Major League Lacrosse is pushing back the start of its season until after Memorial Day, eliminating much of the overlap with the indoor National Lacrosse League season while allowing college graduates to play a full rookie season.

The 2019 MLL season will start Friday, May 31, the league announced Monday.

“Since I joined MLL, I have made it a point to speak with many of our players to learn more about their ideas to improve league play,” MLL commissioner Sandy Brown said in the announcement. “By moving the season’s opener back from our traditional April start, we are allowing players to wrap up their other commitments before opening night. We are also thrilled that this upcoming rookie class will be able to join their teams at the start of the season.”  

The announcement is the latest in a flurry of offseason news coming out of MLL’s front office. The league recently announced that it was increasing the salary cap by 51 percent, adding two games to the regular season schedule and expanding game-day active rosters to 20.

Simultaneously, however, Bloomberg has reported that Paul Rabil, the two-time MLL MVP and MLL’s all-time leading scorer, is starting his own professional lacrosse league that has lured “a number of well-known players” away from MLL with the promise of higher salaries and health benefits. The Premier Lacrosse League’s inaugural season will reportedly run from June to September.