The inaugural PLL season came to a satisfying end with the Whipsnakes finishing at the top of the six-team league following a thrilling 12-11 overtime victory.
Following the game, Paul Rabil discussed not only his satisfaction with the first PLL season, but also his vision for the future and for the first time suggested expansion teams could be on their way soon.
His comments got us and a few other members of the lacrosse community thinking about what the names for some new PLL franchises could be if the newest league chooses to expand. Here are the teams that the staff at Pro Lacrosse Talk came up with:
Altitude Lacrosse Club
Colors: Slate Grey, Mountain Brown, Sunset Gold
Slogan: Elevate Our Game
Description: Altitude LC will consist of players that play at the highest level and elevate their game when it matters most. We’d like to see some former Denver University players Wes Berg and Eric Law eventually calling the Altitude home.
Breakers Lacrosse Club
Colors: Seaside Teal, Breaker Blue
Slogan: Break Down the Enemy
Description: Breakers LC is for the players that know how to break down their opponent. They are elite game-planners who are equally strategic on both sides of the ball, but play with a west coast swagger that can’t be taught. West coasters Drew Snider and Eddy Glazener would be our picks to lead this new expansion franchise.
Marauders Lacrosse Club
Colors: Buccaneer Black, Pirate Gold
Slogan: Show No Mercy
Description: The Marauders LC are out to win the PLL trophy at all costs through a physical and aggressive style of play. They cause turnovers all over the field and utilize a run and gun style offense that thrives on transition opportunities. Our top pick to join the “Maraud Squad” would be LSM Scott Ratliff, who is a caused turnover machine and already has the pirate look going for him.
Surge Lacrosse Club
Colors: Electric Green, Midnight Purple, Steel Silver
Slogan: Power On
Description: The Surge LC is an opposing defense’s nightmare. They can score all over the field and thrive on both creating time and room opportunities, as well as powering through defenders on a dodge. Their ball movement is lethal and they can score quick off the draw, making it hard to ever put the Surge away. If the Redwoods LC ever look to move on from Sergio Perkovic and Sergio Salcido, the two “Surges” have a spot on this roster.
Tell us what you think about these teams and designs. Would any of these teams make you trade your current PLL allegiances and if so who would you represent?
See, I would agree that a couple more teams might help the league thrive and create some parody, but the league prides itself on only the best talent in the world, and expanding too fast might dilute the talent poll. You can have an expansion draft with some big names going to the new club, but I would expand it 1 or 2 years at a time because there’s not enough star power to go around. It’s still a growing sport with limited expectations. It doesn’t feel like the Rabils made much of a profit and a circus league is a relatively new concept in American pro sports and I don’t think there’s much of a demand for it. The league has potential, but before they even think about expanding another 2 clubs, they would need to increase attendance and build more solid relationships between the clubs, the league, and it’s fans.
I agree that expansion too fast could be a bad idea and you make some good points, but my counter to that would be:
1. There was still a ton of talent left in the player pool, so I think you could have enough for 2 more competitive teams.
2. Since the PLL owns all the teams and operates them, the costs of starting two more teams would be very minimal, save paying players (many who likely were already on rosters) and a coach. They aren’t hampered by additional costs that usually plague expansion franchises.
It’s an interesting debate, and a lot of factors will go into it.
Instead of looking at players on current PLL teams for the expansion, it would be more interesting to speculate on which players from the MLL might populate some of these new teams like; Pannell, Cockerton, Stanwick, Lyle Thompson, Heacock, Staats, Sunday, Currier etc