All Lacrosse America

So you know Jim Brown was great at it. You’re pretty sure the guys wear helmets, run around frantically with sticks and do lots of scoring. And you recall somebody telling you once about how big the game was in rec leagues in the Northeast. But what, if anything, do you really know about lacrosse? Huh? HUH?! Nothing, right? Neither did we, so we went to the man who’d know plenty, David Gross, the Commissioner of Major League Lacrosse (the MLL title game is August 27 in LA), to get his thoughts on his sport, his sport’s future and the likelihood of his game ever getting better acquainted with people like you.

For folks who know nothing or very little about lacrosse, tell them what they’ve been missing.
They’ve missed out on fast-paced, hard-hitting, high-scoring games featuring the best lacrosse players in the entire world. The elite players in our league are no different than an elite player in any other sport in any other league. They’re the best lacrosse guys that exist. They can do amazing things. They’re tremendous athletes. What these guys can do, they’re absolute magicians with the stick. It’s just incredible to watch what they’re able to do. David Evans can shoot a ball, accurately, at 109 miles per hour. A goalie can sometimes stop that. In baseball, there are 20 some odd yards from pitcher to catcher. These guys are doing it from 10 feet out. Some of the quickness these guys have is amazing to see. As I’m sure you’re aware, one of the best all-time lacrosse players is Jim Brown.

You all only have 10 teams in your league, why?
In 2001, there were two other sports leagues, the XFL and WUSA, which, unfortunately, have both gone by the waist side. It’s very difficult to launch new sports leagues. We came out with a business model that was appropriate for the size business we are. A lot of leagues, when they come out, want to do so with a lot of flash. We knew we didn’t have that ability to make that big a splash. Our whole efforts have been built on slow and steady growth. <>

Are you using other sports’ successes and failures in the MLL business plan?
When the NFL came out, the NFL was not what the NFL is today. It takes a long time to get there. [You need to] have owners that are in it for the long haul and have teams buy into the concept of grassroots marketing and slowly building that fanbase. It’s worked. Does it get frustrating when you run into someone who doesn’t even know your league exists, and you’re going into year six? Absolutely. But the trade off is everybody knows the XFL existed but it isn’t here. We’re on the right track.

Define a typical lacrosse fan.
A lacrosse fan is no different than any general sports fan. To become a fan, you’ve got to like what Americans like: fast pace, a great deal of action, hard hits, scoring. Our game has all those elements. So, even if you haven’t been reared on the sport, all it takes is one viewing and you’re hooked. In the six years of the league, I’ve had only one person come up to me and say, ‘I went to a game and I didn’t enjoy it.’ And the person’s reason was that the game he went to had too much action! If that’s someone’s complaint, we’re going to take that as a ringing endorsement of what we’re trying to do. It’s a two-hour thrill ride!