What was Major League Lacrosse. How did MLL evolve over its 20-year history. Why did MLL merge with the Premier Lacrosse League in 2020. What were the most successful MLL teams and players.
The Birth and Early Years of Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a professional men’s field lacrosse league that operated in the United States from 2001 to 2020. Founded by Jake Steinfeld, the league aimed to capitalize on the growing popularity of lacrosse and bring the sport to a wider audience.
The inaugural 2001 season featured six charter franchises:
- Baltimore Bayhawks (later Chesapeake Bayhawks)
- Long Island Lizards (later New York Lizards)
- Boston Cannons
- Bridgeport Barrage (later Philadelphia Barrage)
- New Jersey Pride
- Rochester Rattlers
In its early years, MLL focused on establishing a foothold in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, where lacrosse was already popular at the collegiate and youth levels. The league’s summer schedule allowed it to attract top college players without competing directly with the NCAA season.
Expansion, Contraction, and the Quest for National Relevance
Throughout its history, MLL experienced periods of both expansion and contraction as it sought to find the right balance of markets and team stability. Some key developments included:
2006 Westward Expansion
In 2006, MLL made a bold move by adding four new teams, including its first franchises west of the Mississippi:
- Chicago Machine
- Denver Outlaws
- Los Angeles Riptide
- San Francisco Dragons
Of these expansion teams, only the Denver Outlaws would achieve long-term success and stability.
2009 Contraction
The 2008 financial crisis and challenges in some markets led to a significant contraction in 2009. The league consolidated to six teams, with several franchises folding or merging.
Southern Expansion
In the 2010s, MLL began to focus on expanding into Southern markets, adding teams such as:
- Charlotte Hounds (2012-2018)
- Florida Launch (2014-2018)
- Atlanta Blaze (2016-2019)
The Denver Outlaws: MLL’s Western Powerhouse
The Denver Outlaws stand out as one of MLL’s most successful and stable franchises. What made the Outlaws so unique?
- Only team west of the Mississippi for much of MLL’s history
- Owned by the Pat Bowlen family and the Denver Broncos, providing financial stability and professional operations
- Missed the postseason only once in 14 seasons
- Won three championships in ten championship game appearances
- Consistently strong attendance and fan support
The Outlaws’ success demonstrated the potential for lacrosse to thrive in non-traditional markets when given proper resources and support.
Championship Dynasties and Memorable Teams
Over its 20-year history, MLL saw several teams emerge as dominant forces. Which franchises left the biggest mark on the league’s competitive landscape?
Chesapeake Bayhawks
Originally the Baltimore Bayhawks, this franchise was a cornerstone of MLL throughout its entire existence. The Bayhawks won a league-record six championships (2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2019) and appeared in the first three championship games.
New York Lizards
Another original franchise, the Lizards (initially Long Island) won three championships (2001, 2003, 2015) and were perennial contenders.
Philadelphia Barrage
After relocating from Bridgeport to Philadelphia, the Barrage became a powerhouse, winning three championships in four years from 2004 to 2007. The franchise would later go on hiatus before returning for the final 2020 season.
Boston Cannons
The last of the original six franchises to remain in their original market with their original name, the Cannons won championships in 2011 and 2020 (the league’s final season).
Notable Players and Draft Picks
MLL attracted many of the top lacrosse players in the world during its run. Who were some of the standout athletes that defined the league?
- Paul Rabil – Midfielder, considered one of the best players in MLL history
- John Grant Jr. – Attackman, prolific scorer and multiple-time MVP
- Casey Powell – Attackman, first overall pick in the inaugural MLL draft
- Kyle Harrison – Midfielder, first overall pick in 2005 and face of the sport
- Rob Pannell – Attackman, 2018 MVP and one of the league’s top scorers
The MLL draft was a crucial way for teams to acquire top collegiate talent. Some notable first overall picks included:
- 2001: Casey Powell (Syracuse) to Rochester Rattlers
- 2005: Kyle Harrison (Johns Hopkins) to New Jersey Pride
- 2014: Tom Schreiber (Princeton) to Ohio Machine
- 2015: Lyle Thompson (Albany) to Florida Launch
Challenges and Competition: The LXM Pro Tour and PLL
Throughout its existence, MLL faced various challenges and competitive pressures. How did these factors shape the league’s trajectory?
LXM Pro Tour
From 2010 to 2014, the LXM Pro Tour emerged as an alternative professional lacrosse circuit. While not a direct competitor to MLL, it did attract some top players and created a divided landscape in professional lacrosse.
