North America's Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) has extended its domestic broadcast rights deal with ESPN, in a tie-up that also sees the heavyweight sports broadcaster take a minority equity stake in the property.
This marks the first time ESPN has publicly disclosed an equity investment in a sports league or property.
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Regarding the broadcast rights side of the agreement, the five-year deal begins with next year's PLL season and covers all games across the regular season, the Women's Lacrosse League (WLL) that was launched earlier this year, the post-season playoffs, as well as the All-Star and championship games. In addition, the PLL and WLL player drafts will be covered by ESPN during the length of the tie-up.
The ESPN+ streaming platform will be the home of all PLL and WLL action through the deal – which runs through the 2030 season – while select fixtures will also air on the main ABC and ESPN channels, and on ESPN2.
The initial deal through which ESPN replaced NBC as the domestic broadcaster of PLL action was unveiled in March of 2022 – up until that point, NBC (and streaming platform Peacock) had held coverage rights to the lacrosse property since it was founded in 2018.
The stake purchase, meanwhile, comes as a recognition of "significant growth potential in the PLL's forward-thinking approach and commitment to innovation," ESPN has said. The last time PLL took on outside investment was in 2022.
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By GlobalDataPaul Rabil, co-founder and president of Premier Lacrosse League, has commented: "This partnership marks a historic moment for the PLL and WLL. ESPN’s renewed commitment, along with their investment, speaks volumes about the future of lacrosse."
The 2025 PLL season – the competition's seventh overall – contains eight teams, and is running between May 30 and September 14 (when the PLL Championship Game takes place).
The National Lacrosse League, containing both US and Canadian teams, is also covered by ESPN in the US.
