Major league lacrosse salary. Major League Lacrosse Salaries: The Rise of Premier Lacrosse League and Its Impact on Player Compensation

How did Paul Rabil revolutionize professional lacrosse. What are the average salaries in Major League Lacrosse. How does the Premier Lacrosse League compare to MLL in terms of player compensation. What challenges did the PLL face in its early stages. How has the landscape of professional lacrosse changed since the introduction of the PLL.

The Evolution of Professional Lacrosse: From MLL to PLL

The landscape of professional lacrosse has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, largely due to the efforts of lacrosse superstar Paul Rabil. Dissatisfied with the state of Major League Lacrosse (MLL), Rabil took matters into his own hands and co-founded the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) in 2018. This bold move has reshaped the sport’s professional scene and had a substantial impact on player salaries and overall compensation.

The Downfall of Major League Lacrosse

Major League Lacrosse, founded in 1999, struggled to gain traction as a professional sports league. By 2017, the league was facing several challenges:

• Declining attendance, with an average of only 3,800 fans per game
• Low player salaries, with rookies earning a base salary of just $6,000
• Poor player experiences, including inadequate travel arrangements and lack of basic amenities
• Limited fan engagement and media coverage

These factors contributed to the league’s inability to attract and retain top talent, ultimately leading to its decline.

Paul Rabil: The Entrepreneur Athlete

Paul Rabil, often referred to as the “LeBron James of lacrosse,” recognized the untapped potential in professional lacrosse. His journey from player to league founder is a unique story in the world of sports entrepreneurship.

Building a Personal Brand

Rabil’s success as an entrepreneur began with his savvy use of social media:

• In 2008, he amassed 50,000 Facebook fans overnight
• He launched a YouTube channel in 2009, sharing lacrosse tutorials and lifestyle content
• By 2013, Rabil became the first lacrosse player to earn over $1 million in endorsements

His social media following eventually rivaled that of the entire MLL, demonstrating the power of personal branding in sports.

The Birth of the Premier Lacrosse League

In October 2018, Paul and Mike Rabil announced the formation of the Premier Lacrosse League. This new venture aimed to address the shortcomings of MLL and create a more player-centric professional lacrosse experience.

Key Features of the PLL

• Tour-based model, bringing games to different cities across the United States
• Improved player salaries and benefits
• Enhanced media coverage, including a seven-figure deal with NBC
• Focus on fan engagement and digital content

The creation of the PLL represented a significant shift in the professional lacrosse landscape, offering players and fans a more attractive alternative to the established MLL.

Comparing Salaries: MLL vs. PLL

One of the most significant changes brought about by the introduction of the PLL was the improvement in player compensation. How do the salaries in these two leagues compare?

Major League Lacrosse Salaries

In the MLL, player salaries were notoriously low:

• Rookie base salary: $6,000
• Average player salary: Estimated between $10,000 and $25,000 per season
• Most players required full-time jobs outside of lacrosse to make a living

Premier Lacrosse League Salaries

The PLL significantly improved player compensation:

• Minimum player salary: Approximately $25,000 per season
• Average player salary: Estimated between $35,000 and $70,000 per season
• Top players can earn six-figure salaries
• Full healthcare benefits and equity stakes in the league for players

This substantial increase in salaries has allowed more players to focus on lacrosse as their primary career, potentially improving the overall quality of play in the league.

The Impact of Increased Salaries on Professional Lacrosse

The introduction of higher salaries in the PLL has had several ripple effects on the sport of lacrosse as a whole:

• Attracting top talent: Higher salaries have incentivized the best players to join the PLL
• Increased competition: The PLL’s success forced the MLL to improve its own player compensation
• Growing the sport: Better-paid players can dedicate more time to training and promotion, potentially expanding lacrosse’s fanbase
• Career viability: Higher salaries make professional lacrosse a more realistic career option for young players

These changes have contributed to a more robust and competitive professional lacrosse landscape.

Challenges Faced by the Premier Lacrosse League

Despite its innovative approach and improved player compensation, the PLL has faced several challenges in establishing itself as the premier professional lacrosse league:

Competition with Established Leagues

The PLL had to compete with the already-established MLL for players, fans, and media attention. This competition led to a fragmented professional lacrosse landscape for several years.

Building a Fan Base

As a new league, the PLL had to work hard to attract and retain fans. The tour-based model, while innovative, presented challenges in building local fan bases in specific cities.

Financial Sustainability

Offering higher player salaries and benefits required significant financial backing. The league needed to prove its long-term viability to investors and sponsors.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Like all sports leagues, the PLL faced significant disruptions due to the global pandemic, forcing it to adapt its business model and game format.

The Future of Professional Lacrosse Salaries

As the professional lacrosse landscape continues to evolve, what can we expect for player salaries in the future?

