But I think this topic is becoming to narrowly focused. I want to reiterate that sponsors, and more importantly, as players seek sponsorship, those sponsors are looking at more than what is happening on the field. Yes, the pro lacrosse is on TV. But the player does not control, camera angles, face-time, interview requests, etc… What needs to be leveraged are the camps, clinics, and other aspects of the “pro lacrosse” life style. Sure there are sponsored guys/girls who kate and snowboard. Some have MAJOR sponsors and money is generated. But we dont know who they are (we – general sporting public). This basically comes down to sales. If a player is able to sell his lacrosse career (, camps, coaching, clinics, speaking engagements, etc…) and be able to ADD a corporate logo/patch/screen to his jersey, that sweetens his pot, agreed?

I’m a huge lax fan and I don’t know the majority of the starting roster of most MLL teams. I do know who the superstars in the game are, mostly because I’ve been watching them since they were in college. If these players havd the ability to lock down sponsoships, it wouldn’t necessarily increase visibility for any of these products to me, and I’m clearly the target demographic. Not to mention the fact that a good televised game doesn’t have a lot of close up action the way a baseball game might. The game action itself if generally shot from a wide angle prospective, allowing little ability to read player A’s logo on his helmet and why it is different than player B’s. And no matter how we cut it, visibility is the reason these companies invest in sponsorship.

I hope you can agree that individual sponsorships only benefit the individual players that are able to get the sponsorships through star status (whether by ability or I’ll concede by other means too), whereas more sponsorship money (which truthfully has to come from outside lacrosse) given to teams and/or the league would help the League, the Teams, and the players. At the end of the day, more money in the sport means everyone profits; not just the talented or notable.

- More in-game exposure = more $$$$$ for the endorsement deal

I think you missed on this one. Don’t look too into the sponsorship logos. The main point here is that the players need to have the ability to attract sponsors for themselves so they can make some scratch and keep the league moving forward. Very few pro athletes play for the fans. They play to get paid, if the fans are happy you can usually make more $$. As a kid I often dreamt about one day having a corporate logo on my lid, thats when you know you have really made it.

With the purchase of a sponsorship, the company’s logo is displayed on the player’s game jersey and on the team’s website. It seems to be the team’s way of helping to support each player. The sponsoring company also receives a signed jersey or helmet from the player as a bonus.

The individual companies who sponsor each player would have it in their best
interest to promote the game to customers, which would in turn create more
casual fans.

I totally feel you on the interest level thing… It’s tough for me to get
interested in the MLL on TV too.