OLYMPIC LACROSSE: 5 BURNING QUESTIONS 🔥

Lacrosse is BACK in the Olympics.

On Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held an official vote to include five new sports — baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, squash and LACROSSE — at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

This is HUGE news for the sport of lacrosse. Keep scrolling to find out why…

1️⃣ What Does This Mean For Lacrosse?

It has been over 100 years since lacrosse was last played as a medal sport at the Olympics (1904, 1908). Although lacrosse made three appearances as a demonstration sport since then (1928, 1932, 1948), the Olympics have not featured a trace of the game in three-quarters of a century.

Before the 2023 PLL Championship in Philadelphia last month, league co-founder and former Team USA player Paul Rabil described the impact Olympic inclusion would have on the sport of lacrosse.

“I think there’s two areas that come to mind,” Rabil said. “One is that ultimate global validation of a sport when you hold the Olympic rings. … It’s a great stamp of approval. The second is unlocking resources internationally.”

The exposure will also be like nothing lacrosse has ever experienced. The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, for example, were watched by more than 3 billion people, according to independent researchers.

That’s a massive stage worldwide, and lacrosse is bound to capture some new eyeballs as a result.

2️⃣ Why is Sixes The Olympic Format?

Lacrosse comes in many forms. There are significant differences between the men’s and women’s games, as well as drastic differences between the field and box versions of the game.

The official Olympic format of the game will be Sixes.

While some purists are off-put by this decision, the Sixes discipline deserves some credit for getting lacrosse back in the Olympics. It’s also easy to see why the IOC would prefer a more compact, simplified version of the game.

First of all, the Sixes format creates a greater competitive balance. With less specialization and fewer players on the field, more countries will be able to pick up the game and close the gap on the world leaders — namely USA and Canada — over the next five years.

Secondly, there’s a reduced cost associated with Sixes. Rosters are limited to 12 players, making it more achievable for developing nations to field teams that can actually compete.

Lastly, the reduced complexity will capture more casual fans. Every lacrosse player has answered these questions from a puzzled friend or family member: Why do some players have a longer stick? Why are they chasing the ball out of bounds? What’s going on???

If you’ve ever seen a basketball game, you’ll understand Sixes right away. For many who will be watching lacrosse for the first time in the Olympics, that simplicity will help convert them into fans of the game.

3️⃣ Who is The Early Favorite For Gold?

Although Team USA won gold at the World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in San Diego earlier this year, that victory means less when you’re talking about the Sixes format that will be played at the 2028 Olympics.

Sixes is a new discipline and has only been tested in a major international competition once before — the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Canada ran the table at that event, claiming gold with a 23-9 win over USA in the championship game.

Canadians such as Jeff Teat, Zach Currier, Josh Byrne and Dhane Smith made a seamless transition to Sixes thanks to their experience in box lacrosse. While the Americans have plenty of talented two-way athletes, some traditional field techniques must be adapted (or abandoned) to be efficient in Sixes.

One country to keep an eye on is Japan, which upset Great Britain for the the bronze medal at the 2022 World Games. Interest in lacrosse is growing rapidly in Japan, and now they have five years to work on their skills before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

4️⃣ Will The Haudenosaunee Compete?

While it took a lot of hard work just to get lacrosse into the Olympics, the battle is just beginning for the Haudenosaunee Nationals. Due to their ambiguous status as a sovereign nation, it’s unclear whether the IOC will allow them to compete in the 2028 Olympic Games.

“The indigenous people of North America created lacrosse,” LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman told Sportico. “If we could find a solution to allow them to compete, that would be incredible. We don’t have that solution today because it requires the IOC to create a competition structure other than the norm… I understand this is not a simple decision, but we would love to see it.”

The Haudenosaunee Nationals competed in Sixes at the 2022 World Games and also claimed bronze at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship.

Allowing indigenous athletes to compete under the Haudenosaunee flag will be a major point of advocacy among lacrosse fans from now until the 2028 Olympics.

5️⃣ Where Can I See A Preview?

If you’re looking for examples of high-level Sixes gameplay, the PLL Championship Series should be on your radar. Last February, dozens of PLL players descended upon Washington D.C. for a five-day Sixes tournament.

Here are some highlights from Chrome’s 24-23 victory over Atlas in the title game:

There are some subtle differences between PLL Sixes and the version of Sixes that will be played in the Olympics — with the biggest example being the two-point arc — but these highlights provide a feel for the flow of the game.

PLL Sixes will return next February, when the Archers, Cannons, Waterdogs and Redwoods battle it out in the 2024 Championship Series.