ESPN & Premier Lacrosse League Signs 4-Year Rights Deal

• ESPN is adding exclusive Premier Lacrosse League rights after they reached an agreement.
• All games will be streamed on ESPN+, including All-Star, Playoffs, and Championship Weekend.
• The PLL season will begin on June 4, with 47 games across 13 cities in the United States.

ESPN & Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) has reached a four-year broadcasting rights agreement. This makes ESPN the official domain for one of the largest lacrosse leagues in North America. The announcement comes right before the PLL's 2022 season, starting June 4, 2022. The company said further details will be revealed later, including game timings. 

All 47 games across 13 cities in the US, including All-Star, Playoffs, and Championship Weekend on September 17, will stream on ESPN+. Premier Lacrosse League announced their new agreement with ESPN to include their gameday experience of a game that’s indigenous to North America – one of the fastest-growing in the US today.

Adding exclusive rights to the PLL games will help ESPN+ boost its live sports offering further. ESPN has been actively acquiring sports rights to its streaming platform to expand its live sports coverage. Last year, the company added rights to the NHL, KHL, PHL, LaLiga, Bundesliga, the Emirates FA Cup, and IPL Cricket. The streamer ended 2021 with 17.1 million subscribers. 

ESPN already carries men’s and women’s lacrosse, and it had previously bagged a deal with the National Lacrosse League. Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN chairman, said that the undertaking would help the league (and the sport) reach out to more people, with all the games being directly available to the fans. The Premier Lacrosse League started in 2019 and had originally signed an agreement with NBCUniversal, broadcasting games mostly on NBC Sports Network and Peacock. 

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