Premier Lacrosse League Championship Game: Denver Outlaws vs. Philadelphia Waterdogs @ Sports Illustrated Stadium (Harrison, NJ)
America's professional Field Lacrosse league crowns its 2026 champion
The Premier Lacrosse League was founded in 2018 as an upstart lacrosse league meant to compete with Major League Lacrosse - the more established league at the time (which debuted in 2001). What made the PLL unique among professional sports leagues is that it used a barnstorming model, where instead of teams traveling to visit each other, the entire league would descend on a stadium and play multiple games there during a weekend (a la Cosmic Baseball or, in some respects, Banana Ball). Originally, six teams with no geographic locators (Archers, Atlas, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods, and Whipsnakes) competed in the first season (2019), and a seventh (the Waterdogs) joined in a COVID affected 2020 season (yes, the PLL played in 2020).
In the fall of 2020, the PLL sent shockwaves through the sports world by announcing that as part of a merger with Major League Lacrosse, the combined leagues would operate under PLL branding and practices - meaning that it had won. The league added the Cannons Lacrosse Club as its eighth team (based on one of MLL's most historic identities), and while the league still currently has eight teams operating in a barnstorming model, each team was given a "home market" in 2024, and the league's stops include each team's home market, where the "in market" team plays two games in a certain weekend (while other teams typically play one or none). Those eight teams are:
- Utah Archers
- New York Atlas
- Boston Cannons (the MLL team "added" in the merger)
- Carolina Chaos
- Denver Outlaws (formerly the Chrome Lacrosse Club)
- California Redwoods
- Philadelphia Waterdogs
- Maryland Whipsnakes
This game - the league's 2026 championship game - features the two teams in bold from this list, so let's talk about them a bit.
Know the competition
I'll start with the "underdog" Denver Outlaws - simultaneously the "older" and "newer" of the two.
The Denver Outlaws, despite "only" being founded in 2006, were a legendary MLL team: they appeared in MLL's championship game a whopping TEN times - even if they only have three titles to show for it. However, as the Cannons were "chosen" as the lone MLL identity to carry on in the merger, the Outlaws ended up "going dormant". Meanwhile, the Chrome Lacrosse Club was one of the PLL's founding teams, but were never truly successful - spending four years alternating between second and last place finishes. When the PLL announced home markets in 2024, the Chrome Lacrosse Club was "retired" in favor of a return of the Outlaws.
On the other side, you have the Philadelphia Waterdogs - the top team in the PLL this year. The Waterdogs were founded in 2020 as the PLL's first expansion team (as mentioned earlier), won a PLL championship in 2022, and were assigned Philly as their market in 2024 (which had an MLL team from 2004-2008 and then again in 2020). Outside of that...there's not much to say about them I feel - though it should be noted that Philly seems like a somewhat odd market: the aforementioned MLL team won three titles in their short time in Philly, but went dormant in 2009 amid financial issues (also: the Philadelphia Wings).
Gameday
This trip was NOT my intended time/place to see the PLL: I originally had plans to see the league in Fairfield, CT (which was a "neutral site" event)1, but rain on the day I intended to go scuttled that idea. After that, I thought about heading down to see the league stop in Philadelphia, but rain put a damper on THAT weekend as well. Heck, this game featured rain throughout, but the stadium's upper deck and covered concourses meant that there was ample space for fans to stay dry. This is also not my first time seeing the Premier Lacrosse League - I saw the league's quarterfinals played at Gillette Stadium in 2023, but I didn't write about it for many, MANY reasons (namely the fact that I had a WHOLE lot of background stuff happen that day)2.
As this is the FIFTH time I'm visiting Sports Illustrated Stadium in the past year or so, I won't be talking about it much - use the links in the "sidebar" to read more about my other visits. However, I wasn't sure if there were plans to have a "plaza" outside the stadium (like the other games I've been to here), but I would not be surprised if the league had to move things due to the weather; there were plenty of related things in the "bowels" of the stadium (i.e. between the stadium gates and the stairs to the main concourse), including various activities and vendors (it's all under the main concourse, so it's all covered).
