The National Lacrosse League ( NLL ) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania.
44-780: The New York Saints are a former member of the National Lacrosse League . They played at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , from 1989 to 2003 . They became an inactive team after the 2002–03 season and were officially defunct in 2006 . The Saints had played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1987 to 1988 in New Jersey (at Brendan Byrne Arena ) as the New Jersey Saints . The Saints won
88-440: A 30-second shot clock , which is similar to a professional or collegiate basketball shot clock. The clock starts 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. Each team in
132-586: A one-goal game. After the season, the league announced that the champion Saints would relocate to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and be called the New York Saints beginning in the 1989 season. Moreover, the league itself would be changing its name, adopting the more conventional Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL) name, as the spiritual implications of its original name proved too cryptic for most people to understand. The MILL announced that it awarded expansion teams to Detroit and Boston, to begin play in
176-617: A postseason that saw all four teams qualify for a single knockout tournament, which ended with the Baltimore Thunder being crowned as the EPBLL's first champion. Coached by Bob Griebe, the Baltimore Thunder defeated the Washington Wave by a score of 11–10 to capture the league's first championship. The league announced that a total of 124,536 fans attended Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League games in its first season. The same four teams played in
220-626: A professional box lacrosse franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario . With their inaugural season in 2024-2025, they will be members of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and will play home games at the Canadian Tire Centre . On February 20, 2024, John Rodenburg of CFGO Radio reported that the New York Riptide would be relocating to Ottawa following the conclusion of the 2023–24 season and will play their home games at Canadian Tire Centre for
264-669: A team, Detroit set records for goals scored with 184, assists with 227, and total points with 411. The Turbos went on to defeat the Thunder 14–12 to claim their first championship. The championship game was attended by 10,814 at the Baltimore Arena. Final league attendance numbers for the 1991 season reached 287,654. On 20 April 1991, the National Division All-Stars defeated the American Division All-Stars, 25–20, in
308-442: 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
352-494: The 2024 season , the playoffs feature the top 8 teams in the standings. The first round is single-elimination, and the Conference Finals and Championship rounds are best-of-three. 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
396-699: The Charlotte Cobras , who would play out of Charlotte, North Carolina. For 1996, the league schedule expanded to 10 games. A crowd of 16,818, the fourth largest in league history, watched the Wings defeat the Charlotte Cobras at CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Cobras went on to post the first winless season in league history, and subsequently folded after only one year of play. The Wings advanced to their fifth consecutive league championship game by defeating
440-528: The New York Saints 11–10. After the championship game, the league announced expansion into Pittsburgh, with a team called the Pittsburgh Bulls . The new team effectively replaced the Washington Wave, who closed operations after three seasons. In 1990, each of the six teams played an eight-game schedule. Near of the end of the season, the New York Saints defeated the Philadelphia Wings 8–5 before
484-583: The second season of the EPBLL. The teams expanded to an eight-game schedule, and set up a three-team playoff with the regular season winner claiming a bye to the title game. The New Jersey Saints became the second league champions by defeating the Washington Wave 17–16 before 8,125 fans at the Capital Centre . For the Wave, it was the second time in as many years they reached the championship game, only to lose
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#1732851313433528-599: The 1988 MILL championship. National Lacrosse League The NLL currently has fourteen teams: eight in the United States and six 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,
572-724: The 1989 season. The Detroit team was named the Turbos , and played at Joe Louis Arena ; the Boston entry was called the New England Blazers and they played their home games at the Worcester Centrum . Each of the six teams played an eight-game schedule in 1989, with an even four home and road games. In its first ever regular season game, 12,171 fans watched the expansion Turbos defeat the Washington Wave 11–9 in Detroit to start 1989 season. As
616-737: The 2024–25 season. The team cited poor attendance and their eviction from Nassau Coliseum as factors in the move. The next day, NLL commissioner Brett Frood made the official announcement that the Riptide would be relocating to Ottawa and rebranding as the Ottawa Black Bears. This marks the first time professional box lacrosse has been played in Ottawa since 2003, when the Ottawa Rebel played their final season in Canada's capital before relocating to Edmonton and later to Saskatchewan, where they are now known as
660-721: The Bandits' new home, the Marine Midland Arena , in front of a new league record crowd of 18,595 fans. The Rochester Knighthawks, coached by Barry Powless, claimed their first MILL championship in front of the second largest crowd in MILL history, 18,055, also played at the Marine Midland Arena, defeating the Bandits 15–12. In 1997, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League was renamed the National Lacrosse League, and announced that
