MSL & WLA plead with PLL to allow pros to play Senior A seasons
Tyson Bell, Six Nations Chiefs (Photo: OLA)
In just three short weeks, the recently announced regular-season schedule for Major Series Lacrosse is set to start. The Western Lacrosse Association will kick off their 2022 campaign about a week later.
While there is significant uncertainty about an Ontario Lacrosse Association-backed MSL season due to their deepening disagreement regarding the status of the Brampton Excelsiors as well as $15,000 in missed player development payments, the league is still pushing ahead as previously planned.
In a joint statement issued by the two Senior A sides, MSL and the WLA are pleading with the American-based Premier Lacrosse League to allow players who participate in both to continue competing in Canada during their upcoming summer box seasons.
As first reported by The Lax Mag this past March, the PLL has recently included a clause in player contracts prohibiting them from participating in any non-PLL competition during the pro-field league’s season of play. Those banned leagues would include MSL and the WLA. As published in The Lax Mag report, that could impact nearly 50 players who are presently signed by a PLL club and have also recently competed or were expected to compete in either MSL or the WLA this year.
Founded in 2018, the PLL has held three seasons so far (two full seasons and one condensed season during the pandemic in 2020), but it was just their inaugural campaign that clashed with the Canadian leagues for a player’s full attention. With pandemic-related restrictions lifted, that competition for commitment would have occurred again in coming weeks.
The PLL, clearly a pro league, compensates players around $25,000 to $45,000 (USD) per season (approximately $32,000 to $58,000 CAD).
MSL and the WLA, considered an amateur level of the sport by most, has certainly seen teams compensate players in the past, although those figures have never been made public. It’s believed a majority of the players in either Canadian league today make little to no money for playing. Top players in previous years, however, were rumoured to be making more than their NLL salaries supplied.
PLL player Zach Currier, who also suits up for MSL’s Peterborough Lakers (and NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks) recently revealed to the Peterborough Examiner what he was told by PLL officials regarding this touchy topic. “The explanation I received is that it’s a workers’ compensation issue,” Currier said. “The PLL is concerned a player could be injured outside of their league and then come and play in their league and file a claim in the PLL when the injury was sustained in senior A.”
The PLL, who has invested a sizeable sum into the marketing of their players on national television, widely distributed streaming services, and industry-leading social media, is also most certainly attempting to protect that significant investment. Losing a marquee player to a season-long injury during an MSL game is likely not an update league co-founder & recently retired PLL player Paul Rabil would enjoy seeing pop up in his inbox.
As stated in the boilerplate copy on PLL press releases, “…the Premier Lacrosse League is backed by an investment group composed of Joe Tsai Sports, Brett Jefferson Holdings, The Raine Group, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Chernin Group, Blum Capital, The Kraft Group, Arctos Sports Partners, and other top investors in sports and media.
The 2022 PLL regular season starts on June 4th in Albany, while their Championship Game is scheduled for September 18th in Philadelphia.
The joint statement issued by MSL and the WLA earlier today:
MEDIA RELEASE May 3, 2022
Major Series Lacrosse and the Western Lacrosse Association respectfully ask that the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) leadership engage in good-faith discussions with its Canadian players and our leagues to find a solution preventing Canadian players from participating with their community amateur teams that compete for the Mann Cup, the Canadian senior A indoor lacrosse championship..
The PLL has added a provision to its standard player agreements that would prohibit any PLL player from competing in non-PLL sponsored lacrosse events and other sporting events during its season. Unfortunately, this would prevent Canadian players from competing for the Mann Cup.
With the considerable overlap between the PLL and Canada’s two major summer lacrosse leagues, this new provision in the PLL standard player agreement unfairly restricts the ability of Canadian players to play in both the PLL and the Canadian leagues. Over the past several seasons, approximately 50 Canadian players played in both the PLL and the Canadian summer leagues. If this restriction is put in place this season, they will be unable to do so.
Lacrosse occupies a truly unique and historical place in Canadian sport. Identified as the Creator’s Game, lacrosse is wholly a product of North American Indigenous peoples, and is Canada's official national summer sport. Canadian athletes of all races and origins play lacrosse with passion and pride, and for the past 110 years, the best senior A lacrosse teams in Canada have battled for the Mann Cup, one of the most significant and prestigious championships in Canadian sport.
Doug Luey - Commissioner, Major Series Lacrosse
905.925.5839
dluey@rogers.com
Paul Dal Monte - Commissioner, Western Lacrosse Association
604.862.6863
commissioner@wlalacrosse.com
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