I’ve been watching pro lacrosse, with varying degrees of seriousness since I first spent summer nights at Harbor Yard taking in a Bridgeport Barrage game and cheering on Roy Colsey and company. I have to say, this summer finally felt like pro lacrosse taking a great leap forward.
I’ve long loved the on-field product of pro field lacrosse; the sport has never had a problem there. I’ve gone as far as to suggest that in terms of strictly the game being played on the field and the people playing it, pro outdoor lacrosse is as good if not better than any of the big four pro sports. It’s that entertaining, and it always has been.
Where things really took off this summer, as everyone knows, is the way we the sport was delivered to the fans. The broadcast quality that came with watching a PLL game was out of this world. The team of Brendan Burke and Ryan Boyle felt like a match for this league from week one. The instant access via speaking to players on the field, sideline interviews, the (occasionally very hot) mics in huddles; it allows the players to show us their personality, while also giving the game its own personality.
For the PLL now, it’s about keeping people engaged and
talking about this sport between October and June so the momentum they’ve built
for lacrosse keeps on rolling into the summer of year two. Doing that is hard, especially
for a new league in what is still a niche, but growing sport. Fortunately,
other pro sports leagues have provided a blueprint to staying on the top of fans’
minds throughout the offseason.
NBA
Let’s start with the obvious: Copy NBA player movement.
I know from a rules and protocol standpoint, it’s not in the
best place right now as tampering in the NBA seems to be pretty obviously
rampant. But is that really all that bad? NBA free agency in the summertime is
guaranteed to set social media and fans’ hopes absolutely on fire. And it’s
always so wonderfully drawn out.
A few years ago if Dwyane Wade tweeted an eyes emoji and a banana emoji, within ten minutes there are fully fleshed out theories and think pieces on legit media outlets about how it means LeBron James, Chris Paul, Wade, and Carmelo Anthony are all signing together on a team that none of those four guys currently play for.
THE BANANA BOAT IS GETTING TOGETHER, AND IT’S HAPPENING IN MEMPHIS.
There are Instagram shots posted by random accounts with 100
followers, but it’s of a vaguely tall guy in an airport standing 60 yards away.
The caption says it’s Anthony Davis and he just landed in New York—and Spike
Lee liked the post. This is the gold standard for player movement chatter.
PLL Perspective Can you imagine if in the offseason, if Justin Guterding went to California and visited the actual Redwood forest, and posted a picture of him with a giant tree and some cryptic series of emojis as a caption? I’d have 1,000 words ready to go on Guterding to the Redwoods like six minutes. Fans LOVE this stuff. We eat it up twice and beg for thirds.
Player empowerment isn’t a problem in the NBA, and clearly
isn’t for the PLL, so lean all the way into this and let the players give us
just enough to really let our imaginations run wild. But also, some real
movement too.
NFL
The NFL is the absolute goliath. Everyone knows this.
But what they do well is time their announcements throughout
the year. That’s what the PLL needs to take from football. Every time people
just barely start to maybe stop thinking and talking about an NFL event, a new
one drops. From the Super Bowl to the next season opening, there’s the combine,
the draft, and the preseason, but they also make a big deal out of the schedule
release, minicamps, OTAs, all sorts of essentially meaningless events that keep
people engaged.
Does it really matter in May when you find out who your favorite team’s Week 6 opponent is? Of course not! But it puts football right back at the front of mind and keeps people talking until the next little teaser, like when the QB you drafted has a drive in 7-on-7 where he’s perfect or something. None of that is important, but it fires up fans, and keeps the conversation lit.
PLL Perspective For the PLL, copy that model. Tease out next year’s locations, let things go just a little bit quiet, then make another announcement. Between now and next summer, there should be talk of venues, possible expansion, schedule, player movement, training camp, and I’m sure loads of other content. The league did a solid job of this between when they first announced last September to the start of the season. They need to find a way to make it all feel brand new again.
NHL
The NHL is the smallest of the big four, but it has one
outstanding event that the PLL should try and adapt: The Prospect Tournament.
It’s actually pretty ready to be adapted, as in the NHL
there are 8 teams that participate. Prospects from each of the teams play in a two-division
tournament, hosted by the Red Wings up in Michigan.
PLL Perspective Have a showcase event, PLL. It’s a way to showcase the guys who didn’t crack the lineup as often and allow them to be seen by fans and evaluated by coaches, and if current college seniors could be involved that’s a huge plus.
I have no idea if the NCAA would allow this. Since it sounds
fun, it’s a safe bet they probably wouldn’t. But for the sake of argument,
imagine that as an offseason event. A team of the guys who just got drafted,
are looking to be drafted, squaring off under the PLL umbrella. Another way to
go with this is to fold in the PLL Academy and youth development work that the
PLL does, and have a prospect showcase that way.
The youth lacrosse and club scene are booming, this is not news. The World Series of Youth Lacrosse is in Denver every summer shows off some of tomorrow’s talent and is even on ESPN networks. A PLL Prospect tournament in the same mold, ideally showcasing the talent that’s closer to the pro level, would be a ton of fun.
MLB
Don’t do anything they do. They’re terrible. They have Mike Trout, a talent the likes of which the sport has seen a number of times you could probably count on one hand, and they have absolutely zero clue how to market him. Old-timey baseball fans think the current version of baseball stinks because it’s just nerds and home runs and strikeouts and that’s it. Young fans get bored to tears for basically the same reasons.
Even worse, their offseason involves the biggest names in free agency holding out for record deals well into training camp. Several weeks of speculation of where a big-time free agent is going to land is certainly fun, but when it regularly lasts four months, fans can lose interest quickly.
PLL Perspective Steer clear of baseball.
PLL
And of course, give us more new stuff. When it comes to positive press and reviews from outside the lacrosse media world this summer, the thing praised most often was innovation. The PLL tried to do a lot of things that haven’t really been done in team sports before, and it needs to keep rolling.
Just another pro league trying to catch the big guys is not
where this league is now, and it needs to stay that way. This summer, the
initial draw of a brand new league doing a brand new thing won’t be there, and
to keep bringing new eyeballs to the sport, the PLL needs to find something
that captures the fans just as much as that first announcement did. And I’m
looking forward to it.
Dan Arestia is a lacrosse fanatic first, writer second. He is a frequent contributor to Lacrosse Playground and has been published on College Crosse and Inside Lacrosse.
Oliver Marti: Starting an NLL Team in Albany and Investing in the PLL and Epoch Lacrosse (Pro Lacrosse Talk Podcast #130)
byPro Lacrosse Talk
On this episode of the Pro Lacrosse Talk Podcast, Hutton Jackson and Adam Moore are joined by three-time All-American at Brown University, investor in the PLL, and the newest NLL owner Oliver Marti. He discusses moving the New England Black Wolves franchise to Albany, New York, why the city of Albany was chosen and share his thoughts on the team’s potential new identity. He also discusses his time playing for Dom Starsia at Brown University, playing for the New York Saints in the MILL, starting the Connecticut Box Lacrosse League, investing in the Premier Lacrosse League and equipment manufacturer Epoch Lacrosse, and his opinion on the current state of pro lacrosse.
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Pro Lacrosse Talk is the flagship lacrosse podcast of the Lacrosse Playground network covering all three professional lacrosse leagues (NLL, PLL, Athletes Unlimited). Each week throughout the season we’ll recap the games, provide analysis on the teams and feature exclusive postgame and off-the-field interviews with professional lacrosse players, coaches and executives. If you’re a fan of lacrosse podcasts like the Unbuckled Chinstrap, The Inside Feed, Lacrosse Classified or The Crease Dive, then give us a listen.