# Rabil's street lacrosse bet on Olympic momentum

> The Premier Lacrosse League launches a pickup-game tour to build the sport before its 2028 Olympic return, backed by a $100 million funding round.
- Title: Rabil's street lacrosse bet on Olympic momentum · Fortune
- Summary: The Premier Lacrosse League launches a pickup-game tour to build the sport before its 2028 Olympic return, backed by a $100 million funding round.
- Keywords: premier lacrosse league, paul rabil, street lacrosse, venice beach, 2028 olympics, women's lacrosse league, ares investment, joe tsai, espn, lacrosse growth, Fortune
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/11/13/paul-rabil-premier-lacrosse-league-street-lacrosse-olympics
- Author: Robert Gray
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: premier lacrosse league, paul rabil, street lacrosse, venice beach, 2028 olympics, women's lacrosse league, ares investment, joe tsai, espn, lacrosse growth
## Street lacrosse comes to Venice Beach
The Premier Lacrosse League launches its Street Lacrosse Pro Tour on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Venice Beach basketball courts with a 5-on-5 format and festival atmosphere.
## Lacrosse returns to Olympics after 120 years
The sport aims to build momentum before its 2028 Los Angeles Olympics return. Lacrosse last appeared as a medal sport in 1908 and has not been included since.
## Star players and influencers headline the event
Men's and women's professionals will share the court with streetball star The Professor and influencer Cameron Elliott Schmidt at the Venice Beach tournament.
## Rabil leads the league's expansion
Paul Rabil, co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League and Women's Lacrosse League, serves as president of the parent company. His brother Mike is CEO.
## League closes $100 million funding round
In June, the PLL closed a $100 million Series E led by Ares and Joe Tsai, with ESPN taking a minority equity stake in the professional leagues.
## Street lacrosse removes barriers to entry
Street lacrosse requires only a stick and tennis ball, no helmet or pads. The format aims to introduce the sport to young people without requiring club or rec team commitment.

> All you need is a stick and a tennis ball, no helmet, pads, and all that other stuff.
## College and high school lacrosse surging
Since 2000, NCAA lacrosse programs have more than doubled to 917. High school participation increased by more than 353 percent, with 212,988 players in 2024-25.
## Pro leagues post record viewership and attendance
The PLL posted its most-watched season ever in its eighth year. The WLL set women's pro attendance records in its inaugural season.
## ESPN deal and mainstream sponsorships signal growth
The league has a major media deal with ESPN and ABC, with title sponsors from major categories that never previously touched lacrosse, targeting families and younger generations.
## Rabil: conditioning fans is the real challenge
Getting people to buy tickets and attend games remains the biggest obstacle. Outside the college Final Four, lacrosse has never conditioned its fans to attend games regularly.

> It has to be getting people to decide in today's environment to pay for a ticket, drive to a game, pay for parking, show up in the heat of the summer for a game broadcast on ABC at one o'clock.
## Global tournament builds toward Olympic final
The PLL and WLL are staging the first Lexus Global Lacrosse Games Dec. 8-13 outside Washington, D.C., featuring men's and women's teams from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Haudenosaunee.
## Building momentum for U.S.-Canada Olympic showdown
Over the next two years, the league will build attention around international lacrosse so that by summer 2028 in Los Angeles, audiences will be eager to watch a U.S.-Canada final.

> We're setting up a version of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament the NHL had that built momentum around the USA and Canada through the Winter Olympics.
## Key takeaway

The Premier Lacrosse League is taking street lacrosse to Venice Beach and other cities to grow the sport ahead of its 2028 Olympic debut, after raising $100 million in Series E funding.