The Premier Lacrosse League closed a $100 million Series E on June 30, 2026. A person familiar with the deal told Bloomberg it values the league at more than $500 million.
The number matters, but the structure matters more.
The PLL still owns all eight franchises. No external investor has paid for Chicago, Boston, Denver, Texas or any other team market. The valuation has been built at the parent company level, through media rights, sponsorship, ticketing, merchandise, player equity, digital distribution and central control of the league’s IP.
That is what makes the next phase interesting.
High school lacrosse had 216,205 players in 2023/24, and youth lacrosse posted 6.1% net growth in Project Play’s data, ahead of soccer, basketball and track and field. The sport is still not mainstream, but the business is starting to look bigger than the sport.
In 2025, the PLL hit an all time high of 833,000 viewers on ABC. Average viewership rose 24% YoY on ABC and 46% on ESPN. ESPN is now a shareholder. Ares is treating the league like a platform. Joe Tsai is backing lacrosse through two different league models.
The bet is simple: build the national layer first, then sell the local markets later.
This is not just a report about lacrosse. It is a report about how modern sports leagues are built before the mainstream catches up, and the PLL may be one of the clearest examples yet.