ESPN Just Bought A Minority Stake In The Premier Lacrosse League, Which Means More Televised Pro Lacrosse Forever
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.Bloomberg -- ESPN is acquiring a minority stake in the Premier Lacrosse League while also retaining its media rights, signaling a change in strategy during the streaming era.
The Walt Disney Co. network’s new five-year deal with the PLL starts after this season, according to the companies. The rights package and equity investment also include a stake in the PLL’s newly formed Women’s Lacrosse League. Terms weren’t disclosed.
…For the PLL, selling equity to ESPN helps ensure that the network will continue to build the league’s profile, while allowing ESPN to participate in that growth, according to Paul Rabil, co-founder and president of the PLL. “There’s going to be more of that, especially among tier-two or emerging properties,” said Rabil.
There used to be a time, not too long ago, when we would get 2 or 3 professional lacrosse games televised all year long. There used to be a time, not too long ago, when you'd need to purchase a subscription to something called Lax Sports Network just to watch an awful MLL stream. If you wanted to actually watch and keep up with professional lacrosse over the summer, you legitimately had to work for it. Which is probably why the popularity of pro lacrosse was so low. If you're going to make fans jump through a bunch of hoops just to watch a game, they're just simply going to choose not to watch.
We're not talking about the 1980s. We're not talking about the 90s. We're talking about literally just 10 years ago. So to go from that situation 10 years ago, to now seeing ESPN acquiring a minority stake in the PLL to go along with a new 5-year media rights deal? Maybe professional lacrosse isn't exactly where everybody would want it to be right now, but holy shit has it come a far way.
I'm not a business guy. I barely even know what the word equity means. I'm also not a guy who understands ratings, or really gives a shit about ratings at all. You show me some numbers from Nielsen and I'll tell you to take a hike. Those numbers mean absolutely nothing to me, mostly because I don't understand what they mean. But I have to imagine that having ESPN actually invested in the league means they're committed to doing everything they can to make the sport explode.
Part of that would be potentially moving the season a bit so the playoffs and championship don't run into the NFL season.
Sportico -- While the PLL’s TV numbers have grown under its ESPN partnership, the league is exploring a more hospitable competitive environment for the championship game. Last year’s broadcast, in which the Utah Archers secured their second straight title with a 12-8 victory over the Maryland Whipsnakes, was scheduled in the teeth of an NFL slate that included a Chiefs-Chargers shootout on CBS that scared up 24.1 million viewers.
The PLL may look to sidestep football season altogether once the new rights deal goes into effect. “What you could see as part of our next partnership with ESPN over the next five years is a shift of the season,” PLL co-founder and president Paul Rabil said in a phone interview. “We may begin earlier in the spring and then end before the fall comes along. Those are things that our strategy team is running analysis against.”
The perfect schedule for pro lacrosse is from Memorial Day to Labor Day. You have 15-16 weeks to work with there. There's really no need for an All-Star Game. A 10-12 game season for each team. You can throw in a bye week before playoffs start. Quarterfinals, semifinals, championship game on Labor Day. Sure, maybe the first few weeks of the season are competing with the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals. But most of those games are going to be at night. You can still have afternoon games to start the season that won't be getting completely eaten alive in the ratings by a week 2 Chargers game at 4:25.
Now obviously the numbers on the deal here are going to be the most important, and I don't think I've seen them reported anywhere. I would think it's probably not some massive deal that would blow your dick away or anything like that. Chances are that just the media rights alone wasn't going to be enough for the league, and that's why they would offer up a minority stake to ESPN. So maybe this deal isn't going to instantly throw a shit ton of money into the league right away. But in the long term it seems like a huge move. Not only does it insure that every game is going to be available on ESPN+, with a bunch of other games on ESPN and ESPN2 and ABC throughout the year. But you also have the potential of the season getting moved, and it just means more coverage outside of the game broadcasts themselves. All in all, this is a win for all the lax rats out there.