Potential for Growth

If the PLL continues to expand its fanbase and secure lucrative media deals, player salaries could see further increases. The league’s focus on digital content and fan engagement may help drive this growth.

Salary Cap Considerations

As the league matures, it may need to implement a salary cap system to ensure financial stability and competitive balance among teams.

Performance-Based Compensation

Future salary structures may include more performance-based incentives, rewarding players for individual and team success.

International Expansion

If professional lacrosse expands globally, it could open up new revenue streams and potentially lead to higher player salaries.

The Merger of MLL and PLL: A New Era for Professional Lacrosse

In a surprising turn of events, the PLL and MLL announced a merger in December 2020, effectively consolidating professional outdoor lacrosse in North America under the PLL banner. This merger has significant implications for player salaries and the overall structure of professional lacrosse.

Implications of the Merger

• Unified player pool: The best players from both leagues now compete in a single league
• Streamlined operations: Reduced competition for resources and sponsors
• Potential for higher salaries: Consolidated revenues may lead to increased player compensation
• Improved media coverage: A single league may attract more lucrative broadcast deals

The merger represents a significant milestone in the evolution of professional lacrosse, potentially setting the stage for continued growth and improved player compensation.

The Role of Player Unions in Shaping Lacrosse Salaries

As professional lacrosse continues to grow, player unions may play an increasingly important role in negotiating salaries and benefits. The formation of a strong players’ association could lead to:

• Collective bargaining agreements
• Minimum salary guarantees
• Improved healthcare and retirement benefits
• Greater player input in league decisions

The development of a robust players’ union could significantly impact the future of lacrosse salaries and overall player welfare.

The Impact of Sponsorships and Endorsements on Player Earnings

While league salaries form the base of player compensation, sponsorships and endorsements can significantly boost a player’s overall earnings. As the sport grows in popularity, these opportunities are likely to increase.

Factors Influencing Sponsorship Opportunities

• Player performance and statistics
• Social media following and engagement
• Overall league popularity and media coverage
• Player personality and marketability

Top players like Paul Rabil have shown that lacrosse players can earn substantial income through endorsements, potentially surpassing their league salaries.

The Role of Media Rights in Funding Player Salaries

Media rights deals play a crucial role in funding player salaries across professional sports. For lacrosse, securing lucrative broadcast and streaming agreements is essential for long-term financial stability and growth in player compensation.

Current Media Landscape

• The PLL has a broadcast deal with NBC Sports
• Games are available on various platforms, including network TV, cable, and streaming services
• Digital content and social media engagement are key components of the league’s media strategy

As viewership grows and the sport gains popularity, the value of media rights is likely to increase, potentially leading to higher player salaries.

Comparing Lacrosse Salaries to Other Professional Sports

How do professional lacrosse salaries compare to those in other sports? While lacrosse salaries have improved significantly with the introduction of the PLL, they still lag behind many other professional sports.

Salary Comparisons

• NBA: Average salary of $7.7 million (2022-2023 season)
• NFL: Average salary of $2.7 million (2022 season)
• MLB: Average salary of $4.41 million (2022 season)
• MLS: Average salary of $420,000 (2022 season)
• PLL: Estimated average salary of $35,000 to $70,000

While lacrosse salaries are significantly lower than those in major team sports, they are more comparable to salaries in niche professional sports like rugby or ultimate frisbee.

The Role of Youth Lacrosse in Driving Professional Growth

The growth of youth lacrosse programs plays a crucial role in the development of professional lacrosse and, by extension, professional player salaries. A strong youth lacrosse ecosystem can lead to:

• Increased talent pool for professional leagues
• Larger fan base and viewership for professional games
• More sponsorship and investment opportunities
• Greater media coverage and exposure for the sport

As youth participation in lacrosse continues to grow, it may contribute to the overall expansion of professional lacrosse and potentially lead to higher player salaries in the future.

The Potential for International Growth in Professional Lacrosse

While professional lacrosse is currently centered in North America, there is potential for international growth. Expanding the sport globally could have significant implications for player salaries and the overall lacrosse economy.

Opportunities for International Expansion

• Developing professional leagues in countries with growing lacrosse participation
• Including lacrosse in international multi-sport events like the Olympics
• Creating international tournaments and championships
• Fostering cultural exchange and global player movement

International growth could open up new revenue streams, attract global sponsors, and potentially lead to higher player salaries as the sport gains worldwide recognition.

The Impact of Technology on Lacrosse Salaries

Advancements in technology are reshaping many aspects of professional sports, including player compensation. In lacrosse, technology could influence salaries in several ways:

Performance Tracking and Analytics

Advanced metrics and player tracking systems could lead to more data-driven salary negotiations and performance-based bonuses.

Fan Engagement Platforms

Digital platforms that enhance fan experiences may increase revenue streams, potentially leading to higher player salaries.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

These technologies could create new revenue opportunities through immersive viewing experiences and virtual events.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

Emerging financial technologies may offer new ways to structure player contracts and compensation packages.