704-657: The Boston Blazers 10–8 in the final MILL game to be played in their historic home arena. However, the Buffalo Bandits played spoiler to the Wings and denied them a third consecutive title, defeating Philadelphia 15–10 in the championship game in front of a sold-out Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. The Bandits picked up their third championship, and said goodbye to their own arena at the end of the season. The 11th season opened with three games, including Rochester playing Buffalo at
748-467: The Detroit Turbos against the Baltimore Thunder. The Philadelphia Wings denied the Buffalo Bandits a third consecutive championship by defeating the Bandits 26–15 in front of a sellout crowd of 16,284 at Memorial Auditorium. The win gave the Wings its third league championship, the most of any team. ESPN broadcast the game live from Buffalo, marking the first live telecast by ESPN of a league game. After
792-536: The NLL plays eighteen games during the regular season, nine each at home and away. The league has one standings table for its 14 teams. 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. Beginning with
836-571: The Philadelphia Wings 20–11 in their first ever sellout of 16,325 at Memorial Auditorium. It marked the second sellout in league history. The Bandits also defeated the Baltimore Thunder in front of a second sellout crowd, marking the first time a team sold out two games in the same season. The Bandits advanced to the league championship game by defeating the Detroit Turbos 19–16 to win the National Division crown. The Philadelphia Wings defeated
880-573: The Raiders moved to Toronto and were renamed the Toronto Rock . The Rock finished the season with a perfect home record, going a combined 8–0 (regular season and playoffs) after a 13–10 win over the Rochester Knighthawks in the championship game before a sellout crowd of 15,691 at Maple Leaf Gardens. The game was televised throughout Canada by CTV SportsNet, and in the United States on ESPN2. After
924-547: The Saints 8–6 to capture the American Division Championship. Buffalo defeated Philadelphia 11–10 in overtime, marking the first time an expansion team won the league title. Buffalo won their second consecutive championship with a 13–12 comeback victory over the Philadelphia Wings before 16,325 in the sold-out Memorial Auditorium. The Bandits kept their 18-game winning streak alive, the longest in professional sports at
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#1732851313433968-795: The Toronto Rock 13–12 in front of a crowd of 13,772, the largest to attend the first home game of an expansion franchise. The Albany Attack hosted the Rock in the 2002 Final, with the Rock defeating the Attack by a score of 13–12 to capture their third title in four seasons. 9,289 fans watched the game at the Pepsi Arena in Albany. Toronto forward Colin Doyle was voted Championship Game MVP, scoring three goals and one assist. Ottawa Black Bears The Ottawa Black Bears are
1012-469: The U.S. Beginning with the 2024 NLL season , the league eliminated its East and West Conferences that existed during the 2023 NLL season and all teams play in a single division with every team playing every other team at least once. Beginning in the 2025 Season, the New York Riptide will relocate to Ottawa, Canada, and rename themselves to the Ottawa Black Bears . An asterisk (*) denotes
1056-464: The Wings defeat the Baltimore Thunder in the regular season finale. The 1995 season marked the first time that Paul and Gary Gait played on different teams, with the former playing for Rochester and the latter for Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Wings won a second-consecutive and fourth overall championship by defeating the Knighthawks 15–14 in overtime. After the season the league another expansion team,
1100-549: The first sellout and the largest crowd in league history: 17,177 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia . The Saints' victory forced a playoff rematch the following week. However, the Wings won that game and later went on to become the first team to win a second league championship, defeating the New England Blazers 17–7 in front of 11,479 fans for their second consecutive title. The league announced that attendance for 26 total games during
1144-456: 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: Although eight of the fourteen 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
1188-482: 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). The following lists franchises that are no longer active in the NLL. 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
1232-422: The game 14–8 in front of a new record NLL crowd. The Toronto Rock won their second consecutive championship when Kaleb Toth beat Knighthawks goaltender Pat O'Toole with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation time of the title match to give the Rock a 14–13 victory. Considered to be among the best lacrosse games ever played, the 2000 Final was the last sporting event to be held in the historic Maple Leaf Gardens. After
1276-495: The inaugural League All-Star Game at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. After the season, the league announced that Buffalo had been awarded an expansion team for the 1992 season. The team was named the Bandits . The league reverted to an eight-game schedule for the 1992 season, with four home games and four road games. The Blazers moved from Worcester to Boston and were rebranded as the Boston Blazers. The expansion Buffalo Bandits defeated
1320-761: The league from nine to thirteen teams, more than three times the number of teams that played the inaugural season in 1987. The expansion teams were the Montreal Express , the New Jersey Storm , the Calgary Roughnecks , and the Vancouver Ravens . With thirteen teams, the league established a divisional format with Eastern, Central, and Northern divisions. The Vancouver Ravens played their inaugural home game at General Motors Place in Vancouver. The Ravens defeated
