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Hey Friends,

Paul Rabil is one the best lacrosse players in history. He was a 3x All-American at Johns Hopkins University. He finished his collegiate career with 112 goals and 67 assists. He won two National Championships and was the first overall selection in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse draft.

But then reality hit him in the face: lacrosse wasn’t a mainstream sport yet.

For example, Rabil’s rookie wage was just $6,000, and no MLL players were making more than $25,000 annually — with the average being much lower than that.

So Rabil got creative. He leveraged new social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and (eventually) Instagram to build a 1M+ audience. That enabled him to sign endorsement deals with companies like Under Armour, Red Bull, and GoPro, and he then became the first seven-figure earner in professional lacrosse history.

But Rabil isn’t like most athletes; he’s a true creator, entrepreneur, and risk-taker at heart. So he didn’t stop there. Instead, Paul and his brother Mike have spent the last several years attempting to build the next major US professional sports league.

They initially tried to buy Major League Lacrosse but were told no. So they raised outside capital from investors like Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, The Raine Group, and CAA, and founded the Premier Lacrosse League in 2018.

They now have a media rights deal with ESPN. They recently acquired Major League Lacrosse. They have raised several additional funding rounds, and it appears they are well on their way to accomplishing that goal.

So I traveled to NYC and sat down with Paul for this week’s podcast. We talked about everything, including the history of lacrosse as North America’s oldest sport, why he believes the PLL can be the next major US sports league, what it was like selling a documentary to ESPN, his experience on The Shop with Kyrie Irving and others, and much more.

I think you guys are really going to enjoy this episode, so check it out on Apple, Spotify, or the YouTube link below. Enjoy!

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