As technology continues to evolve, its impact on professional lacrosse and player salaries is likely to grow, potentially creating new opportunities for players to increase their earnings.

A Barnstorming Lacrosse Champ Starts a League of His Own

Paul Rabil was sick of Major League Lacrosse. It was 2017, and Rabil, a two-time MVP, was embarrassed to tell people he was a professional lacrosse player. He had good reason. In the world of pro sports, lacrosse had a pitiful reputation, if it had a reputation at all. Founded in 1999 as the first professional outdoor lacrosse league, MLL never attracted a meaningful fan base. Attendance had plummeted by 40 percent since 2011, to an average of just 3,800 per game. By comparison, the NCAA men’s lacrosse championship game once drew nearly 50,000 fans.

MLL also offered one of the worst player experiences in all of professional sports. Players worked full-time jobs outside of lacrosse and played games on weekends during the summer. The base salary for rookies was $6,000. When the league made travel arrangements, it would sometimes book players on connecting flights to save money. What’s more, players didn’t always have access to basic amenities like locker rooms and showers–or ice baths. Rabil had to buy ice at the CVS across the street from his apartment to treat his knee and foot.

After more than a decade in MLL, Rabil knew that professional lacrosse was broken. So he set out to fix it. In 2017, in partnership with his brother Mike, a serial entrepreneur who ran a small investment firm, Paul raised a pool of capital from a group of private equity firms and hedge funds and made an offer to acquire MLL for $35 million. The bid failed. Then the Rabils decided to do something crazy: They would start their own league.

In so doing, they would become the closest thing in the sporting world to entrepreneurs. In sports, the teams aren’t the startups now; the leagues are. A GM might have a founder’s spirit (e.g., Billy Beane of the Moneyball Oakland A’s), but, generally speaking, a sports team today is no more an entrepreneurial venture than a fast-food franchise is.

In making himself the pearl in this oyster, Rabil’s position would be unique in sports. Rabil is often described as the LeBron James of lacrosse. But he was vying to become more than that. It was as if LeBron had left the NBA, formed his own league, and then tried to put the NBA out of business and swallow up all its players.

To find the germ of the strategy Rabil would use to position his league, you have to go back to 2008, the year the 6’3″, 225-pound, four-time All-American graduated from lacrosse powerhouse Johns Hopkins University. That year, Facebook let users convert so-called friend accounts, which were capped at 5,000 followers, to fan accounts, which had no cap. Literally overnight, Rabil went from 5,000 Facebook friends to 50,000 Facebook fans. It’s likely most were young lacrosse players who’d seen him on ESPN in two NCAA Final Fours. “That’s when I knew there was an audience for people in lacrosse that no one really knew about,” he says. The business lesson wasn’t lost on him: A pro league already existed, but it hadn’t caught on. There was a market waiting to be tapped.

The number-one pick in the 2008 MLL draft, Rabil initially took a day job in real estate. But he also had a flair for social media. In 2009, he started a YouTube channel and began posting weekly videos of lacrosse tutorials, workout routines, sports nutrition tips, and snippets of a day in the life of a professional lacrosse player. When he wasn’t vlogging or actually playing the game, Rabil worked with his brother, first helping run a number of fitness franchises, and then as an investment partner.

As his YouTube following grew, Rabil attracted the interest of companies that wanted to sponsor the biggest name in lacrosse. By 2013, he became the first player in the sport to earn more than $1 million in total endorsements, thanks to deals with brands including Under Armour, New Balance, and Red Bull. But Rabil, who is 37 now, wasn’t just building a larger personal brand than any other lacrosse player. His social media presence was rivaling that of MLL itself.

Rabil’s online following didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates, especially when the league was struggling to attract viewers. “I remember a player saying to me that he wished the MLL had just streamed all the games on Paul’s YouTube channel,” says Terry Foy, CEO of Inside Lacrosse magazine. “That was really eye-opening. The players understood the value of the platform that he had built.”

The problem was, MLL didn’t. So in October 2018, the Rabils announced the formation of the Premier Lacrosse League. Mike Rabil would be CEO; Paul would be chief strategy officer–and a player in the league. A seven-figure deal with NBC would bring games to TV. They would start playing the following June.

For an upstart league like the PLL, going up against an incumbent with a 19-year head start would not be easy. The Rabils had to recruit players from the same talent pool as their direct competitor, and they were heavily outgunned. While MLL and its teams had a front office of more than 50 execs, the PLL had a recruiting team of four–Rabil and fellow players Rob Pannell, Tom Schreiber, and Kyle Harrison.

The PLL did have some deep pockets; early investors included CAA Sports and private equity firms Blum Capital and the Chernin Group. (Later backers would include Brooklyn Nets owner and Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.) They were drawn by a burgeoning, covetable audience: A 2018 NCAA study identified lacrosse as the fastest-growing college sport in the U.S. over the previous 15 years. The fans also skewed young–“digital natives,” as Rabil called them, perfect for the league’s purposes.

