About MLL

BACKGROUND:

During the summer of 1998, Jake “Body By Jake” Steinfeld was inspired to start a professional outdoor lacrosse league after reading a magazine article about the growth of the sport of lacrosse. Steinfeld sought out a contributor to the article, Dave Morrow, Owner and President of Warrior Lacrosse, a leading lacrosse equipment manufacturer, to discuss formation of such a league.
 
In February 1999 Steinfeld and Morrow joined forces with Steinfeld’s friend and business associate Tim Robertson, Chairman of Bay Shore Enterprises and former CEO of the Family Channel, to form Major League Lacrosse, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company. In 2003, New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. came on board as a Founding Member of Major League Lacrosse, as well as an Anchor Level League Sponsor.
 
Major League Lacrosse began play in 2001, to capitalize on the growing demand for world-class field lacrosse driven by dramatic growth in the U.S. lacrosse market. The MLL was praised and heralded for its on-field play, regarded as the best ever seen. With a year-on-year attendance increase, Major League Lacrosse has continued to lead the sport of lacrosse into the mainstream of competitive team sports.

OUR TEAMS:

The MLL is comprised of eight teams across the US and Canada. The Boston Cannons, Long Island Lizards, and Chespeake Bayhawks (formerly Baltimore and Washington) have been members of the League since its inception in 2001. The Denver Outlaws began play in 2006 as part of the League’s western expansion. The Hamilton Nationals (formerly Toronto) joined the MLL in 2009 as the League’s first international team. The Charlotte Hounds and Ohio Machine will begin play in 2012 as a part of the league's expansion initiative to have 16 teams in the next decade.

Current teams include:

Boston Cannons
Charlotte Hounds
Chesapeake Bayhawks
Denver Outlaws
Hamilton Nationals
Long Island Lizards
Ohio Machine
Rochester Rattlers

OUR PLAYERS:

The 230 best lacrosse players in the world-well-spoken, articulate young men from some of the top academic institutions, including Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Duke, and Virginia. MLL icons include Casey Powell, Jesse Hubbard, John Grant Jr., and Brodie Merrill. The League also features current stars in lacrosse such as Paul Rabil, Max Seibald, and Matt Danowski.

OUR SEASON:

The 2012 Major League Lacrosse season will consist of a total of  56 regular season games running from April to August with the following league-run special events – Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft (January), All-Star Game (June), and Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend (August). The twelfth season of MLL action is slated to begin April 28, 2012.  In January 2011, the league announced not only its expansion plans, but that it would add two regular season games in 2012. Each team is now slated to play 14 games in the regular season.

OUR GAME:

Major League Lacrosse has implemented some innovative dynamics to the traditional game of field lacrosse that bring the sport into the next millennium. MLL rule changes include the addition of a two-point goal line located 16 yards from each goal and a 60-second shot clock. In 2009 Major League Lacrosse allowed a fourth long-pole defenseman. This move brought MLL rules more in-line with those at the high school and collegiate levels, where a fourth pole is allowed. This addition assisted in creating closer games by helping to generate a more balanced game at the professional level.

ANCHOR LEVEL PARTNERS:

Sports Authority, New Balance, Warrior Lacrosse, Bud Light

OFFICAL PARTNERS:

Body by Jake Global, Brine, Cascade, POWERADE, Great Atlantic Lacrosse Company, Upper Deck, US Lacrosse, Ford, EFX.

SPONSORSHIP:

A full range of integrated sponsorship packages are available. Partnerships can include league/team category exclusivity, special events rights, corporate branding on player uniforms, national TV commercial units and in-game TV features, field signage, SLASH Magazine ads, web site banners, tickets/hospitality, game footage, photo usages, player appearances, customized activation, and cross-promotional programs.

TELEVISION:

ESPN2 has been the national television home of Major League Lacrosse since 2003, when the two parties agreed on a two-year commitment. In 2004, ESPN aired the New Balance Championship Game, making it the first live national telecast of a Major League Lacrosse competition. Today, MLL and ESPN's relationship is the longest commitment that any television outlet has given to a lacrosse entitiy.

The partnership between the MLL and ESPN continued to grow when on June 9, 2007, ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband network, streamed its first MLL game live from Sports Authority Field at Mile High. ESPN360.com went on to stream 5 more MLL events that season. In 2008, all 64 MLL games, including the All-Star game, both, Semi-Finals, and the NB ZIP MLL Championship Game were streamed live on ESPN360.com. After airing live, the games were archived on the website for a period of one week.
 
In 2008, MLL licensed its broadcast and digital media rights to Lax United Marketing (LUM). The license is for five (5) years with LUM having two additional five (5) year options. The 2008 season also marked the first time in League history that every regular season MLL game was broadcast live on regional sports networks throughout the country. Lax United Marketing syndicated every game not available on ESPN2, including the second MLL Semi-Final from Boston to top regional sports networks such as Comcast Sports Net, Fox Sports Net, Cox Sports, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Brighthouse, Charter Sports and CN8.
 
In 2010, ESPN2 aired a total of 6 MLL games, including live broadcasts of the All-Star Game (July 8) from Boston, as well as the first Semi-Final game (August 21) and the MLL Championship Game presented by Warrior (August 22) from Annapolis.

In 2011, all 36 regular season games in addition to the 2011 Sports Authority MLL All-Star Game (July 9) and the 2011 Sports Authority MLL Championship Weekend presented by Warrior (August 27 and 28), were broadcast in syndication. Every MLL game was streamed live on ESPN3.com in HD, and a total of six MLL games including the All-Star Game and the Championship Weekend were broadcast live on ESPN2.

Most recently, MLL negotiated a major television agreement with CBS Sports Network. In 2012, 14 games will be aired live in HD on CBS along with 18 episodes of "Inside the MLL", the league's 30-minute magazine style show. In addition to six games that will be aired live on ESPN2, this will bring the number of nationally televised games to 20 in 2012.