The sport of lacrosse is growing. Two weeks ago, the LXM Pro Tour and the MLL agreed upon a merger to allow players to play in both leagues. It also brought in a couple of new sponsors and companies to help grow the sport as well. With all the recent signings and mergers, it presents an interesting problem though. Will players have to choose between the NLL and MLL before joining the LXM Pro Tour, or will they be able to do all three?
As you know the NLL occurs during the MLL offseason just like the LXM Pro Tour does. Some, not all, of the players who partake in the NLL also take part in the MLL. With the merger, players are allowed to play in both the MLL and LXM Pro Tour, but will it be possible for players to play in the NLL and LXM Pro Tour as well?
To put it simply, the answer should be yes. Players should be able to play in all three leagues if they choose to do so. After all, there are a number of players who already play in both the MLL and NLL:
Matt Bocklet, Kevin Buchanan, Ken Clausen, CJ Costabile, Kevin Crowley, Tucker Durkin, Cam Flint, John Grant Jr., Zack Greer, Kyle Hartzell, Stephen Keogh, Cody Jamieson, Eric Law, Mark Matthews, Brian Megill, Brodie Merrill., Jason Noble, Rob Pannell, Casey Powell, Michael Poppleton, Paul Rabil, John Ranagan, Logan Schuss, Max Seibald, Geoff Snider, Garrett Thul, Joe Walters, Drew Westervelt, Joel White.
From that list, there are a number of names that I personally would think are very appealing to the LXM Pro Tour to have in order to grow the sport. Considering that most of the LXM games are once or twice a month, it would seem as if it would be easy for NLL players to accommodate an LXM game into their personal schedules. Considering most of the games that the NLL plays are on the weekend, it would make sense that maybe the LXM Pro Tour does a game on a marquee night like a Thursday or Friday.
Of course, there would have to be some negotiations between the two leagues in order to make a schedule that is feasible for the players to play in both leagues without suffering from being burned out. I feel that, if both leagues are true to the words of “growing the game,” this is but a minor hurdle.
However, there is one reason why it may not work. One notable name who is on an NLL roster but has yet to suit up is, wouldn’t you know it, an LXM player, Sam Bradman. I realize this could be because of other reasons besides not being able to fit time in to play in the NLL but it does put a slight smudge on this argument. Did Bradman not want to suit up for that specific team or the NLL in general? Was he barred from doing so because of his contract with STX?
Either way, it shouldn’t be a large hurdle for players in the NLL to clear if they want to play in all three leagues. After all, the MLL allows players to miss games for other leagues without repurcussions. One example was Sid Smith of the Hamilton Nationals/Florida Launch missing a game during last year’s MLL Championship Weekend to go play for Six Nations. Therefore, for guys like Paul Rabil, Kevin Crowley, Max Seibald and the other players that were mentioned above, it shouldn’t be a stretch for them to play in all three leagues and truly help grow the sport of lacrosse.