The investors helped the PLL offer wages on average four times higher than MLL’s. But players were hesitant to jump leagues out of fear of being sued for breach of contract. The PLL had even set aside a portion of its seed capital to pay legal fees from expected litigation.

As the league made enemies with MLL loyalists, bidding wars broke out for individual players. Meanwhile, rumors spread that the Rabils hadn’t secured the funding they needed. “We were under attack by folks who just didn’t think we could do it,” Paul says. “It was hell for a while.”

At the same time, MLL and the PLL were battling for sponsorship dollars from the same companies. “We’d sit down with the heads of marketing at PepsiCo and kind of sniff around like, Was the MLL here before us? What did they say?” Rabil recalls.

Ultimately, the PLL enticed more than 140 MLL players to switch leagues. On top of an average salary of $35,000, players would receive full health coverage, including a mental health component providing access to sports psychologists. The PLL would also become the first North American professional sports league to offer equity to its players. Everyone’s incentives would thus be aligned–the league, as it grew, and the players, as they built their personal brands.

MLL didn’t back down. Shortly after the end of the 2019 season, it offered to acquire the PLL for $35 million, the same amount it had rejected from the Rabils two years earlier. The deal would have netted the brothers around $6 million each. They declined.

Sports are often thought of as a competition between teams and athletes, but the history of professional team sports is as much about the competition between leagues. All of the major pro sports started that way. Unallied teams coalesced into rival leagues that fought one another until, typically, all but one died. The Rabils held the same ambition: to be the rare revolu­tion­aries who, from time to time, come along and change the game.

And to do that, the Rabils decided they would throw out the MLL playbook almost entirely. For starters, they would structure the league as a single entity rather than as a group of franchises. And rather than having teams based in home cities, the brothers would adopt a touring model. Each weekend, a different city would host all teams (six to begin, eight now), with two games on Saturday and two on Sunday. Fans could buy weekend passes to attend all four games. As in golf, tennis, and Nascar, the touring model would create significant operational efficiencies, including not having to host games at multiple venues every week. Players could live anywhere they wanted, not unlike the distributed workforce of a tech startup.

The league was mindful of its demographics–and how audiences interacted with it. Whereas MLL had failed to adapt to the ways fans were engaging with sports on social media, the PLL would be a digital-first media company from day one.

On the field, the Rabils would introduce a number of changes to make lacrosse a more entertaining sport, including the addition of fieldside seats. Like courtside seats in the NBA, the single row of chairs just feet from the action would offer in-person fans an in-your-face spectating experience for a premium price.

Home viewers would get a bump-up too. Known as the fastest game on two feet, lacrosse can speed by at a dizzying blur, with a baseball-size orb whizzing around at more than 100 mph. Capturing the action on the field for TV viewers would require more–and closer–camera angles than football or soccer, so the PLL opted for 10 cameras, compared with MLL’s four.

“If you’re just doing a three- to five-camera broadcast, you’re not capturing the intricacies on the ground level,” Rabil says. To turn up the action even more, the league shortened the field by 10 yards and forced teams to contend with a 52-second shot clock, compared with 60 seconds in MLL and the NCAA.

We were under attack by folks who just didn’t think we could do it. It was hell for a while.”–Paul Rabil

Rabil’s insights from his own online presence would inspire one of the PLL’s most significant innovations: how it promotes its players. Five decades ago, the NBA realized that what differentiated it from, say, the NFL was that its players don’t wear helmets–their faces were a marketing opportunity. Likewise, the PLL would find its own media strategy to turn lacrosse superstars into celebrities. TV announcers would interview players through helmet mics during stoppages in play, and every broadcast would feature raw audio from players recorded during games. “The core thesis was people care more about the stars, and they’re following the players,” says PLL chief operating officer Andrew Sinnenberg. “So, if that’s the case, people need to know who those individuals are.”

The PLL didn’t cheap out on player promotion either. Unlike in MLL, where some athletes paid for their own photo­graphers to take pictures at games, the PLL would provide players with game photos and videos to share on their social media accounts, helping them build their own personal brands. The production value of the content, from slickly produced highlight videos to dazzling action shots, would come to rival that of any sports league in the world.

“When you look at what guys have been able to post on behalf of themselves and the PLL, it’s just unbelievable,” says former MLL and PLL goalie Drew Adams, who retired in 2022 with the most saves in the history of pro lacrosse. “It’s clear, crisp photos and videos, and that’s the stuff that starts to gain some virality.”

On top of their regular salary, PLL players could earn additional compensation for marketing and advertising activities ranging from posting content on social media to working with partner brands to helping with ticket sales. The result would be an explosion of pro lacrosse content on social platforms, adding up to 739 million social media impressions and 312 million video views in 2022.

