KYLIE OHLMILLER
The Women’s Profes-
sional Lacrosse
League player
calls the momentum
“incredible.”
MYLES JONES
A former All-
American player at
Duke and an MLL
All-Star, he’s now
with the PLL.PAUL RABIL
“I knew the players
[would be]
supportive of
trying to start
something new.”healthcare, coverage on NBC, a touring
schedule set to begin on June 1, and an equity
stake—a first for a professional sports league.
The league’s investors—Creative Artists
Agency and such private equity players as the
Raine Group, the Chernin Group, Blum Capi-
tal, and others—see potential in an exploding
market for an increasingly popular game.
Lacrosse is the oldest team sport in North
America, invented by Native Americans
nearly 1,000 years ago (the Iroquois called it
the Creator’s Game). When Jesuit mission-
aries encountered it in the 17th century, the
French priests saw the long wooden stick
with a hook and webbing at one end, and
dubbed the game “la crosse.” It took root
among settlers in Canada, where it was the
country’s first official national sport (sorry,
hockey), and gradually spread south. By the
early 20th century, lacrosse had established
itself as a provincial extracurricular activ-
ity among mid-Atlantic high schools and
colleges and became a fixture at elite North-
eastern prep schools. The sport earned a
reputation as something rich white kids play.
But that’s been changing. Over the past two
decades, lacrosse has been the fastest-growing
team sport in America, with total participation
(male and female) up more than 225% since- The number of collegiate nonwhite play-
ers has more than tripled in the past 10 years
as the sport has spread across the U.S. More
than 200 colleges have added NCAA lacrosse
programs since 2012, and over a million boys
and girls in the U.S. currently play. Many of
them are in Philadelphia today, clutching
PLL hoodies for Rabil to sign. The line moves
slowly, but nobody seems to be complaining.
Wearing a gray T-shirt with the PLL logo on
the chest and a backward yellow PLL ball cap,
the affable Rabil—6'3" of shoulders, beard, and
“IF YOU KNOCK IT OUT OF THE PARK
WHILE YOU’RE ON NATIONAL
TELEVISION, BRANDS WILL SIGN YOU
—PLL COFOUNDER PAUL RABIL