The NLL kicks off its 2018 combine series Saturday at Valley View Casino Center in California, home to one of this year’s two expansion teams, the San Diego Seals. 

The series marks the first time the league has held combines across North America, in both Canada and the United States – hosted by San Diego on August 11, Vancouver on Sept. 8, Philadelphia on Sept. 9 and Toronto on Sept. 15. They were strategically designed to grow the player pool to support the growth of the league, including the Seals and fellow expansion team, the Philadelphia Wings, as well as three more teams in the pipeline for upcoming seasons that have yet to be announced.

“It’s no secret the game is growing,” said NLL commissioner Nick Sakiewicz, whose league currently has 11 teams. “We have more teams in the U.S. and some in Canada that are coming. Then, just in preparation for needing a player pool – a robust player pool – we’re investing in these combines and giving opportunities to players to travel in and have our scouts and coaches take a look at the talent that’s emerging throughout the continent, not just the U.S., but Canada [too]. From coast to coast is where we need players as the league grows.”

Sakiewicz spoke with US Lacrosse Magazine about the goal of the NLL combines, as well as future plans for the league. 

How does this combine series differ from past combines?

"In the past, teams generally held their own combines. The league had one in Toronto, which is a central location for players to come in and train and be looked at by scouts and coaches.

But again, as our league grows, we’re expecting over the next decade pretty explosive growth in the United States. There’s more and more box lacrosse being played across the country. We’re going to need to fuel that player pool to pick from and populate these teams. This is a strategy of getting out in front of it and preparing for it. As the league grows, we offer opportunities for players, whether they’re coming out of college or are out of college and want the opportunity to play professional lacrosse."

Who is invited to these combines?

"Elite players are coming to the combines and we’re also inviting certain national team players and collegiate players to these combines to learn about the game and get some one-on-one training with some of our coaches and scouts that understand the nuances of box.

PHOTO OF TOM SCHREIBER COURTESY OF NLL

I don’t think it’s a secret – Tom Schreiber is one of the best in the league now. In talking to Tom, he’ll tell you it took six months to get the hang of it, but in his very first season, he’s a candidate for MVP. I think that maybe there’s [some apprehension] amongst field players about the box game. Yeah, it’s hard. Yeah, it’s got tight spaces and it’s a difficult game. But I think the elite player will pick it up pretty quickly. So these combines will maybe be an introductory to some field players that want to have a go at the box game."

What does each combine entail?

"We’ll do all the physical testing that an NFL combine would do, or any combine for that matter would do – typical speed, short distance, long distance, jumping, a lot of the basic metrics. That will be professionally conducted by a company we contracted.

Then we’ll get to the playing. We have coaches within the NLL and their scouting staffs at all the combines. The coaches and scouts will be identifying talent. Some of the talent that’s coming into the combines is well known by the coaches, but others are not. So I think it’s a great opportunity for our coaches and scouts to see where the diamond in the rough may be and hopefully we have lots of surprises by players who come in and impress and put themselves on the list for an opportunity to play professional lacrosse."

What are the league’s plans for future growth?

"As we grow our footprint, by the end of this year and beginning of next year, we’ll have announced a 14-team league and having more teams over the next decade to 12 years. We’re going to be a 20- to 30-team league. We’re going to need robust players and increase our player pool size to maintain the level of the game and keep that elite level of play in our league because it’s world class right now. We have the best lacrosse players in the world and we want to keep it that way."

What signs point to the possibility of being a 30-team league?

"As a part of this five-year strategic plan, in 24 months, we’ve added two teams and there are three more on the way, yet to be announced. They are in the house and on the way.  That’s a lot of activity in the last 24 months. That’s a first for the game by professional sports owners.

There’s a large group of people that we have talked to in the last 24 months that view our sport as the next major sport coming down the pike and they have arenas they need to fill. So there’s a lot of interest. We’ve talked to probably close to 60 investors over the last 24 months. We have a short list of about 10 right now and we can only expand to one or two a year. The way things are lined up right now, we’re expanded and done until 2021, maybe having room for one more spot, but you can only add one or two teams a year. The next group of expansion prospects, we’re going to have second-round conversations and we’re talking in 2022 now.

We’re pretty bullish on the conversations and whom we’re talking to. There’s certainly no shortage of very wealthy people that want to own an NLL team or own a professional sports team for that matter. There is a shortage in the number of professional sports teams you can buy, so we’re excited about it."

PHOTO COURTESY OF NLL

If the NLL is the next major league, do you look to the big four (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) for models of success?

"There’s no doubt. I spent 21 years of my career building what they say is the fifth major sport, which is Major League Soccer. We took that league from 10 teams to 23 teams now and I think it’s going to 30 teams. I had a front row seat to all the success we had in that league and we’re taking some of the best practices from that experience and we’re also looking at the big four as you call them.

We think we have an incredibly entertaining product that’s great for television and people are beginning to watch us on television, launching NLL TV and our partnership with Turner. That’s going to unlock our game and we have a vision of being one of the major leagues. How that’s defined, people will define that in terms of attendance and television ratings and popularity and all that, but there’s no question we see the path to being a major professional league now.

We are a major professional league, but we’re going to get bigger and stronger."