Denver Outlaws to be Revived in 2024 as PLL Awards Denver Outdoor Lacrosse Team

The Premier Lacrosse League, or PLL, operated as a touring league of eight teams since it’s inception in 2019. Originally designed as a competitor to Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the PLL took outdoor field lacrosse and tweaked the rules for a faster-paced game more akin to indoor box lacrosse. After just one season, the PLL merged with the MLL, acquiring the rights to all MLL teams and branding in the process.

In 2023, as was always the plan for the young league, the PLL’s eight teams were assigned to host cities, as the league becomes both more permanent and more prominent. Most teams kept their nickname upon assignment (Waterdogs Lacrosse Club became the Philadelphia Waterdogs, for instance.)

But the team assigned to Denver, Colorado took a different route. Chrome Lacrosse Club will be rebranded as the Denver Outlaws, the same name that one of the most widely successful MLL teams in league history donned in the city from 2006-2020.

The Denver Outlaws were famous for their far above average MLL crowds: from 13,167 in their inaugural game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in May 2006 to their annual Fourth of July games at the same field, drawing over 30,000 fans a year. The Outlaws also completed the MLL’s first perfect regular season, finishing 14-0 in 2013 before getting the same treatment the New England Patriots got from the New York Giants in 2007-2008.

The Outlaws would bounce back though, winning championships every other year for the next five years and hoisting the Steinfield Cup in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

It remains to be seen if the Outlaws will secure any games at Empower Field at Mile High when they begin play in 2024. As it stands, the Outlaws will have the smallest home stadium of any team in the PLL: playing home games at the University of Denver’s 3,117-seat Barton Stadium, which also hosted a PLL weekend in August 2022. It will be hard to match the attendance prowess of the original Outlaws in this scenario, but if the demand is there, I’m sure a solution could be found.

The University of Denver’s Barton Stadium will serve as the home hub for the Denver Outlaws PLL action.

The Denver Outlaws will play in the Western Conference, among the California Redwoods (San Jose), Carolina Chaos (Charlotte), and Utah Archers (Herriman). The Eastern Conference consists of the Boston Cannons (Foxborough), Maryland Whipsnakes (Baltimore), the New York Atlas (Hempstead) and Philadelphia Waterdogs (Chester.)

As the PLL resumes play in 2024, the touring model won’t be completely over: multiple teams will come to town each weekend, with the host squad playing a doubleheader. This will be the model for eight of the season’s ten weeks, with the final two weekends and playoffs played in neutral sites. The PLL deems this “Phase 2” of their expansion, with traditional traveling matchups possible in a potential Phase 3.

Are you excited to see the Denver Outlaws return to Colorado? Will the University of Denver be enough to host the region’s lacrosse fans, or will larger venues be necessary? To follow the journey for the Denver Outlaws, be sure to follow Sak Sports Blog on Twitter.