Connor Fields smiled as he thought about the possibility. Fields, the former University at Albany great, suits up for Archers Lacrosse Club in the Premier Lacrosse League, the professional touring league that opens its season for the second straight year at Casey Stadium this weekend.
Premier Lacrosse League
When: 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Casey Stadium, UAlbany
TV: WTEN (Ch. 10)
The PLL announced plans recently to assign each of its teams to a city starting with the 2024 season. It will remain as a single-entity, touring league.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Fields said. “I like it. I think that just helps build fan bases. It helps people who live in the area to get around the team rather than not really knowing who to root for, just rooting for their favorite players or something like that. I think it’ll be really good for the league.”
Saturday’s action will begin at 1 p.m. with Redwoods vs. Atlas, televised on WTEN (Ch. 10), followed by Cannons vs. Archers at 3:30. Sunday’s doubleheader will be Chaos vs. Waterdogs at 1, also on WTEN, and Whipsnakes vs. Chrome at 3:30.
PLL co-founder Paul Rabil assured at a Friday news conference that whether Albany attaches its name to a team or not, Casey Stadium will remain on the league schedule next season. The PLL has visited UAlbany four times in the league’s five seasons of existence, excepting only the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Given our hybrid model, whether a team is part of the Albany market specifically or not, we will be here because this market is that important to us,” Paul Rabil said.
He and his brother, co-founder Mike Rabil, were less certain about whether UAlbany will remain the training camp and opening-weekend site, as it has been the past two years.
They’re considering having each team holding training camp in its “home” city next season instead of one centralized camp.
“It’s hard to guarantee it, but we love coming here for training camp,” said Mike Rabil, who stays in the dormitories. “The players love it, too. It’s hard enough trying to make a team in the PLL, so we want to be very easy for the players. The campus is big, the food, the resources are fantastic. I think some of the things we want to think about are as we go into home markets, do we think through mini-camps in those markets. One of the great things about centralizing training camp is you can pass through information and you get a lot of time with all the players.”
The 2024 schedule will consist of 14 weekends with eight regular-season weekends in “home” venues and two regular-season weekends at neutral sites. The “home” team will play a doubleheader when in that team’s market.
The PLL said it will announce each team’s city late this year. The league said it is evaluating a combination of cities, states and regions.
Beginning on Saturday, fans can vote on team locations at pllvote.com and through the PLL app. The league said it will select cities based on industry-leading analysis, preferred venues, partnership consideration, fan engagement and historical pro lacrosse ticket sales data.
Casey Stadium drew 12,522 fans over two days in the PLL’s debut there in 2019. The league hasn’t announced attendance figures in its last two stops at UAlbany, though the games appeared to draw big crowds in the 8,500-seat venue.
Mike Rabil said Friday the PLL’s ticket sales are 13 percent above last year at this point. The league visits 11 cities during the regular season, followed by three more during the playoffs, culminating with the championship game Sept. 24 in Philadelphia.
Paul Rabil said assigning cities is more than a cosmetic move. He talked about “strategic partnerships” in PLL cities year-round, including youth tournaments, to create new fans and increase participation in the sport.
“The big effort is being more local and being more invested in communities,” he said. “That’s the universal language in pro sports is being in the community.”