard fan of the NLL and I like and enjoy the PLL a bit more casually as entertainment when it's on. That said, from a business perspective with both leagues trying to make it closer to becoming a major professional sport it's understandable that they both see each other as existential threats. There's no other professional sport where there isn't a clear hierarchy between leagues. This balance of power is what makes collaboration so difficult.

Mitch seems like a great guy

I wanna give an idea for a video series you could do Similarly to how Play like football has videos in each football position maybe you could do videos on each of the lacrosse positions ,how some of the best players became good and the history of how the positions evolved giving you a decent bit to work off of but it's also not my channel and a very big idea

I would say another main thing that needs to be fixed is how many pll teams there are. We NEED more so more people can compete, and with more teams = more fans = more MONEY for all players!

I understand that they needed to be more established as a league and not a touring side show, but I think it was a huge slap in the face to midwest and texas lacrosse fans when they annouced a team in the carolinas and a team in denver, 1400 miles of missed opportunity to "grow the game" and especially because they consider carolina to be in the western conference

what do u think about lax announcers and social media people always correlating lacrosse with other sports? i know sone people hate it because they’re trying to differentiate themselves from different leagues and stand out more, but some people love it because it helps people who’ve never grown up with lacrosse or know anything about it have an easier time grasping how dominant a player is or how unique they are. just want to know ur thoughts on that

People in the PLL try to trash on the NLL yet I don’t see them getting 19,000 people out for a championship game. Or even 10,000

It’s such a bummer that PLL has moved on from the no-home-locations model for professional sports; tying teams to cities doesn’t make sense for athletes in contemporary sports and is a vestige from a time when players were from, and lived around, the location the team was in-part of the big issues in the NBA (“big vs. small markets” and player loyalty) stems from the stupidity of this antiquated model. Why would a highly touted draft pick from the west coast want to play/stay in a small, middle American market? I understand that, logistically, tying teams to locations means that they can generate local support because humans have a proclivity for caring about “us” (regardless of how erroneous the application of that term is); it’s why people root for their country in an Olympic sport they normally don’t gaf about. And I’m sure that the plan is to eventually garner “ownership” capital to support the league; right now, I imagine that trying to get investors without giving them control over teams is difficult, but it doesn’t change my opinion that the lack of locations was a move in the right direction for creating parity in professional sports, as infeasible of a concept as that is in America.

It’s hard to compare the PLL to the NBA when the NBA has been around far longer than the PLL.

The biggest problem with the PLL is the game day roster size. 19 players is far too few. 3 attackmen, 3 close defense, 3 offensive midfielders, 2 SSDMs, 2 goalies, 1 LSM, 1 face-off guy. That's 15 players. That only leaves 4 subs . You probably want a 2nd offensive midfield line. Just like in hockey, one line can't play the entire game - not at the high level I would expect to see in the pros (3 more gets you to 18), and a 2nd set of SSDMs - that gets you to 20 and you only have 19 roster spots. I want to see competition. I don't want to see Joe Nardella go 31-0 on face-offs because the other team isn't even trying. I don't want to see what happened with the Redwoods and the Atlas where Chris Fake went down and the Woods had no one to replace him so the Atlas offense just took over the game (and the Atlas is my favorite PLL team). Rosters shouldn't be so small teams don't have back-ups. Rosters shouldn't be so small teams have to decide if they want to dress a face-off guy. They should be able to dress 2 in case one gets hurt. Not having enough players to have subs makes the league look bush. It's like a beer league with coaches. You know where the prima donna players count the guys on the sideline before putting their gear on and decide to go home instead of playing if they think it's too many. This is a pro league. I know it's a players' league and they all want to play and they don't want to split the small paychecks they get between more players. But as a fan, I expect more from a pro league. The 2nd biggest issue with the PLL is the off-field officials. There are clock issues (shot clock and/or game clock) EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND. That also makes the league look bush.

MLL's overall image with the branding of each team and location was much more professional imo. PLL team names are juvenile sounding and the marketing is super cringe and tiktok vibe

I don’t know if Rugby is a good sport to take inspiration from but if it was treated similar to 15s versus 7s where people understood there’s different styles would be a good marketing strategy in my mind

There needs to be a push in different demographics I would’ve loved to play but there weren’t cheap options for me growing up.

Any pick up lacrosse happening in Denver this summer?

in my opinion, the field game has to shift towards the box game, the outdoor sport where its 10v10 is too expensive to be inclusive. if we really want to grow the game, the outdoor game has to shrink to make it more affordable and more accessible across the US.

As a fan there is very little casual viewing of the game. Anyone interested in the game has either played or has a close friend or family member who is playing or has played . Also , yes the reputation of the game is that it's a "rich kid , prep school sport" while the reality isn't true , the perception exists and if that's the perception then it's the truth . Not only do many inner city kids not have meaningful access to the game , many , have no idea, none , that the game even exists . Also lacrosse has to stop trying to use other sports like football to try and legitimize the sport . On media it always becomes a big deal when a high school athlete plays football and then comes back to lacrosse. When in reality more often than not, those football players while excellent athletes end up not being sucessful in lacrosse when they come back to the game. Hopefully it can be figured out .

