Nearly two weeks after becoming the first summer professional lacrosse league to announce a delay in their season, Major League Lacrosse (MLL) has now become the first to announce detailed plans for their draft.
In a press release sent out Friday morning, MLL Commissioner Alexander Brown announced a number of plans MLL has in place for their draft. The draft will be held remotely on May 4, at 8 PM ET. The draft will be held on a secure conference line, with picks being announced in a rolling manner via team and league social media. The league also confirmed that the draft will also be eight rounds long.
“Holding the collegiate draft remotely reflects the league’s first priority, the health and safety of the MLL family,” said Alexander Brown, MLL Commissioner in the statement released Friday morning.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of information coming from the league’s announcement, and one that could set the precedent for other leagues effected by the NCAA granting spring athletes a fifth year of eligibility, is that all players who qualified as seniors in the 2020 spring season will be eligible to be drafted. If a player drafted by a team decides to accept a fifth year of eligibility, their rights will be maintained by their drafted team for a full year. Any 2020 player who does not accept the extra year, and is not selected in the draft will be eligible to enter into the player pool. This is especially important considering that only a handful of college seniors have announced that they will not be returning for an extra year, with the status of many of the top prospects such as Michael Sowers, Jeff Teat and TD Ierlan still unknown.
“The recent decision by the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) to extend the eligibility of 2020 spring athletes, will not affect the eligibility to be drafted in the 2020 Collegiate Draft Presented by Cascade,” the statement read.
With MLL being the first league to announce how they are handling the extra year of eligibility, it could be a look into how other leagues decide to handle unprecedented circumstances surrounding the draft.
The league also announced the draft order for all eight rounds will be as follows.
- New York Lizards
- Connecticut Hammerheads
- Philadelphia Barrage
- Boston Cannons
- Denver Outlaws
- Chesapeake Bayhawks
With the league’s announcement today, the New York Lizards are officially the first team on the clock for the MLL 2020 Collegiate Draft.
