I went to the PLL debut on Saturday and watched on Sunday, and I have takes.
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do so, but I got to go see some lacrosse strictly as a fan. I’ve been playing, coaching, or covering lacrosse for about 25 years now, and I couldn’t be more excited about the trajectory pro lacrosse looks to be on. I went to check out the PLL double header on Saturday at Gillette, and watched the Sunday broadcast from home. After taking some time to consider the weekend, here’s the good and the not so good.
What was good:
That lacrosse though. It’s what you’d expect, and probably goes without saying, but all the games this weekend were outstanding. Two overtime games Saturday and a slugfest Sunday. Of course, we aren’t where we are because professional lacrosse had a weak on field product. The talent is insane, and the talent continues to be insane, they’re just doing it in new uniforms. Yeah, there are new rules like the 52 second clock, 100 yard field, 15 yard two point line, and some faceoff changes, but for me, that all boiled down to a game that was really fast paced and frankly felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Beyond that, the lacrosse that we saw over the weekend wasn’t just great in terms of highlight goals that’ll make SportsCenter. Don’t get me wrong, we had plenty of those (Marcus Holman can bend space and time to his will, and frankly they should make that illegal in lacrosse). But we got outstanding play at every position on the field, making plays that either a new fan will be blown away by, or a seasoned lacrosse viewer will be awestruck by. Tim Troutner was incredible in net for the Redwoods. Connor Farrell made about a hundred new fans in my section by the time the Chrome game was over by crushing both faceoffs and humans alike. It was pretty much declared by Rabil after Saturday games that the matchups were scheduled as they were because they’d be intense and close. So that worked, and I love it.
Team personalities. This was something the league talked about as a tool for building rosters. They wanted to try and develop style and personality by putting certain players with specific styles together. I think it’s worked fairly well. The Archers offense was precise, clinical, and lethal. Their man up unit was Kevin Rice, Marcus Holman, Christian Cuccinello, Davey Emala, Will Manny, and Tom Schreiber. So, ya know, good luck. Chaos was looking to be disruptive, with guys like Troy Reh out there on the defensive end taking arms off and Connor Fields leaving spectators wondering just what in the world might happen next. On top of all that, they have Myles Jones ready to just overpower an entire defense. Seriously, whenever Fields or Jones got the ball, tons of fans would do that thing where you lift your butt like an inch of the seat and lean forward in wild anticipation. The Whipsnakes struck quickly and struck early, jumping all over the Chaos before they knew what hit them. They snap the ball from one end of the field to the other incredibly fast, perfectly matching their players style, team personality, and head coach in Jim Stagnitta. You get the idea. But part of that leads to not just individual team identity, but a clashing of dynamics between two teams. Look no further than Atlas/Redwoods, which contained more than a few tense moments and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls. I don’t need to see fights to enjoy a game, but a level of intensity that results in a few not so friendly exchanges is definitely welcome, and we got that.
The broadcast. The TV crew is top notch, offering a level of production value the sport hasn’t seen. The instant access to players is incredible. Hearing guys like John Galloway and Will Manny break down a goal literally seconds after it has happened, along with sidelines interviews with players who were just involved in a play, is incredible. Yeah, baseball talks to an outfielder once in a while and NASCAR might talk to drivers, but this just felt a little different. Can’t put my finger on why. Maybe it’s just because lacrosse is a sport I care about and baseball/NASCAR aren’t, but whatever, this got me pumped. Another part of this is the turnaround for highlights and replays. Social media, YouTube, NBC — the plays you wanted to see again and again were immediately out there in any number of places. That’s important. Sure, sometimes it’s fun to tweet out news of a goal with a SpongeBob meme or some other silly gif from The Office. But if I’m not able to watch, I want to see the play that you say was so incredible, and if I am watching, I want to see it again and share it with people who didn’t see it. With this stuff, SkyCam, and the quality of the crew calling the game, the broadcast might be the single biggest strength of the PLL right now, it’s that good. I’ve spoken with more than a few people who were maybe casual fans or just stopped on the Sunday broadcast for a few minutes, and are now getting a package to watch games all season. That’s what this is supposed to be all about.
