Major League Lacrosse

Major League Lacrosse

Current season or competition: 2011 MLL season
MLL logo
Sport	Field lacrosse
Founded	1999
Inaugural season	2001
No. of teams	6
Country(ies)	United States (5 teams) Canada (1 team)
Most recent champion(s)	Boston Cannons
Most titles	Philadelphia Barrage (3) (Former MLL Team) Chesapeake Bayhawks (3) (Current)
Official website	MajorLeagueLacrosse.com

Major League Lacrosse, or MLL, is a professional men's field lacrosse league that is made up of five teams in the United States and one team in Canada.

History

The MLL was founded by Jake Steinfeld, Dave Morrow and Tim Robertson in 1998, and began regular season play in June 2001. Steinfeld is well-known for creating the Body By Jake line of exercise equipment and videos. Morrow is a former All-American lacrosse player and the president of Warrior Sports.

The league was originally divided into the American Division — Boston, Bridgeport (moved to Philadelphia in 2004) and Long Island — and the National Division — Baltimore (moved to Washington after the 2006 season and to Annapolis after the 2008 season), New Jersey, and Rochester — from 2001 until 2005. The MLL played a 14-game regular season its first two years; in 2003, the schedule was cut to 12 games. The league's playoff format has the top teams in each division advancing to the New Balance MLL Championship Weekend, with two wild card playoff spots going to the teams with the best remaining records regardless of division.

MLL announced on March 9, 2005, that the league would expand to Los Angeles for the 2006 season, and that the team would play its home games at The Home Depot Center. AEG, Inc. was confirmed as the franchise's owner/operator. On July 2, 2005, MLL officials revealed that Denver, Colorado would also be home to an expansion franchise, with a team playing at Invesco Field at Mile High. The league subsequently added teams in the Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California markets, creating a western conference for these teams. MLL Western Conference play began with the 2006 season.

In an effort to test markets as potential expansion/relocation candidates, the Philadelphia Barrage franchise played all of its 2008 "home" matches in other cities; Cary, North Carolina, Hillsboro, Oregon, Irving, Texas, St. Louis and Virginia Beach.^[1][2][3] In addition the Barrage's "home game" against Boston was played in Boston.

At the end of the 2008 season four teams (Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and San Francisco) folded due to financial problems thus forcing the MLL to form one conference. At the start of the 2009 season, the Toronto Nationals were added to the MLL after they bought the rights to the Rochester Rattlers. The Toronto team thus gained the staff of the Rochester team as well as the players, but the Rochester name and the team colors were left in Rochester for the possibility of a future team. On November 23, 2010, Inside Lacrosse.com reported that the Chicago Machine franchise would be moving to Rochester, New York. The team played the entire 2009 season as a traveling team testing expansion markets for the league. The new Rochester franchise will play at Sahlen's Stadium, the same stadium the Rochester Rattlers used at the end of their tenure in Rochester before relocating to Toronto, Ontario.

On December 9, 2010, Commissioner David Gross announced that in February 2011, there would be two expansion teams created for the 2012 MLL Season. Also there would be two more expansion teams for 2013. The long term goal is to have 16 teams by 2019. There were nineteen sites identified as potential markets including Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

On January 21, 2011, League Commissioner David Gross announced that Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio had been approved to host expansion teams to begin play in the 2012 MLL season, a season in which the commissioner also said the league would be adding two more games to the schedule, where eight teams will play fourteen games.

Format and rules

The season runs from May to August. MLL rules that differ from traditional lacrosse rules include a two-point goal line 16 yards (15 m) from each goal, a 60-second shot clock, and the elimination of the restraining box. From the inception of the league in 2001 to 2008 there was a limit of three long-stick defensemen per team. Beginning in 2009, the league conformed to high school and college lacrosse rules and allow four long–stickman per team on the field at any one time.^[4] The shot clock was originally 45 seconds before it was changed to 60 seconds for 2005.

Major League Lacrosse Progression
Year	Teams	Games Played
2001	6 teams	14 games
2002
2003		12 games
2004
2005
2006	10 teams
2007
2008
2009	6 teams
2010
2011
2012	8 teams	14 games

Television coverage

Fox Sports Net televised games in 2001 and 2002. ESPN2 has televised games since the 2003 season. On March 14, 2007 the two agreed to a television contract that will run until the 2016 season. Universal Sports broadcast playoff games not on ESPN in 2009 and also carried a Game of the Week in 2010. For the 2011 season, ESPN will televise two regular season games, the MLL All-Star Game, both semi-final games and the MLL championship game. All games are also carried on ESPN3.

Teams

Lizards

Cannons

Nationals

Bayhawks

Rattlers

Outlaws

Machine

Hounds

2012 Expansion Teams

Defunct Teams

MLL Championship Games

See also: Steinfeld Cup

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Location	Game MVP
2001	Long Island Lizards	15-11	Baltimore Bayhawks	Kennedy Stadium	Bridgeport, CT	Paul Gait (Long Island)
2002	Baltimore Bayhawks	21-13	Long Island Lizards	Columbus Crew Stadium	Columbus, OH	Mark Millon (Baltimore)
2003	Long Island Lizards	15-14 (OT)	Baltimore Bayhawks	Villanova Stadium	Villanova, PA	Kevin Lowe (Long Island)
2004	Philadelphia Barrage	13-11	Boston Cannons	Nickerson Field	Boston, MA	Greg Cattrano (Philadelphia)
2005	Baltimore Bayhawks	15-9	Long Island Lizards	Nickerson Field	Boston, MA	Gary Gait (Baltimore)
2006	Philadelphia Barrage	23-12	Denver Outlaws	The Home Depot Center	Carson, CA	Roy Colsey (Philadelphia)
2007	Philadelphia Barrage	16-13	Los Angeles Riptide	PAETEC Park	Rochester, NY	Matt Striebel (Philadelphia)
2008	Rochester Rattlers	16-6	Denver Outlaws	Harvard Stadium	Boston, MA	Joe Walters (Rochester)
2009	Toronto Nationals	10-9	Denver Outlaws	Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	Annapolis, MD	Merrick Thomson (Toronto)
2010	Chesapeake Bayhawks	13-9	Long Island Lizards	Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	Annapolis, MD	Kyle Hartzell (Chesapeake)
2011	Boston Cannons	10-9	Hamilton Nationals	Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium	Annapolis, MD	Jordan Burke

League officials

Name	Years	Title
Gabby Roe	1999–2002	Executive Director
Matthew Pace	2002–03	Executive Director
David Gross	2003–04	Chief Operating Officer
	2004–present	Commissioner

Main League offices

• East Rutherford, NJ (1999–2001)
• Secaucus, NJ (2001–2004)
• Boston, MA (2004–present)

See also

• National Lacrosse League, the professional men's indoor lacrosse league of North America
• North American Lacrosse League, the secondary men's indoor lacrosse league of North America
• List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada

References

1. ^ May, Shaun (2006), Slash Magazine, pp. 5
2. ^ "MLL Expansion". Major League Lacrosse. http://majorleaguelacrosse.com/teams/mllexpansion/. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
3. ^ "Overview". Major League Lacrosse. http://majorleaguelacrosse.com/aboutmll/overview/. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 
4. ^ "League announces expansion of rosters to 19 and addition of fourth long pole for 2009". Inside Lacrosse. October 22, 2008. http://www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=192176. Retrieved 2008-10-24. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official website
• Major League Lacrosse Fan Site