“The investments that Paul and Mike have made on content creators and social media personnel have brought this league to places the sport hadn’t been,” says CAA Sports co-head Michael Levine. Dozens of others had pitched Levine about revamping pro lacrosse, but he passed on every one until he invested in the PLL’s 2018 seed round. (The league has not disclosed the size of its funding rounds.)

At the same time, MLL was imploding. Besides the decline in attendance, the PLL was luring away its best talent, and an ill­-fated attempt by MLL to expand was a flop, with seven teams folding. In December 2020, just 18 months after the PLL’s first game, the PLL acquired MLL. The price: $1 million. The Rabils had won. No longer facing a rival league, the PLL would now have to prove that lacrosse could not just survive at the pro level, but also thrive.

It’s a rainy Fourth of July weekend in 2021, and Rabil has just finished playing in a PLL game at Hofstra University, on New York’s Long Island. A bit dejected–his team lost–he perks right up when I ask about his vision for the PLL. Speaking with the polished confidence of a startup founder backed by big-league investors, Rabil points to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial arts sports brand that was sold for $2 million in 2001 and for $4 billion in 2016. “It took the UFC 27 years to get where it is now,” he says, still sore from the game, in which, by the way, he happened to break pro lacrosse’s all-time scoring record. “I think we can do what the UFC did in half the time.”

TV and streaming money will be an essential part of the chase. Less than a year after that interview, in March 2022, the PLL signed a four-year, eight-figure media rights deal with ESPN, roughly 10 times the value of its initial NBC Sports deal. All 47 games would be streamed on ESPN+, with some games also broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. It was the most significant media rights deal in the history of lacrosse. (The PLL doesn’t disclose revenue, but did say it grew 74 percent last year; and a source with knowledge of the league’s finances says revenue for 2022 was more than $20 million.)

Still, the PLL has a way to go before it can rival the UFC’s draw. The most-watched game in outdoor pro lacrosse history, in June 2022, attracted 452,000 streaming viewers, compared with the UFC’s record 2.4 million pay-per-view customers. Average PLL viewership did jump 26 percent in 2022, to 157,000, and the Los Angeles-based league sold out four venues during its 2022 season. But the PLL’s largest weekend draw of the year, at Johns Hopkins’s Homewood Field, was only 13,000.

Like many co-founders who are related, the Rabils have found that running the PLL together comes with unique challenges. Both are former competitive athletes–Mike, 39, captained the Dartmouth football team–and they can get heated over league strategy. “Mike’s thinking about the health and wellness of our P&L, and I’m thinking about how quickly we can get a sports fan who hasn’t watched lacrosse to the screen,” Paul Rabil says.

So, for the past several years, they’ve relied on therapy to help them navigate their professional and personal relationship. “What we’ve learned from therapy is to understand what’s important to each other, which is often underneath what we’re debating,” Paul says. “Sometimes it takes a couple rounds of verbal bouts.” The brothers’ experience in therapy is part of the reason the PLL provides employees with a monthly stipend for mental health.

Mike has sought to reduce the stigma attached to mental health issues by sharing some of his personal struggles on Twitter. On World Mental Health Day in October 2021, he tweeted that “49% of entrepreneurs deal with mental health issues directly” and that he has “suffered from a few panic attacks and sought professional help for my anxiety. As an entrepreneur, I felt the pressure of building a company but also trying to maintain the persona of calm and relentless work ethic. I’ve found the right mix of yoga, breathing, medication, swimming/hiking, and a yellow lab :)”

Two months after his record-breaking game at Hofstra, in a speech at Washington, D.C.’s Audi Field, Rabil announced his retirement as a pro lacrosse player and his transition to full-time entrepreneur. Despite the bitter­sweet nature of the announcement, his tone was optimistic as he assured a crowd of PLL employees (there are 80 now), investors, and advisers that the league would become “the next major sports league in North America.”

Rabil admits that the PLL still isn’t profitable–one source familiar with the league’s financials says it is losing millions per year (the PLL would not comment)–but he attributes that partly to reinvesting earnings back into growth. According to CAA Sports’ Levine, the investor group is “completely comfortable with how things are progressing.”

Looking back on the hell of the league’s early days, Rabil arrives at an essential truth about entrepreneurship: It never really gets easier. “By nature, we feel like our feet are to the fire every single day,” he says, “driving revenue, driving attention, and driving general conversion across all of our business units.”

I ask him what he thinks the hardest thing to grow will be this year. Rabil ponders for a long beat before answering: “Everything.” To succeed in the long term, the PLL needs to turn lacrosse players into stars. In the short term, to meet Rabil’s timeline, it has to grow at a rate that few leagues ever have in the history of professional sports. If it doesn’t, the fans, players, and investors might stop believing in lacrosse at the pro level. “That’s staring us in the face every day,” Rabil says, in a lament familiar to any entrepreneur.

