The Premier Lacrosse League announced Friday the first of 12 locations for its inaugural tour this summer. The PLL, co-founded by lacrosse superstar Paul Rabil, will debut with three games June 1 and 2 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. — home of the lacrosse-loving New England Patriots.
Rabil made the announcement at a press conference at the stadium, three days after the PLL also announced that it had secured additional financial backing and a third game to be televised on NBC, in addition to the 16 games that will be on NBC Sports and the remainder of games that will be accessible live through NBCSports.com and the NBC Gold app.
“We are humbled and excited to begin this new era of lacrosse at Gillette Stadium,” Rabil said in a press release issued by the league. “Gillette is a world-class venue with a history of hosting successful events like the NCAA Final Four, and we’re excited to bring the Premier Lacrosse League to New England.”
The PLL is a six-team, tour-based league currently featuring 160 of the best lacrosse players in the world. In addition to being full-time employees and receiving health benefits, players will get equity stakes in the league — a first in professional sports. The league has signed an exclusive media-rights agreement with NBC.
Gillette Stadium has hosted five NCAA men’s lacrosse championships since 2008 and holds the Division I attendance record (2008: 48,970), the top three attendance records for Division I championship games since 2012 (2012: 30,816, 2018: 29,455 and 2017: 28,971) and the top three Division II and Division III championship game attendance records (2017: 31,560, 2008: 24,317 and 2009: 24,072). The venue also hosted professional lacrosse games when Major League Lacrosse’s Boston Cannons played there in 2015.
Kraft Group President-International Dan Kraft, a Tufts men’s lacrosse alumnus, attended the announcement to express his support and excitement for the new league and its potential to further grow the sport of lacrosse in New England and throughout the country. A group of Foxborough High School lacrosse players participated in a clinic with Rabil on the stadium field Friday morning before attending the press conference.