Lacrosse is a rising sport in our country and attracts more and more kids to play the sport every year. Every year it sees it’s numbers increase in the number of kids playing the sport.
But that’s not what I am here to talk about; I am here to talk about my favorite sports league that is very underappreciated and that is Major League Lacrosse.
Before you ask, YES! Major League Lacrosse is a real thing, and I love the league and am a huge fan of it, just because it’s not really respected.
The league was first founded in 1998, but the league did not play its first season till 2001. The league currently features nine teams, the Florida Launch, Atlanta Blaze (in it’s 1st year), Denver Outlaws, Boston Cannons, Ohio Machine, Rochester Rattlers, Chesapeake Bayhawks, New York Lizards, and the Charlotte Hounds. The league has also had teams all over the country they have had teams in Chicago, Hamilton, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Lacrosse is one of the few sports that people say you can never make a living in after college it’s not like basketball, or baseball, or football or any other big sport where you can still make a decent living playing in the professional ranks after college.
But in Major League Lacrosse the money is not really there, which is kind of why I love it. For example according to a CNN article written just last year in the MLL a rookies 1st seasons pay is $7,000 for a season which is fourteen games long, but most rookies miss the first couple games since the Major League Lacrosse season begins towards the end of the College Lacrosse season. Let’s just say as a rookie you play 10 games in the regular season and that does not include the playoffs you make $700 a game not bad but not great. Then the rest of the league’s players make between $10,000-$20,000, with a couple players making more. Paul Rabil is said to be the highest paid lacrosse player, but is unclear how much he makes since it has never been revealed. Let’s just say a major league lacrosse player gets paid $20,000 for a year, and play in all 14 games and his team doesn’t make the playoffs, he essentially makes $1,430 a game not bad, but now let’s compare that to other sports. In the NBA Mike Conley signed a 5 year 153 million dollar contract, he makes 30.6 million per year, Andrew Luck in the NFL just signed a 6 year 140 million dollar contract making 23.3 million a year, and the highest paid baseball Clayton Kershaw is making 32.8 million this season. Here’s the scenario every single one of these players plays in every game they are supposed to play, and his team doesn’t make the playoffs here is how much they should make per game. Kershaw essentially makes $1 million per game, Conley makes $373,170.73 per game, and Andrew Luck makes $1,458,333.33 per game. Pretty much a NBA, Baseball, and Basketball player makes more money in one game than probably the highest paid lacrosse player makes all year.
I’m not here to complain about how unfair it is I’m hear to talk about why I love it kind of, these guys who are playing the game aren’t playing for the money they are strictly playing for the love of the game and that’s why the MLL puts out such a great product. These guys are just trying to continue to play the game they love for as much longer as they can.
That’s honestly why I love the whole league of Major League Lacrosse because; these guys really are not making the big bucks. They are simply continuing to play the game they love strictly for the love of the game and that’s why I think Major League Lacrosse puts out such a great product in games, and people should really begin to take notice.