Heading into year five of his league-building venture, Rabil takes solace in another essential truth: “We wouldn’t have had this opportunity if it were easy.”

How Paul Rabil Launched Premier Lacrosse League

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Paul Rabil is an outlier in lacrosse, to say the least.

“I would say, yes, it was against the norm,” Rabil, 33, politely acknowledges of his career so far in an interview with Money.

He’s being slightly modest. The professional lacrosse player, who’s been widely considered the best in the sport for years and just launched his own league known as the Premier Lacrosse League (or PLL) with his brother Mike Rabil in June, has hit milestones the average athlete can only fantasize about. Now he hopes to transform how the public watches — and thinks about — a sport once relegated to New England prep schools.

How Paul Rabil hit seven figures

The hulking 6’3”, 220-pound midfielder has become known as lacrosse’s first “million-dollar man.” After graduating a lacrosse superstar from Johns Hopkins University in 2008 and while playing for various teams in both Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League (he’s now carrying his stick for PLL), he hit seven figures in career earnings. (He even once notched a world-record 111-MPH shot.)

That’s all the more impressive since he made the majority of that money off the field. Pro lacrosse, as a so-called “non-core” sport, notoriously doesn’t pay well. MLL salaries reportedly range from about $10,000 to $25,000, while the average NLL salary is around $15,000. Players naturally look for ways to pull coin elsewhere. Rabil took that idea to another level.

“I was the No. 1 draft pick, but my rookie wage was $6,000,” Rabil says of his meager earnings in MLL. “I was aware of the circumstances surrounding pro lacrosse, so I took a job.”

Actually, he took several. The Maryland native worked as an investment sales analyst at a real estate company in Washington, DC. He and his brother also launched a line of gyms as franchisees for Snap Fitness. But he was still itching for something more lucrative.

“I was at a crossroads where I realized that pro lacrosse wasn’t hitting the mainstream airwaves, though the opportunity to communicate with our audience was unlike any other time via social media,” Rabil says. With an interest in marketing, he started selling himself with accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and the then-new Twitter and Instagram. They took off. (He now has about 350,000 followers on Instagram.)

“That led to me getting my first endorsement deal, which was with Under Armour, and then I got an endorsement with Red Bull. Those two cash injections,” among other deals he’s made with big brands like New Balance, he says, “gave me runway to leave my job in real estate and focus full-time on professional lacrosse and entrepreneurship.”

The ‘frugal’ road to moguldom

Courtesy of Premier Lacrosse League

Unlike many pro athletes who suddenly see a flood of dollars coming their way, Rabil didn’t go out and spend it on flashy cars. Instead, he explains, he “re-invested a lot of it” into projects like the gyms he and Mike opened. Rabil also started instructional clinics and has put his own money toward startups including Whistle Sports and Muzik. “We grew up in a pretty blue-collar household, and our parents instilled a lot of frugality into how we go about our day-to-day, so that’s something that I’ve carried on as an operator.

“I think at an early age it dawned on me that if I were lucky enough to find a career as a pro athlete, I needed to be mindful of any short-term earnings and try to extend them into longer-term opportunities,” Rabil continues, adding that when he does splurge, it tends to be on travel (he’s on the road half the week) and nutrition, “which can become expensive.”

His biggest bet yet may be PLL, which competes with other pro lacrosse leagues that already get little attention on TV. Harnessing his digital-savvy experience and Mike’s business and consulting background, they’re taking inspiration from everywhere possible in the industry — major leagues, individual sports, even WWE — to develop an audience lacrosse hasn’t yet seen.

“We think we have the right strategy and recipe,” Mike says.

“Paul puts his whole self into everything. I became frustrated as an older brother with how much effort he was putting in and how low the returns were,” Mike adds of PLL’s founding. “It was more opportunistic than anything else. It was about building something better and rewarding the people who have invested in lacrosse.”

In fact, initially, PLL wasn’t supposed to be a new league at all. “I said, ‘Let’s just go buy [MLL],’” Mike remembers. “We were never taken very seriously, so then we got to a place where we decided to build it on our own.”

As for how Paul keeps expanding his empire while making unbelievable plays — that’s a bit more complicated.

“I’m struggling,” he laughs. “You keep a really diligent calendar and prioritize what I term non-negotiables: sufficient sleep, sufficient nutrition, and a sufficient and consistent workout routine. I know that if I can get those three in every day, I can allocate the rest of my bandwidth to other endeavors that I have interest in.”

He encourages other up-and-coming athletes, especially ones who aren’t cashing NFL-sized checks, to do the same.

“First, make sure you’re putting in the work so you can perform at the highest level. But then try to think outside of the box. Align new opportunities with your interests,” he advises. “There are ways that athletes can generate income off the field in a way that has never been seen before.”

