NLL looking for an international audience
It seems that the NLL is spreading its wings to look for an international audience. According to SportsBusiness.com, the NLL is using a company called Crocmedia to expand the league’s TV distribution to a worldwide audience. This partnership with Crocmedia will be to find suppliers for coverage the 2007 season and beyond.
In the bigger picture this is great news, the more the sport is promoted to a larger audience the more the sport will grow, it’s a given. Crocmedia director James Swanwick said “We believe that once the rest of the world is exposed to lacrosse and the NLL brand, there is no reason the sport won’t grow at the same rate as in America.” It’s exciting to see that sort of enthusiasm to promote the sport we love.
One question that is at the front of mind though, what about Canada? The NLL hasn’t even found a network to cover lacrosse for the Canadian market yet, and there are three Canadian teams in the league.
While I’m sure the league is working hard on the Canadian front, at the moment it seems like they may be over-extending themselves and trying to grow more quickly than they should. If the league pushes lacrosse too hard it will backfire and end up hurting everyone involved, including the fans.
In the end I’m all for expanding coverage of the sport, it helps the league and sport grow. What I would prefer to see is the NLL taking better care of the current fan base and giving them a better experience. We are your biggest and best advertising machine right now and if you treat us right it will most definitely come back around to you, in spades.