NLL Salaries: What Box Lacrosse Pros Earn

National Lacrosse League (NLL) players earn modest, part-time-scale salaries rather than major-league money. Reported figures put base pay broadly in the range of a few thousand to the tens of thousands of dollars per season, set within a team salary structure, with the sport’s biggest stars at the higher end.

Because the NLL plays a limited indoor box-lacrosse schedule and its revenue is a fraction of the major leagues’, playing in the NLL is not a full-time living for most players. The vast majority hold day jobs around the season. Here is what is actually known about NLL pay, why it looks the way it does, and how it compares to the outdoor pro game.

What NLL players are paid

The NLL is a professional box-lacrosse league, but “professional” here does not mean major-league salaries. Reported figures describe base pay that ranges from a few thousand dollars at the lower end up to the tens of thousands for established players, governed by a team salary structure and league minimums negotiated through the players’ collective bargaining agreement.

Two caveats matter. First, the league does not release a full, player-by-player salary table, so precise numbers are reported estimates, not official figures. Second, pay varies widely by experience and role, a rookie on a minimum deal and a veteran star are at very different points in that range. What is consistent is the scale: this is elite part-time pay, not a major-league paycheck.

Why the salaries are modest

Salary size follows revenue, and the NLL is a smaller-revenue league than the biggest North American sports. The indoor box-lacrosse season is short, television and sponsorship income is limited compared with the major leagues, and rosters and team budgets are correspondingly modest. All of that caps how much can be paid out in salary.

This is not unique to the NLL; it is the reality of a growing professional sport. The pay reflects where box lacrosse sits commercially rather than any lack of skill, the athletes are genuine professionals competing at a high level for pay that the league’s current revenue can support.

Is the NLL a full-time job?

For most players, the honest answer is no. The combination of a short season and modest salaries means the large majority of NLL players hold outside jobs or careers, teaching, sales, trades, coaching and much else, and fit lacrosse around them. A handful of top stars can make the sport a bigger part of their income, especially once endorsements are added, but even they rarely live on league pay alone.

This part-time reality is one of the defining features of professional lacrosse. Our roundup of the highest-paid lacrosse players shows how the sport’s top earners build their income from salary plus sponsorship and outside work, rather than from a single large contract.

NLL vs. PLL: a quick comparison

The NLL is not the only professional lacrosse league. The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) plays the outdoor field game, while the NLL plays indoor box lacrosse on an arena floor. Both offer limited, part-time-scale pay, and neither fully publishes its salaries.

Feature	NLL (National Lacrosse League)	PLL (Premier Lacrosse League)
Format	Indoor box lacrosse	Outdoor field lacrosse
Pay scale	Modest, reported few-thousands to tens of thousands	Modest pro salaries plus benefits and equity
Salaries public?	Not fully published	Not fully published
Typical player status	Usually holds an outside job	Usually holds an outside job
Top-earner income driver	Endorsements and outside work	Endorsements and sponsorships

Because neither league releases full pay tables, direct “which pays more” comparisons are unreliable. Our dedicated guides to PLL salaries and PLL vs. NLL dig into how the two leagues differ on pay, format and player experience, and the difference between box and field lacrosse is covered in box lacrosse vs. field lacrosse.

The bigger picture

NLL pay reflects a professional sport that is growing but has not reached the revenue of the major leagues. The athletes are elite, the competition is real, and the salaries are modest and part-time by necessity, which is why day jobs remain the norm. As box lacrosse’s audience grows, so could the pay, but for now the NLL is best understood as top-tier part-time professional sport.

The short version: NLL players earn modest, part-time-scale salaries reported broadly in the few-thousands to tens-of-thousands range per season; the league does not publish full figures; most players keep outside jobs; and the sport’s highest total earnings come from combining league pay with endorsements and other work.