1364-467: The league's largest crowd in history, the Philadelphia Wings won their sixth league championship with a 9–8 win over the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Centre in front of 19,409 fans. Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk was named Most Valuable Player. The league announced a major expansion after the season, awarding new franchises to Montreal, New Jersey, Calgary, and Vancouver for the 2002. This would take
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1408-461: The league, which had four teams based in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and East Rutherford, New Jersey. The EPBLL opened play for the 1987 season with two games on 10 January 1987: the Philadelphia Wings at the New Jersey Saints (Philadelphia defeated New Jersey 11–8) and the Baltimore Thunder at the Washington Wave . The four teams contested a six-game regular season before
1452-475: 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. 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 "face-off" at the center of the field to determine who will get possession. This
1496-425: The regular season. In addition, the playoff format saw a best-of-three championship series with semifinal playoff action still taking place in a single-game elimination format, though sites of all post-season games were based on regular season record. A blockbuster trade saw seven-time All-Pro Paul Gait go to the expansion Syracuse Smash in exchange for draft picks and player compensation. Reigning league MVP Gary Gait
1540-503: The road. In the first game of the regular season, the debut of Detroit rookie twin brothers Paul and Gary Gait was successful, as they paced the Turbos to a 20–16 victory over the Baltimore Thunder. 1991 was a record-breaking year, especially in Detroit. The Gaits set new standards in most offensive categories. Paul scored a record 47 goals, while Gary was second in the league with 32. Gary established new records with 36 assists and 68 points. As
1584-688: The schedule would be expanded from 10 to 12 games. In addition, the league welcomed two new expansion teams, the Syracuse Smash , based in Syracuse, New York, and the Ontario Raiders , based in Hamilton, Ontario, while the Boston Blazers folded after nine seasons. John Livsey Jr. was named as the first Commissioner of the NLL. The 1998 regular season schedule included six home and six road games for each team, with each team facing their six opponents twice during
1628-586: The season was 287,585, increasing the average attendance per game to 11,060. After the season, the MILL announced the signing of twin brothers Paul Gait and Gary Gait , 3-time All-Americans at Syracuse , to the Detroit Turbos after being drafted. The two brothers had won national championships with the Syracuse Orange in 1988, 1989, and 1990. In 1991, the season schedule increased from 8 to 10 games, with each team playing five games at home and five games on
1672-405: The season went on, regular season attendance figures for the league totaled at 230,724 for 24 regular season games, which made an average of 9,614 people in the stands per game. When adding the postseason, the numbers grew to 255,088 total and an average of 9,811 a game. The Philadelphia Wings captured the league championship in front of a record postseason crowd of 16,042 at the Spectrum, defeating
1716-592: The season, it was announced that the charter franchise Baltimore Thunder would move to Pittsburgh and become the Pittsburgh CrosseFire . In addition, the Albany Attack , based in Albany, New York, joined the NLL as an expansion team, bringing the league to eight teams ahead of the 2000 season for the first time. 18,911 fans watched the Philadelphia Wings battle the Pittsburgh CrosseFire. Pittsburgh won
1760-630: The season, the league announced that Rochester, New York , would be awarded an expansion team for the 1995 season, the Rochester Knighthawks . The team would effectively replace the Turbos, who folded after their sixth season, keeping the league at six teams. The expansion Rochester Knighthawks won their inaugural game 12–8 against the New York Saints at the War Memorial. Philadelphia broke the league's attendance record when 17,380 fans watched
1804-784: The season, the league expanded again, with former Commissioner John Livsey leading the establishment of the Columbus Landsharks in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, the Smash relocated north of the border and became the Ottawa Rebel , after three straight last place finishes, while the CrosseFire moved to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Power . Jim Jennings was named the new Commissioner and announced that league headquarters would be relocated from Buffalo to Lyndhurst, New Jersey. In front of
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1848-561: The time. Buffalo joined the Wings as the only team in league history to win back-to-back championships. Business-wise, the League and the Players Association announced a three-year contract agreement and the league signed a six-year agreement with ESPN . The Pittsburgh Bulls folded after their fourth season, having never made the playoffs, bringing the league back to six teams going into 1994. ESPN2 's first Monday night broadcast featured
1892-414: 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. Darrell Russell was named Commissioner of
1936-400: Was sent to Baltimore in a blockbuster trade involving player and cash compensation. The Philadelphia Wings swept the best-of-three Championship Series with 16–12 and 17–12 victories. The second game marked the first title game appearance by Baltimore since 1991, and the win was Philadelphia's fifth in franchise history. Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk was named Championship Series MVP. In 1999,
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