How much players in different leagues receive. Europrobasket study – Interception – Blogs

The Europrobasket academy has released a comprehensive study on how much money foreigners earn in the top European championships. “Interception” carefully translated everything.

Important:

1) the amounts are in dollars, not in euros, as usual;

2) believe it or not, it’s up to you, but the authors of the work say that in the process of preparation they talked with many agents, coaches and team members.

Average salary in Europe:

Spain. The strongest teams play in the ACB League, many Spanish clubs compete in European competitions. Accordingly, there are the best salaries, and the budgets of Real Madrid and Barcelona exceed $40 million. On average, players in Spain make from 250 to 500 thousand per season, but there are exceptions: for example, Nikola Mirotic with his $ 4 million a year or Sergio Yull, Walter Tavares, Corey Higgins – they all earn about $ 2 million.

Türkiye. Two teams from the Turkish championship play in the Euroleague, a few more clubs in the Eurocup and the Champions League. The country has some of the highest salaries and almost half of the clubs have budgets in excess of $10 million. Leaders can get a lot of money, for example: Shane Larkin – $ 3.7 million, Nando de Colo – 2.4 million, Jan Vesely – 2.2 million. At the same time, on average, foreigners earn 250-500 thousand in the league.

Russia. Some of the highest paid players in Europe play here. For example, Alexei Shved ($4 million last season, this amount may differ), Mike James and Nikola Milutinov (2. 5 million each). But the average salary in the United League is about 200-450 thousand dollars per year.

Italy. Few people expected this country to be so high in the ranking, but elite basketball players also play in the Italian championship. For example, Milan defender Sergio Rodriguez, who receives about $ 2 million, is the highest paid player this season. On average, the salaries of foreigners in Serie A range from 180 to 350 thousand dollars.

Germany. The German economy is the fourth largest in the world, so it’s not surprising to see the Bundesliga in this ranking. Four championship teams at once have more than $10 million for the season, and the budget of one of them, Bayern, is as much as $25 million. 1 million

Greece. The economic crisis has played a role in the amounts that foreigners earn in this country. But the Greek league is played by top basketball players, and three teams have budgets over $10 million (including Olympiakos, which plays in the second division). The average salary here is from 150 to 250 thousand, although Nick Calathes received 2.25 million at Pao last season, and Kostas Sloukas now at Olya – 1.8 million.

Israel. Teams from here do not shine in Europe, and the money here is much lower. The exception is Maccabi, whose budget is $26.5 million, and point guard Scotty Wilbekin earns $1.7 million. But this is not the norm, but the norm – from 80 to 250 thousand dollars.

France. Only two teams from here have a budget of more than $10 million, but this is one of the most reliable countries in terms of payments – contracts are guaranteed by the French government. Interestingly, only 30% of clubs’ budgets go towards paying players, while in the rest of Europe these expenses account for more than half of club budgets. On average, foreigners here earn from 80 to 200 thousand dollars a season. Two years ago, the highest paid ASVEL player was AJ Slaughter with a salary of 300 thousand.

Average salary in Asia:

China. CBA is considered one of the richest leagues in the world, and most importantly, it is watched by more than 500 million people. This means that you can just come, play and build a business.

Stephon Marbury did just that: he earned $12 million in six years with the Beijing Ducks and became such a star that a statue of him was erected in front of the former team’s arena. He went into coaching before starting his own company and selling basketball shoes to kids who can’t afford branded shoes. Bliss? Bliss. Legend and forever secured.

The average salary of a foreigner in the Chinese championship is from 1 to 3 million dollars. That is, 4-6 times higher than in the most wasteful country in Europe – Spain. Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas, Steve Francis, Ron Artest received so much in China. But there are exceptions, for example, Lance Stevenson, who is paid 4 million by the Liaoning Flying Leopards. .

The difficulty is that teams are allowed to have only two foreign players. But there are 19 clubs in the CBA, so they’re really spending a lot.

South Korea. The rules of the local championship provide for a limit on foreign players – there can be no more than two of them in each team. If there are two foreigners in the club, then the ceiling of their total salary is set at the level of 700 thousand dollars, and if there is one, then by 500 thousand. On average, a legionnaire in KBL receives 250-400 thousand dollars, which puts the Korean championship on the same level with Spain, Turkey and Russia in this indicator.

But this is official information. A whole scattering of Europrobasket sources indicates that, together with bonuses, salaries here can reach up to 800 thousand dollars, which means that only China pays more.

However, remember that if you want to play in Korea, then get ready for 3-4 practices a day.

Japan. In 2016, two leagues were united here, and now the championship is flourishing. First of all, this concerns salaries: the local players in the season before last received an average of 147 thousand dollars, the players of the Japanese national team – about 417 thousand. Today, the highest paid Japanese – Yuki Togashi – earns $ 1 million.

Legionnaires in Japan receive an average of 120 to 300 thousand dollars. Life in this country is expensive, but teams tend to take care of all the expenses of their basketball players.

