About the NLL

Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 14 franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Oshawa FireWolves, Ottawa Black Bears, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock, and Vancouver Warriors.

Focusing on a digital-first strategy, every NLL game is distributed via live stream on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+. Select games will also be broadcast on ESPN’s family of networks (U.S.) and TSN (Canada).

The League operates in a Unified Standings model where each team plays an 18-game regular season schedule.

• Scheduling is rooted in competitive equitability and schedule parity, with each team playing every other team once, plus four additional “flex” games that preserve established rivalries and fan interest, showcase games with impactful storylines, and highlight star player matchups.

• The schedule and standings format allows the NLL to definitively showcase its continental reach as a truly North American league; for example, teams in San Diego and Vancouver competing against Toronto and Georgia for regular season superiority.

• Every single game, every weekend, will have a playoff atmosphere and implications on the path to the Championship, while guaranteeing that the best eight teams at the end of the regular season have an opportunity to win the NLL Cup.

• Each fan base in every city will have the opportunity to see every team and player visit their home arena at least once every other year.

• The “NLL March to May” playoff format will feature the regular season #1 seed vs. #8; #2 vs. #7; #3 vs. #6; and #4 vs. #5 in the Quarterfinals, with a “bracket” style advance through to the NLL Finals. The Quarterfinal round will be single elimination. The Semi-finals and Finals will continue to be best-of-three series.

For more information, find the NLL on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.

Box lacrosse is played inside the confines of an ice hockey rink, with glass and rink boards intact. The playing surface consists of a green dieter turf carpet that is laid down over the hockey ice. Combined, teams score an average of approximately 25 goals per game.

Box lacrosse consists of four quarters, each fifteen minutes in length. A tied game at the end of regulation is decided in a sudden-death overtime. There are no tie games in professional box lacrosse. Each team has five runners (forwards, transition players and defensemen) and a goaltender on the floor during the game. Each team dresses 19 players (17 runners and two goaltenders) per game, and the players rotate on and off the floor in shifts, similar to ice hockey.