Practice makes perfect

The GIST: On Wednesday, the men’s Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) launched the Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL), a new pro women’s league set to take the field in February 2025. PLL communications manager Grace Hamilton chatted with The GIST yesterday to shed light on the league’s decision to go pro on the women’s side. Top cheddar.

The details: The WLL plans to launch during the PLL’s Championship Series in February with four teams, and although cities are still TBD, it already has its first founding partner: appliance brand and PLL sponsor Whirlpool. The league will utilize the Olympic Sixes format, which differs from the field lacrosse played in NCAA programs and features smaller fields and shorter periods of play.

The landscape: Women’s lacrosse has been glowing up in recent years, especially at the youth and collegiate level. Over the last decade, girls’ participation is up 43%, the number of women’s college lax programs is up 57%, and the U.S. lacrosse fanbase has jumped from 13M to 45M, per Hamilton.

• Back in 2021, Athletes Unlimited (AU) identified lax as a growth area in women’s sports and launched AU Lacrosse, the only currently active pro women’s lacrosse league. By AU’s second season in 2022, live viewership jumped 25% YoY and attendance rose 41% YoY. Fortunately, WLL and AU’s four-week summer season won’t overlap. Phew.

The context: This isn’t the PLL’s first foray into women’s lacrosse. Since launching in 2020, its Unleashed platform has connected over 1K girls to training from top lax players. The Unleashed brand also hosted international exhibitions for three years before hosting an inaugural Unleashed All-Star game in the U.S. in February.

• The sport’s impending LA28 Olympic inclusion was one of many factors that influenced the PLL’s decision to launch the WLL in 2025, but “the bigger reason was the data and the players resoundingly telling us that this is a strong and necessary catalyst for women’s lacrosse,” said Hamilton.

Zooming out: The PLL has created opportunities in men’s lacrosse for the past five years, but building a women’s league has clearly been an intentional part of its business plan. By working to foster a pipeline and create opportunities for women and girls to play, the PLL was able to gauge interest and insight into creating a sustainable new pro league. It’s our time.

The GIST: Angel City FC (ACFC) announced yesterday that it’s constructing a new and improved, nine-acre performance center on California Lutheran University’s campus, the largest such facility dedicated exclusively to an NWSL club. The move comes as ACFC continues to strive for business growth and upping its valuation.

• The GIST spoke with team president Julie Uhrman yesterday to gain insight on how the development of world-class facilities positions ACFC to become a global brand. Making money moves.

The details: The new digs will accommodate ACFC players and first-team staff for the next four years under the team’s existing partnership with Cal Lutheran. The performance center will include a full-size pitch (and a half!), as well as 50K square feet of indoor space.

• Uhrman described how the club’s university presence levels up its existing partnership beyond just in-stadium advertising, with ACFC recruiting interns from the student body and prompting players and investors to speak to students.

The trend: After the Las Vegas Aces opened the WNBA’s first practice facility built solely for a W team in 2023, franchises in Seattle, Phoenix, and Chicago enacted their own such plans. In the NWSL space, Uhrman noted that Racing Louisville, the Kansas City Current, the Utah Royals also sport purpose-built facilities, while Bay FC has plans for their own by 2027.

Zooming out: After just three seasons in the league, ACFC already leads across many categories, from its record valuation to sky-high attendance. And getting ahead on building a premier practice facility doesn’t just uplift players: It will better the university and the local community, while also giving ACFC’s many purpose-driven partners another space to activate.

• Uhrman hopes the club can entice existing and prospective sponsors to enhance athletes’ experiences at the new facility, saying “it can be nutritional, it could be beauty, it could be educational, it could be transportation — anything that removes any doubt, confusion, stress from my players so they can just focus on being the best professional athletes.” Preach.

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