HERRIMAN ā The Premier Lacrosse League is coming back to the Beehive State in 2026.
Recent trips were so nice, the league decided to do it twice, too.
The eight-team league that operates on a hybrid touring model will open the 2026 regular season May 8-10 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, the home of the two-time league champion Utah Archers.
It’s the first time opening weekend of a professional lacrosse league will overlap with the NCAA men’s lacrosse season since the now-defunct Major League Lacrosse opened its season in late April in 2018. The first round of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament is scheduled for May 9-10, with Memorial Day weekend wrapping up the season in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Zions Bank Stadium replaces Albany’s Casey Stadium in the New York capitol as the traditional opening-day site, and marks the first time the Utah Archers won’t host their homecoming weekend in the final weeks of the season since the league opted to geolocate its teams eight years ago.
In addition to homecoming weekends in Baltimore, Charlotte, Long Island, San Diego, Denver, Boston and Philadelphia, the league will also play four “neutral-site” matchups, including a first-time stop May 15-17 at Centreville Bank Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.
Other neutral-site games will take place in Chicago; Fairfield, Connecticut; and Columbus, Ohio, in addition to the league’s all-star game on Fourth of July weekend at a site yet to be announced.
After the 12-week regular season, the PLL playoffs will open the quarterfinals in Minneapolis Aug. 29-30 before a return to Herriman for the Sept. 7 league semifinals. The championship match is scheduled for Sept. 18-20 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
The two-stop trip to the Salt Lake area marks the first in the league’s eight-year history, paying homage to a state that helped revitalize the league co-founded by brothers Paul and Mike Rabil by playing in a closed-bubble “PLL Island” during the COVID-19 pandemic and has grown to embrace its new home club for an emerging sport as well as any other in the league.
“Utah brought the juice this weekend for us, and we used that to our advantage,” Archers midfielder Tre Leclaire said after a home win in front of 5,000-strong in 2024.
The new schedule follows a new five-year media rights deal with ESPN that reportedly also raises the league’s salary cap.
The 2026 campaign will also include the launch of the Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL), a four-team, 10-on-10 league that will begin play alongside the PLL’s Providence weekend with championship weekend scheduled for Aug. 14-16 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, according to Inside Lacrosse.
Both leagues will also host the now-annual Championship Series, a four-team, six-on-six version of the game Feb. 27 through March 8 at The St. James School in Springfield, Virginia.
The full schedule is available here. Early-access tickets for both the PLL and WLL seasons are available through the PLL.
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