Founding (2001–2005) Major League Lacrosse was founded in 1999 by
Jake Steinfeld,
Dave Morrow and Tim Robertson. Steinfeld is the creator of the
Body By Jake line of exercise equipment and videos. Morrow is a former
All-American lacrosse player at
Princeton and the president of
Warrior Sports. Tim Robertson is the son of televangelist
Pat Robertson and the former CEO of
The Family Channel. Steinfeld said, "For years, America's top collegiate lacrosse players have not had the opportunity to play in a professional outdoor league at the conclusion of their collegiate careers. Those days are over with the creation of Major League Lacrosse." MLL began play in 2001 with six teams in the northeastern U.S. split into two divisions. The American Division included teams in
Boston,
Bridgeport, Connecticut, and on
Long Island; the National Division included teams in
Baltimore,
New Jersey, and
Rochester. All teams were owned by the league, which assigned three franchise players to each team before the initial draft. The first MLL game took place on June 7, 2001, with the Baltimore Bayhawks defeating the Long Island Lizards 16–13 at Homewood field in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris Turner scored the first goal in MLL history. The MLL played a 14-game
regular season its first two years, then the schedule was cut to 12 games. After the first year, the league's
playoff format had the top teams in each division advancing to the semifinals, with two
wild card playoff spots going to the teams with the next-best records regardless of division. The first MLL Championship Game saw the Long Island Lizards beat the Baltimore Bayhawks 15–11 in September 2001. The game was played at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Paul Gait was named the game's MVP. Four out of the first five
championship games were between the
Long Island Lizards and the
Baltimore Bayhawks. The Lizards won titles in
2001 and
2003, while the Bayhawks won in
2002 and
2005. The recently relocated
Philadelphia Barrage beat the
Boston Cannons 13–11 in
2004's final. In 2003,
New Balance became a "founding member" and major sponsor of MLL. New Balance founder and CEO,
Jim Davis got very involved in the operation of the league, including providing financial support. Davis still owns the
Dallas Rattlers. In 2005,
Andrew Goldstein became the first American male team-sport professional athlete to be openly
gay during his playing career. Goldstein played goalie for the Long Island Lizards from 2005 to 2007, although he only appeared in two games in 2006.
Expansion and contraction (2006–2011) MLL added four teams for the
2006 season, bringing the league's number of teams up to ten. The expansion markets were
Los Angeles,
Denver,
Chicago, and
San Francisco, extending the league across the country and into top media markets. MLL combined the original six teams into the Eastern Conference and put the new teams into the Western Conference. The
Los Angeles Riptide were owned by the
Anschutz Entertainment Group and played its home games at the
Home Depot Center.
Denver Broncos' owner
Pat Bowlen brought the
Denver Outlaws to an
NFL stadium,
Mile High. The other new
franchises were the
Chicago Machine and the
San Francisco Dragons. Despite winning championships in 2006 and
2007, Philadelphia didn't attract more than 2,500 fans to their games. So in 2008, the Barrage tested out new markets by playing all of its "home" matches in five other cities:
Cary, North Carolina;
Hillsboro, Oregon;
Irving, Texas;
St. Louis; and
Virginia Beach. In addition, the Barrage's "home game" against the Cannons was played in Boston. At the end of the
2008 season, four teams – Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and San Francisco – folded due to financial problems. Several of these teams suffered from poor attendance, San Francisco drew 2,808 per game and only 1,920 in New Jersey. This contraction forced the remaining six teams to form one conference. The Rochester Rattlers won the 2008 Steinfeld Cup but like the Barrage, struggled at the gate. At the start of the
2009 season, a new ownership group in Toronto bought the rights to the Rochester franchise. The Toronto Nationals inherited the staff and players of the team, but the Rattlers' name and team colors were left in Rochester for the possibility of a future team. In 2010, the Bayhawks and Lizards met for the fifth time in the championship game. The Bayhawks prevailed 13–9, almost the same score as when they beat Long Island 15–9 five years earlier. The newly renamed Chesapeake Bayhawks went on to win two more championships in the next three years, in 2012 and 2013. Their five Steinfeld Cup trophies are the most in MLL history. The league's attendance peaked at 6,417 per game in the
2011 season. The individual franchises had a wide range of local support. Denver lead the league in attendance, drawing 12,331 fans per game in 2011, while the relocated Hamilton Nationals had 1,214 people per game, one-tenth of Denver's attendance.
LXM Pro Tour In late 2009,
Kyle Harrison, Scott Hochstadt, Craig Hochstadt, Xander Ritz, and Max Ritz formed the
LXM Pro Tour. The tour would feature two teams playing games across the country at special events involving the LXM Pro game and youth activities. The tour competed for players with the MLL as the more established league would not let players under contract play in other professional lacrosse events. On February 13, 2014, MLL announced a partnership with the LXM Pro Tour, a week after the league announced a new equipment deal with STX, a sponsor of one of the LXM Pro teams. The deal moved LXM to the MLL off-season and allowed players to participate in both MLL and LXM. However, LXM Pro didn't hold any tour stops after the announcement.
Southern trend (2012–2018) During the early years of MLL, the league did not have any teams in the southeast. In January 2011, Commissioner David Gross announced that Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as Columbus, Ohio, were granted expansion teams for the 2012 season. The Ohio Machine and Charlotte Hounds opened play in April 2012, with both teams missing the playoffs in their inaugural season. With the expansion, the league grew to eight teams and expanded its schedule to fourteen games. In November 2013, the Hamilton Nationals folded and an expansion franchise was awarded to the
Florida Launch for the 2014 season. The Launch inherited the Nationals roster. The
Atlanta Blaze became the ninth MLL team in 2016. The Rattlers relocated [again] from Rochester, New York, in 2018 to Dallas, Texas, and began play as the
Dallas Rattlers in 2018.
Second contraction (2019 to 2020) On April 1, 2019, just two months before the start of the season, the league announced that the Charlotte Hounds, Florida Launch, and Ohio Machine would not be playing in 2019. While the Hounds announced they would be back in 2021 under new ownership in a renovated stadium, the Launch and Machine effectively folded. The announcement dropped the league down to six teams, the fewest teams since 2011, and meant all remaining owners owned only one team.
Jim Davis, owner of
New Balance, had owned the Hounds, Launch, and Machine, but he now owns only the Dallas Rattlers. Also in 2019, MLL saw its first goal by a Japanese player, Kohta Kurashima, who is also the first Japanese born player in MLL history. The Rattlers ceased operations after the 2019 season. and the staff and roster were shifted to an expansion team called the Connecticut Hammerheads. The Atlanta Blaze also ceased operations after the 2019 season and were replaced by a resurrected
Philadelphia Barrage. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced they would play a week-long quarantined season in Annapolis at
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with no fans. Every team would play each other once (five total games) before a four-team playoff as normal.
PLL merger (2020) On December 16, 2020, it was announced that the MLL had agreed to merge all operations with the
Premier Lacrosse League. Under this agreement, the leagues will operate as one under the "PLL" brand and model. In order to accommodate the influx of players the PLL will be expanding the league to include its eighth touring team, known as Cannons Lacrosse Club, paying homage to the 2020 MLL champions, the
Boston Cannons. The roster of this new team was determined by the 2021 expansion draft. ==Rules==