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Photo: europrobasket.com; vk.com/khimkibasket; East News/Sipa Asia/Sipa USA/East News

RPL, which of the players has the highest salaries

Most recently, the ranking of the highest paid football players in the world has been updated, if we take into account only the salary at the club – the average check has increased, and the leader has changed. Certain changes have also taken place in Russia, but in the opposite direction. Many players with whom contracts were not renewed left our top 10. Some simply turned around and left, taking advantage of FIFA’s permission to suspend contracts or simply putting pressure on the club. We look at how the top ten RPL players with the highest salaries look now.

10. Alexander Sobolev

Spartak

€2.4 million per year

Sobolev’s agents rushed in just in time. After moving to Spartak for very modest money, the footballer had a good season. Immediately, there was talk of interest in the player from other clubs. In order not to turn out like with Dzyuba, who left for Zenit for free, the leadership of the red-and-whites decided to play ahead of the curve – they offered the striker a new contract. The signing of the agreement coincided with a downturn in Alexander’s game. Fans hit him with devastating criticism. But at the end of the season, the striker improved a little and seemed to take his head. In any case, it stopped glowing in nightclubs.

9. Giorgi Jikia

Spartak

€2.3 million per year

The second in a row and not the last representative of the red and white team on the list is Giorgi Jikia. It is even a bit surprising that one of the best Russian central defenders and team captain gets less than anyone else at the club. But that’s business. At one time, George also negotiated an extension of the contract on favorable terms. It was just the amount that suited him. Now there is nothing to regret – I got what I wanted.

8. Anton Miranchuk

Lokomotiv

€2.35 million per year

twin Alexei. This was even before Lesha left for Italy and before Anton’s injury, which knocked him out of the club for more than a season. Now Anton cannot find his game in any way. Perhaps he will never be able to – mutual understanding with his brother still decided a lot. Fans are not offended by him – everyone understands. But the team’s management is thinking how to get rid of such expensive illiquid assets. However, no one is in a hurry to offer similar conditions to Anton, and the footballer does not agree to anything less.

Photo: Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA Novosti

7. Roman Zobnin

Spartak

More recently, Roman Zobnin’s salary at Spartak was estimated at € 3 million per year. The player signed a new contract on the wave of success during the 2018 home World Cup. However, then rumors spread that the footballer asked the club to reduce his salary, because he considered it too high. This was followed by several denials of this news. However, now open sources indicate a different figure – about €2.35 million per year. But even so, Roman remains second in terms of earnings in the red and white team.

6. Quincy Promes

Spartak

€2.4 million per year

the best legionnaire of the Quincy Promes team in the last ten years. He received such a contract by returning to the red-and-white club. In his native Holland, the player started having problems with the law, and out of harm’s way, he decided to move from Ajax to a well-known team. So he was offered comfortable conditions. The fourth player of Spartak in the ranking is a record.

5. Guilherme

Lokomotiv

€2.5 million per year

their agents fiercely bargained with the railroad for a new contract, perhaps the last in a career. It got to the point that the goalkeeper was already standing with one foot in Spartak, which offered him more favorable financial conditions. As a result, the red-greens nevertheless came to an agreement with the player. Now no one knows whether the story with the transfer was a bluff.

4. Igor Akinfeev

CSKA

€2.6 million per year

It would be strange if Igor Akinfeev received less in Russia than anyone else goalkeeper. And in CSKA they try not to offend their veterans. Igor’s salary has been at this level for almost a decade. But everything suits him. True, earlier with such earnings he barely got into the top ten, but now he has almost reached the top three. Just a little more and he can break through there.

Photo: Alexey Filippov / RIA Novosti

03

The only remaining representative of Krasnodar in this rating opens the top 3 highest paid RPL players. The Polish opornik negotiated such a contract for himself, leaving Lokomotiv with a small scandal. He was fired from there, by the way, precisely because of too inflated salaries. It is not surprising that Grzegorz, after his spring demarche and trip to Greece, nevertheless decided to return to Russia. Nowhere else will an age-old player be offered such conditions. And the perturbations in the homeland, connected with politics, can be tolerated.

2. Dejan Lovren

Zenit

€5.2 million per year

silt by Dejan Lovren. At his age, no one would pay that much to a centre-back. Even Giorgio Chiellini, the captain of Juventus, earned less. Lovren did not leave Russia, but missed the end of last season due to injury. At home, he is also mercilessly criticized, so much so that journalists have to be sued for insults. But for the sake of € 5.2 million a year, insults can be tolerated.

1. Malcom

Zenit

€6.6 million per year

While the Brazilians are fleeing Zenit, Malcolm remains at the club . This is quite natural. It is unlikely that a footballer who spent the last years in Russia and did not remind himself of himself in the playoffs of the Champions League will be paid more than here.