New York and Philly Have New Pro Lacrosse Teams
Professional lacrosse is officially coming back to New York and Philadelphia. The Premier Lacrosse League announced the host city for each of their eight professional teams today. New York was awarded the Atlas and Philadelphia was named the home city for the Waterdogs, starting next season.
Live from the 2 p.m. hour of ESPN’s SportsCenter, PLL Co-Founder Paul Rabil officially unveiled each of the home cities. The Boston Cannons were the first team announced. Joining Boston was then New York (Atlas), Philadelphia (Waterdogs), Maryland (Whipsnakes), Carolina (Chaos), Utah (Archers), and Redwoods (California). In addition, the Chrome lacrosse club has rebranded to become the Denver Outlaws.
Both markets have not had a true professional club since Major League Lacrosse was acquired by the PLL in 2020. The first five seasons of the PLL have operated off a traveling tour model, where each team was not based out of, or assigned to, a home city.
Although the MLL started over 20 years ago, the league never experienced the fame and notoriety that the PLL has achieved in just five years. This includes exclusive distribution with ESPN. However, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia have had pro lacrosse teams before. The New Jersey Pride were a MLL team until 2008. The New York Lizards were in place until 2020 as was the Philadelphia Barrage.
The Future Of The Premier Lacrosse League
For 2024, the PLL will maintain the touring model, but the tour stops will be at the assigned home cities. The host team will then play a doubleheader that weekend. Prior to that, the PLL will hold the Championship Series tournament. This will take place February 14-19 in Washington, DC. Here, “Teams will compete in Olympic Sixes, the game format set to bring lacrosse back to the Olympics for the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games, marked by fast-paced play on a condensed field with a shortened shot clock, and faceoffs limited to the start of each quarter,” the PLL stated.
In the meantime, you can check out the PLL’s official New York and Philadelphia announcements. In addition, they each now have their own team sections on the official PLL website. Here, you can see the Atlas are led by young stars in Jeff Teat and Trevor Baptiste. The Philly Waterdogs won the PLL championship in 2022. They also have one of the league’s biggest stars in Michael Sowers.
You can see the full PLL home cities announcement below.
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