Premier Lacrosse League (PLL)
In 2019, the Premier Lacrosse League launched as a direct competitor to MLL. Founded by former MLL star Paul Rabil and his brother Mike, the PLL featured:
- A tour-based model rather than fixed home markets
- Significantly higher player salaries
- Major media partnerships, including with NBC Sports
- Innovative rules and technology to enhance the viewer experience
The emergence of the PLL put significant pressure on MLL, leading to contraction and ultimately the merger between the two leagues.
The Final Seasons: COVID-19 and the PLL Merger
How did Major League Lacrosse’s story come to an end? The league’s final years were marked by contraction, the global pandemic, and ultimately a merger with its rival.
2019 Season: Second Contraction
Facing competition from the newly-formed PLL, MLL contracted to six teams for the 2019 season:
- Atlanta Blaze
- Boston Cannons
- Chesapeake Bayhawks
- Dallas Rattlers
- Denver Outlaws
- New York Lizards
2020 Season: COVID-19 Impact
The COVID-19 pandemic forced MLL to dramatically alter its plans for the 2020 season:
- Season shortened to a one-week tournament format
- All games played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland
- Teams and personnel operated in a “bubble” environment
- Boston Cannons defeated Denver Outlaws in the championship game
December 2020: Merger with PLL
On December 16, 2020, MLL announced its merger with the Premier Lacrosse League. What were the key aspects of this merger?
- PLL would be the surviving entity, absorbing MLL
- Only the Boston Cannons would continue as a team, rebranded as Cannons Lacrosse Club
- Cannons’ roster set via expansion draft
- MLL’s history, records, and IP rights transferred to PLL
The merger marked the end of Major League Lacrosse as an independent entity, but also represented a unification of professional outdoor lacrosse in North America.
Legacy and Impact of Major League Lacrosse
Although MLL is no longer operating, its 20-year run left a significant mark on the sport of lacrosse. What lasting impacts did the league have?
Growing the Game
MLL played a crucial role in expanding lacrosse’s popularity beyond its traditional Northeast strongholds. The league helped introduce the sport to new markets and audiences, particularly in the South and West.
Player Development
By providing a professional outlet for players after college, MLL helped raise the overall level of play in lacrosse. Many MLL alumni went on to become coaches and ambassadors for the sport.
Innovations
MLL experimented with rule changes and technological innovations that influenced how lacrosse is played and presented. Some of these ideas have been adopted at other levels of the sport.
Laying the Groundwork
While MLL ultimately merged with the PLL, it laid important groundwork for professional lacrosse. The lessons learned from MLL’s successes and challenges have informed the strategies of current and future lacrosse leagues.
Major League Lacrosse’s two decades of operation represented a significant era in the growth and professionalization of lacrosse in North America. While the league faced numerous challenges throughout its history, it played an undeniable role in elevating the sport’s profile and creating opportunities for players, coaches, and fans alike.
Major League Lacrosse – Wikiwand
- IntroductionMajor League Lacrosse
- HistoryFounding (2001–2005)Expansion and contraction (2006–2011)LXM Pro TourSouthern trend (2012–2018)Second contraction (2019 to 2020)PLL merger (2020)
- Rules
- TeamsTimeline
- Championship gamesPerformance by team
- DraftTop draft picks
- Attendance
- League operations
- Television coverage
- References
- External links
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Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men’s field lacrosse league in the United States. The league’s inaugural season was in 2001.[1] Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season.
This was followed by a four-team playoff for the championship trophy, the Steinfeld Trophy, named after founder Jake Steinfeld. League attendance peaked at 6,417 in 2011[2] and the 2019 average was 4,587.
The Chesapeake Bayhawks and New York Lizards (originally the Baltimore Bayhawks and Long Island Lizards) were MLL members throughout its existence and competed in the first three championship games, with the Lizards winning two. The Boston Cannons, the last of the six charter franchises to remain in their original market with their original name, won their first championship in 2011. The Philadelphia Barrage returned to the league in 2020 after an 11-season hiatus. After moving from Bridgeport to Philadelphia, the Barrage won three championships in four years from 2004 to 2007. For much of the league’s history, the Denver Outlaws were the only team west of the Mississippi River, being part of the league’s ambitious westward expansion in 2006. Being owned by the Pat Bowlen family and the Denver Broncos, the Outlaws were successful from the start, missing the postseason only once in 14 seasons, while claiming three championships in ten appearances.
The Connecticut Hammerheads were the league’s youngest franchise, and were set to play at Rafferty Stadium near Bridgeport in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shortened, quarantined season.
