MLL–PLL Merger
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The MLL–PLL merger represented a unification of the two major professional
field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor sport played with two opposing teams of 10 players each. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were i ...
leagues in the United States at the time:
Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001 Major League Lacrosse season, 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This w ...
(MLL) and the
Premier Lacrosse League The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is a professional field lacrosse league in the United States. The league comprises eight teams. Its inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major- ...
(PLL). Initial terms of the merger were released on the morning of December 16, 2020. The two leagues agreed to unite under the "Premier Lacrosse League" name and logo, operating as a tour-based model and removing the last of the hometown-based professional field lacrosse teams in the United States. The
Boston Cannons The Boston Cannons are a professional field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that competes in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The team plays its home games at Harvard Stadium. The team competed in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) fro ...
would be the sole MLL team identity to play in the PLL for the
2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, rebranding as the
Cannons Lacrosse Club The Boston Cannons are a professional field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that competes in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The team plays its home games at Harvard Stadium. The team competed in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) from ...
.


Background


Professional lacrosse foundations

Professional field lacrosse began with the creation of
Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001 Major League Lacrosse season, 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This w ...
, organized by Jake Steinfeld in summer 2001. With the exception of the smaller LXM Pro Tour appearance from 2010 to 2014, the MLL was unrivaled for professional talent for nearly two decades. From 2006 to 2008 the league competed with its high of 10 franchises, and in 2011 recorded its record average attendance at 6,417 per contest.


Emergence of the PLL

Paul Rabil and a group of investors first approached the MLL for a buyout in 2018 after declining attendance figures, stagnating wages, and player privacy concerns. Unable to come to an agreement, Rabil launched his own league set to begin to play in 2019 under the name "Premier Lacrosse League" (PLL). The Chernin Group,
The Raine Group The Raine Group, commonly referred to as Raine, is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on industries related to technology, media and telecommunications (TMT). Companies the firm has been involved with significantly include Endeavor, Sof ...
, and Joe Tsai among other major investors helped the PLL bring an innovative version of lacrosse to fans, with a focus on more professional athlete environments. Many of the top players from the MLL left for the PLL that first year, and more followed in 2020.


Competition between the leagues

The two leagues first operated with overlapping schedules in the summers of 2019, with the MLL crowning the
Chesapeake Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Baltimore Bayhaw ...
league champions for a record sixth time just eight days after the Whipsnakes were crowned inaugural champions of the PLL. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both leagues played their 2020 seasons in a bubble format. The PLL played their games at Zions Bank Stadium in
Herriman, Utah Herriman ( ) is a city in southwestern Salt Lake County, Utah. The population was 55,144 as of the 2020 census. Although Herriman was a town in 2000, it has since been classified as a third-class city by state law. The city has experienced rapi ...
and the MLL played their games at
Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an open-air stadium located off the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Opened in 1959, it serves as the home stadium of the Navy Midshipmen Navy Midshipmen football, college f ...
in
Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
. Two years proved to be enough pressure to force a change. Sportico broke the official merger news on the morning of December 16, 2020. NBC, the official broadcaster of the PLL, provided additional details later that day.


Merger terms

To better transition to a single league entity, an internal team of front office personnel from both leagues will be overseeing offseason transitions. While there will no longer be any city-based professional field teams, the PLL agreed to add former MLL hometowns to the 2021 tour schedule and to commit to building local lacrosse programs in those areas. Of the seven MLL teams, only the Boston Cannons would bring their identity into the 2021 season. This rebranded Cannons Lacrosse Club would serve as an expansion team, with its roster created through an expansion draft of current PLL players and former MLL professionals now in the PLL player pool. The PLL does retain the rights to the former MLL team identities with the option to use these brands in future expansion.


Post-merger teams


Retired MLL teams


Aftermath

The newly rebranded
Cannons Lacrosse Club The Boston Cannons are a professional field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that competes in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The team plays its home games at Harvard Stadium. The team competed in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) from ...
will retain the full history of the Boston Cannons as a founding MLL franchise. This includes 20 years of history and two professional lacrosse championships. The
Chesapeake Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Baltimore Bayhaw ...
holds the record for most professional championships at 6, but by way of the merger, the Cannons will now join the Whipsnakes in a tie for most championships by an active team with two each. The Bayhawks and
New York Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...
were also original MLL teams founded in 2001, but will have seen their franchises cease operations with an uncertain future. For at least the first
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
post-merger, the expanded PLL returned to a tour-based model. The season began on June 4, 2021, and concluded on September 19 with the championship game.


See also

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ABA–NBA merger The ABA–NBA merger was a major pro sports business maneuver in 1976 when the American Basketball Association (ABA) combined with the National Basketball Association (NBA), after multiple attempts over several years. The NBA and ABA had entered ...
*
AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, wh ...
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NHL–WHA merger The 1979 NHL expansion, popularly referred to as the NHL–WHA merger, was the culmination of several years of negotiations between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA). The negotiations led to the dissolution o ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MLL-PLL merger Premier Lacrosse League Major League Lacrosse Boston Cannons Chesapeake Bayhawks Connecticut Hammerheads Denver Outlaws New York Lizards 2020 in lacrosse Sports-related mergers