Starting in December, the Professional Box Lacrosse Association (PBLA) unveiled its inaugural team names this summer.
Fans were able to vote on their favourite of four names in each of the league’s seven markets.
The PBLA later released the cities where it plans to play starting this year. They are concentrated in the northeast, with three in New York state, one in New Jersey and one in New England.
The full list of teams posted to the PBLA Twitter account are: Syracuse, New York, Binghamton, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, Elmira, New York, Hampton Roads, Virginia, Manchester/Springfield, New England and Trenton, New Jersey.
Former Rochester Knighthawks President and CEO Steve Donner was announced as the commissioner of the league, which also announced that the PBLA’s President of Business Operations would be Johm Livsey, who was the first commissioner of the National Lacrosse League when it changed its name from Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL).
A key element to the new league’s approach appears to be harkening back to the days of the MILL by focussing on American players. Donner zeroed in on that element when he spoke with Cuse Sports Talk, saying in a clip posted by CST that the former NLL team in Syracuse “made a mistake by having a base of Canadian players.”
The league is setting itself up as a competitor to the NLL by playing a season that starts in December and claiming on its web site that “The PBLA was established to help further grow the sport of lacrosse and create the most exciting brand of professional box lacrosse in North America.”
With a list of stats of growth for the sport, the PBLA is set to begin its inaugural season in just two short months.