The final champions were the Boston Cannons, who defeated the Denver Outlaws at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland following a COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
On December 16, 2020, the league announced that it would be merging with the Premier Lacrosse League.[3] At the time of the announcement, the 2020 MLL champion Boston Cannons were announced as the only team continuing play in the 2021 season as members of the PLL. Their roster would be set via expansion draft and, following PLL style, dropping “Boston” from their name, becoming the Cannons Lacrosse Club.
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VK, Rosselkhozbank and RDDM will award the best participants of the “League of Lecturers” and “School League of Lecturers” in special nominations On May 18, at the awards ceremony, the partners will name the best adult and young lecturers in the field of digital, the best popularizer of knowledge about agricultural technologies, and the owner of the best voice.
The awards received will allow their owners to expand their opportunities in creating new educational content. Also prepared prizes for the finalists and winners were the partners of ANO “Dialogue”, the Publishing Group “Eksmo-AST”, the children’s humorous film magazine “Yeralash”.
On May 18, 2023, the International Multimedia Press Center “Russia Today” will host the awarding of the winners of the League of Lecturers and the School League of Lecturers competitions. The ceremony will bring together 100 adults and 50 young finalists from 59 regions of Russia and will name the 50 best educators of the League of Lecturers this season, as well as 20 winners of the School League of Lecturers. All of them will receive awards from the Russian society “Knowledge” – a 2.5-kilogram cube of a rare rock – shungite, certificates for tourist trips within the framework of the project “More than a trip”, and the winners of the “League of Lecturers” will also be awarded cash prizes for the development of their own educational projects.
Also, 70 winners will become lecturers of the Knowledge Society and will participate in its events.
VK has established a special nomination for the participants of the adult League of Lecturers – “The best educator in digital”. To get into the nomination, the finalists from 18 to 35 years old had to apply for participation, and also reflect one or more of the following topics in their final lecture: modern IT technologies, career and self-development, opportunities for youth, creation and promotion of content in social networks, creation of offline and online communities. VK experts evaluate the content of the participants’ performances and their skill in using digital tools. The best lecturer in this nomination will receive prizes from VK and will have advantages in the selection for the VK Ambassador Program. The VK Ambassador Program is an educational project for young people aged 16 to 35, dedicated to working with content and developing communities in social networks.
VK will also choose the best digital educator from among the participants of the “School League of Lecturers”.
To do this, the young participants of the final need to share on their page a short vertical educational video in VK Clips up to three minutes long with the hashtag #LigaLecturersVK by the end of the day on May 16. The most interesting creative clip will be chosen by VK experts. “The best educator in digital” will receive a certificate from the educational platform “Uchi.ru” and the opportunity to record joint content with a popular blogger.
Rosselkhozbank established a special nomination for the finalists “For popularization of knowledge about agricultural technologies”. The finalists were invited to prepare an additional lecture on modern technologies in agriculture, including not only applied agricultural areas, but also artificial intelligence, economics, and innovation. Lectures will be evaluated by experts from the Russian Agricultural Bank. And the winner they choose will have the opportunity to create and promote their own educational course for free.
Special nomination “Cool voice” from “Cool radio” initiated by the official media of the Russian movement of children and youth “Movement of the First” for the finalists of the “School League of Lecturers”.
The owner of the best voice, according to the editors, will be able to create an author’s program on “Class Radio” – this is the youth Internet radio “Movement of the First”, which broadcasts news about school and student life around the clock, modern Russian and foreign music. Here, the guys launch their own programs, discuss topics that concern them and learn to convey their point of view to a wide audience.
Also among the partners who supported the competition of lecturers is the Dialogue Competence Center in the field of Internet communications, which prepared as a prize the opportunity to study new media at the school. The Eksmo-AST publishing group will award the finalists who want to publish their books, and will also give books to all the finalists of the School League of Lecturers. The children’s humorous film magazine “Yeralash” will give all the finalists a master class “Speak effortlessly”, as well as tickets to the festival “Yeralash”.
Face-to-face lectures of the finalists of the League of Lecturers competition will be held at the leading universities of Moscow on May 16 and 17, they can be watched live by registering on the website of the Russian Society “Knowledge”.
On May 18, there will also be a live online broadcast of the awards ceremony. Live broadcasts of the lecturers’ final speeches and the awards ceremony will be available to all VKontakte users in the community of the Russian Knowledge Society.
Recordings of speeches from the previous stages of the competition are available on the website of the League of Lecturers project and the School League of Lecturers project.
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