The Premier Lacrosse League closed a $100 million Series E funding round led by Ares funds and Alibaba co-founder and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment chairman Joe Tsai, the league announced Tuesday. Additional investors include actor Glen Powell, actor and Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney, Carolyn Tisch Blodgett’s Next 3, and David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures. After taking a minority stake in PLL and the Women’s Lacrosse League last year as part of a five-year media rights extension, ESPN bought an additional stake in the business in this round.
The first fundraising round for the company since 2022 comes two years before lacrosse is played in the LA 2028 Olympics, the first time the sport will be included in the Games as an official event since 1908. It’s a crucial period of preparation for PLL, which aims to become a top five major team-sports league in North America over the next 10 years.
“This is a critical window of opportunity for our company, and lacrosse,” Paul Rabil, PLL’s co-founder and president, told Yahoo Sports. “This capital will help accelerate that run.”
Driving more attention to the league via TV viewership and social media following while converting more casual consumers into hardcore fans is key in leading up to the Olympics. The fund raise will be used to expand media distribution and original storytelling while also growing sponsorship and commercial partnerships, which Rabil said was the league’s largest revenue source. PLL’s commercial efforts were bolstered by recent sponsorship deals with Nike, U.S. Bank, Polymarket and IBM as it looks to grow the overall value of its IP.
PLL’s single entity structure allows the company to better utilize its partnerships across its leagues, teams and broadcast partners, Rabil said, as it aims to someday crack $100 million in annual revenue. As the business currently prioritizes growth over profitability, the goal is to eventually sell individual franchises, with the expected spike in attention from the Olympics potentially serving as a catalyst for gains across all facets of the business.
The eight-team PLL is in the middle of its eighth season as it tours across U.S. cities, while the four-team WLL is halfway through its second campaign. Powell will serve as a creative advisor to the league to help bring pro events to his native Texas. Rabil said league expansion will likely come in the form of additional PLL and WLL events right now as opposed to additional franchises, but that could change if and when PLL converts from single-entity.
The Olympics, Rabil said, will be the first time lacrosse will be consumed globally, and PLL is preparing to meet the moment. He mentioned constructing a national team type competition like the World Baseball Classic or the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off to generate buzz before the Games. The hope is to generate interest in the U.S. and Canadian national teams and catch lightning in a bottle with a couple of players whose starpower can help propel pro lacrosse to new heights. The leagues will take a two-week break during the 2028 season with the hopes of a huge bump after lacrosse is viewed on the world stage for the first time in over a century.
“We’ve seen the result of a real crossover superstar in one sport and how that can change the trajectory of the business almost overnight,” Rabil said. “We hope that the interest will be galvanized in a way that can lead to a deeper investment in the growth of the PLL and WLL.”
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