What was not so good:
The language on air. I was in the stadium on Saturday, but from what I can tell, the mics were extremely hot during the double header broadcast. Just to get this out of the way now, I’m not clutching my pearls, aghast at the horrible things coming through the TV. These are grown adults and fierce competitors, saying things they always say on game day. Don’t ever change. Part of the league appeal is that we fans have access at insanely high level to these players themselves, and those players speak and act with authenticity. You don’t get the feeling your watching a charade and that matters. Keep cussin, fellas. I pity the poor soul that would have to head into the Chaos huddle and tell Andy Towers to please be mindful of his language. That said, a dozen f-bombs coming through in two games just won’t fly on NBC. The league/production team will have to find a way to let these guys keep being themselves while they cool the mics a bit.
The stats. I was just a guy in the stands for this one, but I’ve covered my share of games. Quality live stats are critical to adequately covering a game, particularly at the professional level. A major problem from previous years of pro lacrosse was poor statistics, both love on game day and in their presentation and delivery after the fact. I heard from media members and fans alike that the stat tracking for the Saturday games left a lot to be desired. Like the actually stats. Those were desired. The good news is that this should be something that’s easy to correct.
At times, the in stadium experience. There were plenty of positives. Guys who weren’t on a team currently playing hung around by the fans for autographs etc, and that’s great. But the extent of the entertainment when the game wasn’t going on was some quick features on players/gear on the jumbotron, a karaoke thing that most definitely did not go well the first of two times they did it (they had a group of three young girls try and essentially guess the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody and they had NO idea), and plenty of replays of the goal that won the US a world championship. No halftime entertainment or anything. I wasn’t expecting halftime at the Super Bowl, but I thought they’d have relay races for kids or some kind of game to win gear where fans fall all over themselves for the sake of amusing other fans. But we got nothing. When you have two games back to back, the crowd is going to fade a bit. By midway through the Chaos/Whipsnakes game, even though it was a great game, the crowd had quieted quite a bit, and some people had left their seats to watch from the shade. It takes more than just having RJ Kaminski throw a few balls in the stands to keep the crowd engaged for that long.
The crowd size. I was hoping for bigger. I don’t know what attendance numbers the league was hoping to do. In fact, I don’t know what numbers they did because I still haven’t seen any announced attendance. Saturday had the corner sections of Gillette looking a little sparse. Part of that is also that I’m not sure pro lacrosse is really ready for a football stadium. Even if they sold every seat that was available to some seriously raucous fans, Gillette probably wouldn’t feel all that full. I chalked up the crowd size Saturday to the fact that the Atlas is probably a top ticket out of the gate, and they played Sunday. They have the face of the league in Rabil on their roster, and no shortage of other popular personalities we’ve seen a ton of on social media in guys like Trevor Baptiste and Kyle Hartzell. On top of that, they’re playing the Redwoods, who has several more of the charismatic players like Kyle Harrison and Greg Gurenlian. Even with the Atlas not playing, there were a boatload of Rabil and Atlas jerseys walking around Saturday afternoon. And then, Sunday. The crowd again didn’t look as big as I’d hoped. While some of the world is ready to declare the league dead because they didn’t sell out Gillette in week one, that’s probably extremely hasty. It’s also worth remembering that here in the Northeast, a ton of youth and high school programs are still wrapping up their seasons, and that happens on the weekends. That’s a whole lot of kids, teams, etc that might have come otherwise but had a tournament or playoff game to play instead. If the target demographic can’t come, the attendance is going to take a hit. I’d expect Red Bull Arena to do a stronger attendance number as most New York, New Jersey, and CT youth programs are done now.
What’s next
We’re on the New York (Jersey). In my opinion, word about this league really still isn’t out as much as it could be. Friends of mine who played lacrosse growing up and through college are only just finding out about it after this weekend. The fact that the season is now underway is important, and hopefully draws more eyes to the sport.
