PLL pivots during pandemic, and announces multi-week tournament to be televised on NBC (May 6, 2020)
The entire sports world was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and put many pro seasons in jeopardy, in particular the PLL’s 2021 season that was intended to feature another touring schedule. Instead, the PLL quickly pivoted and was one of the first sports leagues to announce that it would play an abbreviated season in a neutral, quarantined site that was later announced as Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah.
The biggest success came at the end of the PLL Championship Series, when the league reported that it had successfully completed its three-week, tournament-style season with no positive COVID-19 cases reported on site.
Jules Heningburg and fellow black lacrosse players share open letters on race, form Black Lacrosse Alliance (May 29, 2020)
The news of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis sent shockwaves across the United States and discussions of systemic racism and race relations among Americans became major topics in the national conversation. Pro lacrosse players and coaches like Jules Heningburg, Trevor Baptiste, Kris Alleyne, Dhane Smith, Nat St. Laurent and many others took to social media to make their voices heard on the subject. Their words provoked important conversations and eventually led to PLL players forming the Black Lacrosse Alliance to help initiate change in the lacrosse community.
