Philadelphia, June 16, 2020 – The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the longest running and most successful professional lacrosse league in the world, and WAVE, the sports media company for today’s fan, today announced a content and sales agreement that will increase the volume of lacrosse coverage across WAVE’s portfolio of media brands, while expanding the NLL’s fan base across the US.
The agreement will include the distribution of NLL athlete, franchise and league content where applicable across WAVE’s entire portfolio of media brands. The first-of-its-kind, 360-degree nature of this partnership allows for WAVE and the NLL to collectively work with brands to offer new sponsorship inventory within WAVE’s programming.
“We are a sport and league of first adopters and innovative digital strategies, so being able to expand our reach of storytelling with WAVE is a great next step for us,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “The majority of our fans in arena are less lacrosse enthusiasts and more fans who love the action and excitement of our league, and this partnership will expand that growing base of fans while also giving WAVE’s 60 million followers and subscribers content matched to their passions as well.”
“Within sports entertainment, there are fandoms that exist across every single genre of sport. Since our inception, we have been going fandom by fandom to launch a portfolio of media brands, mastering programming formats for core and emerging digital platforms, and re-imagining the same stories and IP sports fans have cared about for years, into programming best suited for our audience.” said Brian Verne, co-founder and CEO, WAVE. “There is such a large, engaged fanbase surrounding the sport of box lacrosse, and the NLL is confident in our ability to drive fandom around their content. We are thrilled to be working with such a strong organization and cannot wait to see how the partnership will grow.”
The NLL and WAVE will work together in this partnership to create new programming that WAVE will distribute across social media. This will heavily promote the NLL as they head into their 35th season and showcases WAVE’s ability to become the next arm for rights holders’ distribution strategies.
The content partnership will also complement the NLL’s live games available on Turner’s BR LIVE platform and will serve as a key cross promotional tool for all NLL action.
For the most up to date information and breaking news, sign up for the NLL newsletter at NLL.com. Also follow Deputy Commissioner Jessica Berman and Commissioner Sakiewicz on Twitter @JessicaBerman1 and @NLLcommish, respectively.
About the National Lacrosse League
Founded in 1986, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) is the longest running and most successful professional lacrosse league, ranking third in average attendance for pro indoor sports behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 13 franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, New England Black Wolves, New York Riptide, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock, and Vancouver Warriors.
According to recent research, the NLL fan is younger (average age 46) than almost every North American professional sports league. Almost sixty percent of its fans come from a non-lacrosse fan base, while the general lacrosse fan has become more engaged than at any point in the history of the league. Most importantly, NLL fans are extremely passionate and engaged, with 58% of NLL fans identifying their favorite NLL team as their favorite sports team. Focusing on a digital first strategy, every NLL game is distributed on Turner’s B/R Live streaming service available on desktop, iOS, Android, and connected devices. The NLL Game of The Week broadcast is also available on Facebook and Twitter, and averages over 160,000 unique viewers per game this season.
For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About WAVE
WAVE is a sports media company for today’s fan. Through a portfolio of media brands, covering a wide array of fandoms and genres, WAVE entertains modern day sports fans with the programming they love, produced for the digital platforms where they spend the most time.
Their programming can be discovered across Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and other core and emerging platforms. Each month, WAVE’s entire portfolio reaches 60 million followers and subscribers (largely Gen-Z and Millennials) with a unique reach of 200 million and generating over 3 billion video views.
Media Contact:
National Lacrosse League: Katie Lavin, [email protected]