I'm going to have a different perspective than most on this topic because I grew up in Central Valley, California, which isn't exactly a hot bed for lacrosse and played in high school. The biggest issue is awareness, the funding will be a result of that awareness. Awareness means starting young, making entry fees really low so that all income levels can participate, organizing the community around the sport, and going to practice in areas that you normally wouldn't. In my senior year, the #2 football team in California came from a bottom 10 academic school, so what's the excuse? There's a stink of rich elitism in the sport that needs to be solved and quieted if the game ever wants to become a serious sport. Use the fact that this was how war was fought in pre European America.

A couple of thoughts on pay: 35K is better than 10k, but with inflation its not 3.5x more purchasing power. WNBA teams are subsidized by NBA teams. That helps a lot. I enjoy box in the winter and field in the summer. The PLL and NLL should 100% have a more symbiotic relationship. This will be controversial but I think the Paul's Lacrosse League would be better served if he put the spotlight more on current players and less on himself. Fate Of A Sport? Cringe.

Those clips that looked like he was a realtor was his giving a tour of his Baltimore crib. Was he really a realtor??

As someone who has never seen an actual lacrosse game, it just doesn't seem like a big outside stadium sport, the ball is too small the players do not take enough space on the field. Similar to ice hockey where you wanna see the small stuff as closely as possible

If lacrosse players are still making less than WNBA players…it’s not mainstream yet as much as I want it to be

Fairly certain 35k is the league minimum

Box Lax is just a better spectator sport than outdoor. NLL>PLL

It seems like lacrosse hype stops at the collegiate level, which I find is unique to lacrosse specifically. Maybe it’s a marketing thing, maybe something else, idk 🤷

I think you have it wrong lacrosse is growing and is doing way better than past years and j. Certain states it’s very big a couple of years ago kids would ask me what is lacrosse now they all know so I think Paul made a lot of progress and other countries are getting involved to

That eight-home-markets deal is ridiculous, since the PLL still only visits that city once. At least NLL makes good on having actual home markets, even when they pull one from Long Island to place it in Ottawa.

Wait till this guy hears about the MLU, AUDL/UFA

Rich preppy sport? That's a field lax issue. Box players typically aren't preppy rich kids. Gary Gait never played hockey because it was too expensive. When I grew up in Canada, box players were considered tough and a little crazy, not preppy, rich kids.

The biggest problem with PLL is the game day roster size. 19 players is far too few. 3 attackmen, 3 close defense, 3 midfielders, 2 SSDMs,

Frankly until lacrosse is no longer a sport just for rich suburban kids there’s no way that it’s going to be mainstream. Hockey is getting to that point as well

If you don’t love sports as a kid you’re not gonna magically love them as an adult. I’ve never met a sports fan that didn’t grow up with their team. Youth leagues are the only way the pro leagues will grow.

$35,000 a year is not live-able in any major city

Lacrosse is the sport for people who never learned to play a sport

30k is the new 15k. This is still all these guys side gig.

35k is live-able? Where?

This sport wont get away from being a rich preppy kid sport until until the common man can afford to play this sport. All talk about "growing the game" is just fluff that sounds nice until then. A few lax clinics in under priviledged areas isn't fixing that. The people that make gear are just like Hockey gear makers, in the sense that they're perfectly okay with the sport being a niche. Played by only those that can afford it.

"Lacrosse isn't mainstream..." Says the voice on the Lacrosse RU-vid video we are all watching... Apparently that isn't mainstream enough for Lacrosse... LMFAO! I'm a lacrosse fan and i'm sick of fake fan channels like this who pretend to love a sport but are not supportive and bad mouth or apologize for it every change they get on a video...

🐸 🥍

Does the NFL promote XFL? Does the NHL promote da beauty league? There needs to be one league, politics in sports is the dumbest thing ever

More kids are playing lacrosse than baseball. So knock it off. You sounds like a jealous old guy

Your video is divisive and not helping grow the game.

PLL is a niche league and will not last. I love the game and played in college. PLL players (a lot of the best "star" players) have all gone to prestigious schools...they don't need to play more than a couple of years of pro lacrosse. For the most part, the "star" turnover is pretty quick as "the juice just ain't worth the squeeze". These guys are not leaving college early to go pro. They have legit degrees and have high paying jobs waiting for them due to their alumni networks. The players have no interesting back stories that players of the NBA or NFL have. There's no rags to riches vibe...a lot of these guys come from well do families. The human interest factor from the casual fan is non existent. It's not their fault they come from privilege. A lot of them have choices that don't include long term damage to their bodies. The NLL is a different game with different players.

lacrosse ether needs to become full contact or there needs to be a boundary that attackers cant enter to shoot. there is a reason they make so little money. its boring to watch. geez the WNBA is doing way better.

I agree lax is a rich man sport which is starting to change in my neighborhood. Are team is a mix class team and we won our league. We need a mix class to make this great sport grow.

Wait till this guy hears about the MLU, AUDL/UFA