One side note about field lacrosse: in hockey and soccer, I find that one of the more interesting things about watching them live versus on television is seeing the goaltender idle around while their team is attacking on the other side of the rink/field. I don't know how it's exactly worded, but in essence, field lacrosse rules require both teams to have at least three players on either side of the midfield line at ALL TIMES. Personally, I kinda enjoy watching the guys who have nothing to do while all the action occurs on the other half of the field, because it's something you don't get to see on television. Also, as lacrosse has deep Native American roots, this game featured a land acknowledgement (i.e. a statement about the natives who lived in America prior to its colonization in the 1600s) prior to the national anthem - something I've only seen done for Australian sports.
To be fully honest, I forgot how fun field lacrosse is to watch prior to seeing this game (though part of that is me only having been to ONE field lacrosse game prior to this). It is a bit difficult to get to more games (what with the PLL being in different cities every weekend), but it's definitely something I'd go back (and since New Jersey has a fairly interesting lacrosse culture, don't be surprised to see more next year).
MERCH
In the past, PLL jerseys were more or less designed similar to hockey (or, fittingly, box lacrosse) jerseys, with a large logo on the front (though they are short sleeved). This year, the league landed a deal with Nike, and for whatever reason, the template has now switched to a more American football style (i.e. big numbers with a script above). I do not know exactly what the "common" design for FIELD lacrosse jerseys is, but as someone who kinda sorta prefers blank jerseys, I'm not really sure I'm a fan (another reason I'm not super into football jerseys)3.
Having said that, though, I've always kinda felt that the PLL leans HEAVY into marketing/selling merchandise - it kinda has to as a niche league/sport. for example, a few years ago PLL game balls and miniature lacrosse sticks were available at Walmart of all places (though it's been a bit since I've seen them), and the "program" for this game (i.e. the lineup) featured a rather large "ad" for merch on the back.
My memory of the merchandise booths at the Foxboro game is a bit hazy, but I do recall going a bit crazy with hats as well as buying a (not Philadelphia at the time) Waterdogs jersey (because I liked the color)4. At this game, there were four different booths around the concourse, and it seemed like while there were some "common" items, each one had WILDLY different items available: the "main" one on the sideline was the only one with jerseys, while another one was the only one with mini sticks, a different one had shirts for each team with Nike's famous "JUST DO IT" catchphrase, and a fourth one had things such as PLL hoodies and team pennants (though they didn't have all pennants for all of the teams). Also, at least two of the booths had championship items available literally seconds after the game ended (a shirt, a hat, and a hoodie).
Oh right, I should probably talk about the game since I haven't done that yet...
The Champeenship
This game got off to a VERY hot start - three minutes into the game, the teams had already combined to score five goals!
However, as the game wore on, one team CLEARLY outclassed the other both offensively and defensively - to the tune of them allowing ZERO GOALS for the entire second half (a rare feat in lacrosse), and the losers tying a record for fewest goals scored in a lacrosse championship game (four).
Congratulations to your 2026 Premier Lacrosse League champions:
The Philadelphia Waterdogs.
(In some sense, they had a MASSIVE advantage with all the water in the air...)
As a final note: I was actually supposed to be doing something else COMPLETELY different this weekend, but there are reasons I had to "pivot" to this. In related news: don't be surprised to see me report on another champeenship soon...
ON DECK
Another sport I REALLY like - whose top league I've yet to discuss somehow...
Footnotes
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In case anyone was wondering: Fairfield IS part of the New York City media market, but the New York team had its homecoming weekend at Hofstra University on Long Island - after having it in Albany in the two prior seasons. ↩
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I mentioned a bit ago that I had a few stadiums I went to but never wrote about. Well...Gillette is NOT getting one of those posts for various reasons - namely the fact that it is more or less a "standard" football stadium with not much to talk about, plus one other reason that I'll get into soon. ↩
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I could also make a snarky comment about the sponsor all PLL jerseys now feature below the back number, but all I'll say is try a bidet if you can. ↩
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One other note: I've only seen ONE jersey available at a PLL event that wasn't a sublimated replica, but I wasn't that interested in it as it's a BIT of an ego trip (it was for one of the league's founders, and it cost $200 - a bit much for a "t-shirt" as a recently-in-the-news rapper would probably tell you). ↩