Professional lacrosse: from 1880 to today's leagues.

Professionals in 19th and early 20th century Canada

Paid players were part of the game early. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the 1867 tour of England included 16 paid Kahnawake players. When the national association turned amateur in 1880, its exclusion of professionals fell on Indigenous players, as told on Montreal and the first rules.

The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame's timeline records several professional competitions that no other source in the research confirms: a first professional Indian Lacrosse World Championship, won by Caughnawaga (Kahnawake) in 1880; a National Professional Lacrosse Union in 1911; and a professional Dominion Lacrosse Association in 1912.

Box and the arena owners, 1930s

One account of how box lacrosse began, from the Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame, is that Montreal arena owners created it to fill hockey arenas in summer. Wikipedia, seen as a search summary, says arena owners formed a professional International Lacrosse League in 1931 with four teams that lasted two seasons. The Hall of Fame's timeline says a professional box International League formed in 1939 with Vancouver, New Westminster, Seattle and an Indigenous team; that rests on the timeline alone. The National Lacrosse League itself says attempts at professional box lacrosse go back to the 1930s, and that a different league called the National Lacrosse League played in 1974 and 1975. The story of box is on box lacrosse.

The National Lacrosse League (box)

The NLL gave its own history in a release of 13 March 2026, ahead of its 40th anniversary in the 2026-27 season:

The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame's timeline gives a different start, saying the NLL began in 1987, the year of the first season. It also says a National Lacrosse League began as a four-team Ontario circuit in 1992, which appears to be a different league with the same name. This site uses the NLL's own dates.

Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League (field)

Major League Lacrosse's founding year is uncertain. A search summary of a Bloomberg report, whose page now returns an error, gives 1999. Wikipedia, also seen as a search summary, says the league was organised in 2001. Neither has been confirmed.

Paul Rabil, who co-founded the Premier Lacrosse League with his brother Mike, called 2019 the PLL's inaugural season, according to Boston.com (14 April 2021). The same article says the PLL had merged with Major League Lacrosse the previous December and that the Boston Cannons joined as an eighth team for 2021. Press summaries date the merger announcement to 16 December 2020, and Wikipedia dates the PLL's first game day to 1 June 2019 at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts; both dates are unconfirmed.

The PLL also set its own playing rules. For the 2019 season it announced, on 27 May 2019, a 52-second shot clock starting on possession, a two-point arc 15 yards from the goal, and a field 10 yards shorter than usual, with 70 yards between the goals instead of 80. Those were the league's rules for that season, not World Lacrosse or NCAA rules.

Women's professional leagues

• UWLX. USA Lacrosse says the first women's professional league, the UWLX, was founded in 2016. Wikipedia says it was founded in 2015 and began play in 2016.
• WPLL. Wikipedia, seen as a search summary, says the Women's Professional Lacrosse League played its first season in 2018 and played two seasons. This is unconfirmed.
• Athletes Unlimited. Athletes Unlimited announced on 18 December 2024 that it was suspending its Pro Lacrosse league indefinitely, effective immediately, citing the international schedule and the availability of top athletes in summer. Press reports seen as search summaries say this followed four seasons, which would put its start in 2021; that start year is unconfirmed.
• The Women's Lacrosse League. USA Lacrosse says the Premier Lacrosse League launched the Women's Lacrosse League (WLL) in 2024. It played a condensed sixes season in 2025 and an 11-week, full-field, 10-a-side season in 2026.

Seasons and champions

This page covers how the leagues began. Recent seasons, including the finished 2026 PLL, NLL and WLL seasons and the upcoming 2026-27 NLL season, are on professional leagues in Events, and the national amateur trophies on box lacrosse trophies.