Audi Field to host PLL championship, full '21 schedule announced originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Premier Lacrosse League announced its 11-week season schedule on Wednesday, returning to a tour-based model and culminating in Washington, D.C., at Audi Field.
Now in its third season and fresh off a merger with Major League Lacrosse -- the league that co-founder and DeMatha product Paul Rabil split from following the 2018 season -- the PLL returns to playing in popular and up-and-coming lacrosse markets for the 2021 campaign. Due to the pandemic, the PLL played the 2020 season in a two-week bubble in Utah.
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Seven of the 11 weekends will feature five games between the PLL's eight squads, with select clubs having to play twice per weekend on occasion. All games will be shown on the NBC Sports family of networks, according to the announcement.
The league starts the season on June 4 in the same spot it started its first season in 2019, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. It's a symbolic starting place as the market where the PLL's newest expansion club, Cannons LC, was based out of during its MLL days. It also gives former Patriots Super Bowl champion wide receiver Chris Hogan, who the Cannons picked up as an undrafted free agent, a homecoming.
After the stop in Foxborough, the PLL goes down to Atlanta, an increasingly waking market for grassroots lacrosse. While MLB pulled its all-star game from Atlanta due to the recently passed voter registration law changes, Rabil told Sportico the PLL will donate a percentage of its ticket sales to When We All Vote, Michelle Obama's non-profit aimed at increasing voter registration.
The PLL then travels to a couple lacrosse hotbeds in Baltimore and Long Island before traveling to Minnesota, another emerging lacrosse market the league hopes to exploit and showcase the best players in the world. After an all-star game in San Jose, California, the league is scheduled to play just once more the following three weeks in Colorado Springs to avoid overlap with the Olympics.
A couple weeks later the league returns to another three hotbeds for the final four host sites. A trip to upstate New York in Albany precedes the PLL's postseason and a return to Salt Lake City, Utah, where it played the Championship Series last summer. All eight clubs make the quarterfinal round before the semifinals in Philadelphia at Subaru Park.
Then, the third championship of the PLL will be decided inside the home of D.C. United at Audi Field. Here's a look at the full schedule:
2021 PLL Schedule
June 4-6: Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)Cannons at Redwoods, 7 p.m. FridayWhipsnakes at Chaos, 5 p.m. SaturdayArchers at Atlas, 7:45 p.m. SaturdayWaterdogs at Cannons, 1 p.m. SundayChrome at Redwoods, 3:45 p.m. Sunday
June 11-13: Fifth Third Bank Stadium (Kennesaw, Ga.)Chaos at Waterdogs, 7 p.m. FridayWhipsnakes at Cannons, noon SaturdayRedwoods at Atlas, 3 p.m. SaturdayChrome at Waterdogs , 1 p.m. SundayChaos at Archers, 3:45 p.m. Sunday
June 25-27: Homewood Field (Baltimore)Whipsnakes at Atlas, 8 p.m. FridayRedwoods at Chaos, 5:15 p.m. SaturdayWaterdogs at Archers, 8 p.m. SaturdayCannons at Atlas, noon SundayChrome at Whipsnakes, 2:45 p.m. Sunday
July 2-4: James M. Shuart Stadium (Hempstead, N.Y.)Archers at Chrome, 7 p.m. FridayRedwoods at Waterdogs, noon SaturdayCannons at Chaos, 3 p.m. SaturdayChrome at Atlas, 12:15 p.m. SundayWhipsnakes at Archers, 3 p.m. Sunday
July 7-11: TCO Stadium (Minneapolis)Waterdogs at Cannons, 8 p.m. FridayRedwoods at Whipsnakes, 6 p.m. SaturdayAtlas at Chaos , 8:45 p.m. SaturdayChrome at Waterdogs, 5:45 p.m. SundayCannons at Archers, 8:30 p.m. Sunday
July 18: PayPal Park (San Jose)All-Star Game, 7 p.m.
July 30-Aug. 1: Weidner Field (Colorado Springs)Atlas at Chrome, 9 p.m. Friday;Archers at Redwoods, 7:15 p.m. SaturdayWaterdogs at Whipsnakes, 10 p.m. Saturday;Chaos at Chrome, 2 p.m. SundayAtlas at Cannons, 4:45 p.m. Sunday
Aug. 13-15: Tom & Mary Casey Stadium (Albany, N.Y.)Redwoods at Whipsnakes, 6 p.m. FridayArchers at Chaos, 8:30 p.m. Friday;Atlas at Waterdogs, 4:15 p.m. SaturdayCannons at Chrome, 7 p.m. Saturday;Chaos at Redwoods, 2 p.m. SundayArchers at Whipsnakes, 4:45 p.m. Sunday
Aug. 20-21: Rio Tinto Stadium (Salt Lake City)Quarterfinals, 8:30 p.m. Friday;Quarterfinals. 2:30 p.m. SaturdayQuarterfinals., 6 p.m. Saturday
Sept. 10: Subaru Park (Philadelphia)Semifinals, 6 p.m.Semifinals, 8:30 p.m
Sept. 19: Audi Field (Washington, D.C.)Championship, noon
