The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. Unlike other box lacrosse leagues, which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring, from December to June. Each year, the playoff teams battle for the National Lacrosse League Cup. The NLL has averaged between 8,900 and 10,700 spectators per game each year since 2004.
Box lacrosse rules
The NLL plays four 15-minute quarters with 2-minute breaks between quarters and a 15-minute half-time. At the start of the each quarter and after every goal, players will "face-off" at the center of the field to determine who will get possession. This is done by the two players pushing the heads of their sticks together with the game ball in the middle. A scrum-like match usually happens when the players on either team try and win the ball.
If a game is tied after regulation, the two teams play sudden death overtime. Each team may take a 45-second timeout per half. Each team dresses 19 players: 2 goaltenders and 17 "runners". NLL goals are 4'9" wide and 4' tall.
The NLL uses a 30-second shot clock, which is similar to a professional or collegiate basketball shot clock. The clock will start its countdown once one team gets possession of the ball. If the offense does not shoot the ball in time, they lose possession. However, if the offense shoots on goal and then retrieves the ball, the shot clock is restarted.
Fighting is a 5-minute major penalty and does not result in an automatic ejection.
Season and playoffs
Each team in the NLL plays eighteen games during the regular season, nine each at home and away. The teams are divided into two divisions: the eight-team East and the seven-team West Division. NLL games are typically played on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays while some weekends see teams play twice.
The regular season begins in December and ends in April. Starting in 2018, the league announced that the playoffs would be expanded to eight teams to accommodate expansion. For the 2022 playoffs, the top four teams in the East and top three teams in the West automatically qualified. The final playoff spot is awarded to the team with the next best record: the fourth in the West, or the fifth in the East. In 2022, that spot was given to the East's Philadelphia Wings. The first round is single-elimination, and the Conference Finals and Championship rounds are best-of-three.
Players
The NLL adopted a soft salary cap of US$400,000 per team for the 2013 season. The average base salary as of the 2013 season was $19,135. The maximum salary for a franchise player is approximately $34,000. Most NLL players have full-time jobs off the floor, such as Buffalo's John Tavares, a high school teacher in Mississauga, Ontario. As of 2018, the NLL salary cap was $415,000, with Buffalo Business First reporter Paul Lane citing the following pay scale:
Rookies: $10,208
Second-year players: $12,196–$16,631
Veteran minimum: $15,165
Veteran maximum: $30,132
Franchise player: $37,664
Average salary: $19,375.21
Although ten of the fifteen teams are based in the U.S., less than 7% of players are American. Approximately 83% are Canadian and 10% are Haudenosaunee, from either Canada or the U.S.
Teams
Current teams
An asterisk (*) denotes the franchise moved to its present location and has been in one or more previous locations in its history (see franchise timeline below or team pages for relocation history).
Former teams
The following lists franchises that are no longer active in the NLL.
History
Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League
The rebirth of major professional box lacrosse in the United States came on March 13, 1986, with the formation of the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League (EPBLL), which was incorporated by Russ Cline and Chris Fritz. The "Eagle League" moniker was inspired by a meeting with Iroquois leaders, whose culture views the animal as a tutelary spirit. Previously, in 1985, box lacrosse sponsored an event played at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. The USA/Canada Superseries was an eight-game series seen as a precursor to the new league.