Professional lacrosse players Jake Carraway and Ryan Conrad share their experiences balancing Wall Street jobs with playing for the Philadelphia Waterdogs in the Premier Lacrosse League. The podcast discusses the growth and challenges of professional lacrosse, the ambitions of the PLL to emulate UFC success, and efforts to turn niche sports like cornhole and pickleball into lucrative professional leagues.
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Quick takeaways
PLL aims to become a mainstream sport with major investments and TV deals.
Players balance full-time jobs with professional lacrosse careers, striving for full-time play.
Deep dives
Push to Popularize Professional Lacrosse
The podcast discusses the efforts of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) to gain popularity and commercial success. Founded by Paul Rabel in 2018, the PLL aims to elevate lacrosse to a mainstream sport. Rabel's vision involves major investments from influential backers and TV deals to increase exposure. The podcast highlights the challenges faced by lacrosse players balancing full-time jobs with professional sports careers.
Expanding Career Opportunities in Lacrosse
The PLL offers players healthcare and equity in the league to enhance their commitment. Despite improvements in compensation, many players still require day jobs to make ends meet. The league's goal is to enable athletes to play full-time and unlock their potential through increased investment and revenue. Plans for expanding the league to create more playing opportunities and attract fan interest are discussed.
Cultural Impact and Future of Professional Sports
The podcast explores the cultural shift towards a wider variety of sports and professional leagues. It mentions the potential roadmap the PLL could provide for other sports seeking commercial success. The increasing interest in niche sports like lacrosse signifies a change in viewing preferences and offers new opportunities for advertising and audience targeting. The importance of time in determining the growth and success of professional lacrosse is emphasized.
What do Robert Kraft, Kevin Durant and Joe Tsai – owner of the Brooklyn Nets – all have in common? They’ve decided to go big on a new professional sport: lacrosse. Historically popular in East Coast colleges and prep schools – with a strong Canadian presence – these days, the Premier Lacrosse League is hoping to broaden its appeal to anyone looking for something other than baseball to watch during the summer.
On today’s episode, Philadelphia Waterdogs players Jake Carraway and Ryan Conrad on what it's like to juggle working on Wall Street during the week and playing lacrosse on the weekends and PLL founder Paul Rabil on his ambitious plans to emulate the success of the UFC. And host David Gura and Bloomberg reporter Bailey Lipschultz discuss what PLL’s story can tell us about other efforts to turn sports like cornhole and pickleball into big-money professional leagues.