Why is professional lacrosse not more popular?

Does anyone actually watch professional lacrosse?

I’ve never seen it on TV at a sports bar, or seen a reel about it on Instagram, or even met a fan of a league. No one’s ever been talking about lacrosse when they ask their friends if they caught the game last night.

But, there are actually two men’s professional lacrosse leagues, and a women’s league that was just recently founded. Lacrosse is very entertaining, and when people do somehow find themselves watching a game, they always seem to have glowing opinions.

The Premier Lacrosse League is the men’s outdoor summer league and has been around since 2019. Still a fairly new league, it makes sense that viewership is somewhat low as the league has to develop fandom and team loyalty.

But the National Lacrosse League, the indoor winter league, has been around since 1987. Leagues like the WNBA and NWSL have been around for less time, but are already much more popular and mainstream.

Professional lacrosse’s biggest issue is the sport itself: lacrosse is not widely popular. It is a somewhat niche and unusual sport that many people don’t even think of when considering sports, despite lacrosse being one of humanity's oldest games.

Lacrosse is a very wealthy and privileged sport, and is anything but accessible. Not every school has lacrosse, and most people do not grow up playing or watching.

It is not a cultural or societal norm to watch lacrosse, and that is professional lacrosse’s biggest hurdle.

Additionally, professional lacrosse is pretty significantly different from high school and collegiate levels. The field is 10 yards shorter in professional, and has a shorter 52-second shot clock compared to collegiate’s 90 seconds.

This can cause issues transitioning, as the game is just different than what the already minimal fanbase knows.

The PLL setup is also unconventional. Rather than the normal home-and-away matchups with multiple games in multiple cities, all eight teams travel to the same city and play multiple games there. While not inherently bad, it is undeniably different and out of potential fans' comfort zones. Additionally, the PLL can only target one market at a time, rather than four if teams traveled separately.

Finally, the PLL just assigned home cities in 2024. Previously, without that localization, it was incredibly difficult to form fanbases and hone their marketing strategies.

Despite these issues, professional lacrosse as a whole is on the right path, with viewership and attendance steadily growing. The localization of teams and the expansion of leagues to include outdoor and women’s leagues will help broaden their reach and engage a wider audience.

The PLL also recently partnered with ESPN, making games more accessible to fans and increasing exposure. Average viewership grew 24% on ABC and 46% on ESPN in the 2025 season.

Currently, the PLL is doing just about everything in its control to make professional lacrosse more popular, and now they just have to wait and let their strategies play out. However, the NLL is in a more dire situation as the league has never really gained momentum despite its relatively long existence.

Jenny Karamus is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email jrk6308@psu.edu.