Major League Lacrosse will enter a new era — MLL 2.0, if you will — this weekend. In addition to unveiling a new league logo, the league will welcome new talent into its ranks. The 2019 MLL Collegiate Draft will be held Saturday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

“This year is a bit different than what we’ve seen in the past,” MLL commissioner Alexander Brown said. “What I’m excited about is I believe this year will showcase the parity that exists in our game in respect to Division I, Division II and Division III. There will be more opportunities for players than ever before. We’re going to find some diamonds in the rough. There are certain picks that come in the later rounds, and I think you’ll see the same situation in this draft where some outstanding players surface.”

While this is the first TIME MLL will host the draft at the NASCAR Hall of Fame — New York Lizards owner Andrew Murstein is co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports — it’s also the first year rookies have more than one professional field lacrosse league from which to choose.

The Premier Lacrosse League begins its inaugural season June 1-2, the same weekend Major League Lacrosse starts its 19th season. On Monday, the PLL assigned 164 players to six rosters. The list includes many notable former MLL stars, such as PLL co-founder Paul Rabil, Tom Schreiber and Myles Jones.

The advent of the PLL has created roster vacancies in MLL. The league intends to stockpile new talent with this draft.

According to Colin Keane, MLL lacrosse operations manager, NCAA rules prohibit the league from asking a current college senior if he will play in the league, which means players will not be required to choose MLL or PLL prior to the draft. All eligible players are able to be picked.

The PLL announced today that it will hold its draft on April 22.

To help promote MLL, Brown added that he has hired Chesapeake Bayhawks head coach Dave Cottle as a special assistant to talk with college coaches about the league. Cottle will do so while continuing in his current capacity with the Bayhawks.

“We have a seasoned group of coaches in MLL that are highly respected in college circles. Dave Cottle is at the head of the class,” Brown said. “He’s been incredibly valuable to me in terms of having those conversations. We utilize what we’re doing digitally to talk about the new direction of the league and putting out content that will be reflective of the MLL experience.”

Players may get drafted into MLL, but there is no guarantee they play in the league or even play professional lacrosse at all.

According to Bear Davis, the head coach and general manager of the Ohio Machine, who hold the No. 1 pick, it’s not a unique challenge the league hasn’t faced before.

“Plans change,” Davis said. “For instance, we had Connor Cannizzaro, who was great, and then he’s deep into medical school.”

“The sport is still going to have those obstacles,” Davis added. “The other league just poses another obstacle we will have to look out for.”

MLL has been very public about the players it hopes to add to the fold this weekend. The league’s website is full of profiles on potential draft picks like Loyola’s Pat Spencer, Duke’s Brad Smith and Towson’s Alex Woodall. Additionally, the league released the list of 89 college athletes eligible for the draft.

The Spencer sweepstake should be the story of the summer. While both pro leagues vie for his rights, he also has designs on using his final year of NCAA eligibility to latch on with a Division I basketball team.

While it is known who teams could take, it is not known who teams will take. This is not unusual about the collegiate drafts, but what makes this year’s draft more unpredictable than usual is there are just more open roster spots to fill.

“We’re trying to replenish our rosters at a greater rate than in the past,” Davis said. “We may not be looking at one or two guys. We may be looking at five or six guys.”

As teams try to refill their rosters, a byproduct of the uncertain draft has meant that trade chatter is quieter than usual.

“People are being a little more cautious than they have in previous years,” said Sean Quirk, the head coach and director of player personnel for the Boston Cannons. “Some teams are more reluctant to trade some of their players because some of the rosters are a little thinner. Teams are holding onto their players, not willing to give them up for draft picks.”

The Cannons hold the third and fourth picks in the draft, and Quirk is excited to add two high-impact players to a team that retains a strong core from last season, including 2018 rookies Will Sands, Tom Kennedy, and Nick Marrocco (who was picked up midseason from the player pool, not drafted).

With previous roster mainstays no longer on MLL teams and the addition of one player to the active gameday roster, however, there will be a greater focus on middle- and late-round picks to add depth to the teams that select them. That includes extra looks at players from Division II and Division III.

“I was at a Tufts game the other night,” Quirk said. “They have some really good players, guys that could’ve played in the Ivy League.”

Davis, whose Machine won the league championship in 2017, knows the impact underrated players can have on a team’s success. Davis cited the example of Denver Outlaws faceoff specialist Max Adler, a Division II product who played a key role in the Outlaws’ run to the 2018 title.

“Would he be a guy that’s sexy to most teams? Probably not, but there he is, winning faceoffs and championships for them,” Davis said. “We have guys that helped us win and aren’t the top six or seven guys, and they weren’t guys that were super attractive. Tyler Pfister was a late-round pick. We were able to get Steven Waldeck when people were counting him out. You get supplemental draft picks. They’re the right pieces when you put them all together. We’ve done it before. I’m excited to do it again.”

The collegiate draft will be streamed live on both Lax Sports Network and the MLL website.

According to Brown, the players who hear their names called will have a new and improved MLL waiting for them.

“You’ll find much more consistency with all of our teams in terms of play and competitiveness. That’s going to be an important component of this year’s season,” he said. “We’re going into the end of September, early October. It’s more content for the fans, more opportunities for our players to play, and that’s our focus. It’s about the players, and we want to do whatever we can to make this the best experience possible.”