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Johns Hopkins lacrosse legend Paul Rabil now runs the Premier Lacrosse League and is determined to find homes for all eight of the league’s teams.
The hope is that fans will become more engaged across the board and teams will have a deeper connection with fans once PLL teams all have a city to call home. Since June 3, fans have been able to vote on which cities should get a team through the PLL app or pllvote.com.
Currently, the PLL operates a barnstorming model in which all eight teams play in the same city every weekend. The regular season is 10 weekends; the playoffs, three. The PLL visited Homewood Field Aug. 5-6.
Even though the eight teams will get cities to call home, the PLL will still operate as a single entity and own all eight teams. The barnstorming model will continue, but home teams will play a doubleheader when the PLL comes to their city.
There are a few benchmarks that the city needs to hit in order to land a PLL team, according to Rabil. Fandom, venue availability, venue performance, venue market fit, prospective ownership groups and a town’s other professional sports franchises are all factors that the PLL considers. Commercial viability and tourism groups were also mentioned by Rabil.
“Since Day 1, Baltimore has been at the top of our list in way of performance, but there are a whole lot of other factors we’ve been looking at. We have eight teams to place across the country,” Rabil said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 4. “Just as we reinvented our PLL model out of the gate, we look at the history of pro sports and case studies in the NFL and the NBA all the way to F1, UFC, MLS quite a bit, and I think there are a couple of surprises we have up our sleeve that should work in the favor of this thing as we continue to get it to grow and expand and build into a prominent sport in North America.”
On Oct. 22, 2018, the PLL announced its entrance into the sports world. Rabil and his brother Mike co-founded the league. Rabil retired from playing after the 2021 PLL season and was named the league’s president.
The PLL wants to proceed carefully because it has noticed that unsuccessful leagues move too fast, ignore unknowns and are out of business before three years have passed. Rabil’s vision is a season that is six months with typical home and road schedules and the backing of a fanatical community. To get there, the PLL needs to stay patient and focus on its roadmap instead of skipping steps.
Rabil and the PLL have created a plan called “363 plus two,” which calls for the PLL to grow by being involved in communities all year — not just one weekend.
“We’re putting together a huge strategy around the 363. Our players living in markets, what type of exhibitions are we doing on behalf of the team, what community events are we doing, how is the PLL Assists, our nonprofit arm, working with the local Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, XYZ, right?” Rabil said. “That’s also an important effort of ours that we’re putting onto paper and we’re going to invest in such that it’s not like just a drop-in for those two days every year.”
Rabil would also like lacrosse to take place in the Olympics again. The last time lacrosse was in the Olympics was in 1908. He said that the PLL dedicated resources to World Lacrosse, the governing body overseeing the process with the IOC. In late 2018, lacrosse was granted provisional status by the IOC. The goal is for lacrosse to return as a medal sport in 2028, when the Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.
“If you get access to the rings as a discipline, that’s universal language,” Rabil said. “It is elevating for lacrosse. It is educating people about lacrosse. It is unlocking resources for kids around the world who can play lacrosse through their national governing bodies. If we can’t figure out how that is advantageous for the PLL, I’m the wrong person in this position.”
For more from Rabil, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Premier Lacrosse League
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