PLL Salaries: What Pro Lacrosse Players Earn

Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) players earn modest professional salaries: reporting around the league’s launch put base pay roughly in the tens of thousands of dollars per season, supplemented by healthcare, equity in the league and revenue-sharing. That is a meaningful step up from the older field-lacrosse pay structure, but it is still far below the salaries of the major North American leagues, and the PLL is the only authority on exact, current figures, which it does not fully publish.

Because pay is limited and the season is short, most PLL players hold outside jobs, and the sport’s biggest names earn more from endorsements and sponsorships than from their league checks. Here is what is actually known about PLL compensation, why it looks the way it does, and how it compares to lacrosse’s other pro league.

What PLL players are paid

The PLL was co-founded in 2018 by star player Paul Rabil and his brother Mike Rabil, and a central pitch of the new league was better player compensation and benefits than field lacrosse had offered before. Around its 2019 launch, media coverage and player interviews described a package built from several parts rather than a single salary line:

• Base salary: reported broadly in the tens of thousands of dollars per season, varying by player and contract.
• Healthcare: league-provided health benefits, a notable feature for a pro lacrosse league.
• Equity: an ownership stake in the league, so players share in its long-term growth.
• Revenue-sharing and bonuses: additional upside tied to the league’s commercial performance.

The exact numbers are not published in full, so any precise figure circulating online should be treated as an estimate unless it is attributed to the league or a named source. What is clear is the structure: modest guaranteed pay plus benefits and a stake in the business, rather than large guaranteed contracts.

Why the salaries are modest

Professional field lacrosse is still a growing, relatively small market, and salary size follows revenue. The PLL’s season is short compared with the year-round schedules of the biggest leagues, television and sponsorship revenue is a fraction of theirs, and rosters are limited. All of that caps how much can be paid out in salary.

The practical result is that the PLL is not, for most players, a full-time living on its own. Many players coach, run camps, work in business roles or hold other jobs around the season. The league’s equity model is partly a response to this: rather than promising big salaries it cannot yet fund, the PLL offers players a share in the upside if the league grows.

Where the real money is: the top stars

For the highest-profile players, league salary is only one income stream, and often not the largest. Endorsements, sponsorships, media work and personal brands can far exceed base pay for a marquee name, which is exactly how the sport’s best-known figures build their earnings. Our roundup of the highest-paid lacrosse players breaks down how those total earnings come together across salary and outside income.

PLL vs. NLL: a quick comparison

The PLL is not lacrosse’s only professional league. The National Lacrosse League (NLL) plays indoor box lacrosse, a faster, more physical format on a hockey-rink-sized floor, while the PLL plays the outdoor field game. The two are structured differently but both offer limited, part-time-scale professional pay.

Feature	PLL (Premier Lacrosse League)	NLL (National Lacrosse League)
Format	Outdoor field lacrosse	Indoor box lacrosse
Pay scale	Modest pro salaries plus benefits and equity	Modest pro salaries by contract
Salaries public?	Not fully published	Not fully published
Typical player status	Often holds an outside job	Often holds an outside job
Top-earner income driver	Endorsements and sponsorships	Endorsements and sponsorships

Because neither league releases full pay tables, direct “which pays more” comparisons are unreliable; the honest answer is that both sit well below major-league money and that individual contracts vary. Our deeper dive on PLL vs. NLL compares the two leagues on style, structure and player experience.

The bigger picture for the sport

The PLL’s compensation model reflects where professional lacrosse sits: a fast-growing sport that has not yet reached the revenue of the biggest leagues, run by founders who deliberately traded huge guaranteed salaries for benefits and player ownership. As the audience grows, so does the potential value of that equity, which is the bet players are making. The women’s side of the sport is on a similar trajectory, our look at the women’s professional lacrosse league covers how pay and structure are developing there.

The short version: PLL players earn modest base salaries reported in the tens of thousands of dollars, plus healthcare, equity and revenue-sharing; the league does not publish full figures; most players keep outside jobs; and the top stars make their real money from endorsements rather than league pay.