I Got the Ball - Premier Lacrosse League 2025 Season Brand Campaign

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

"I Got the Ball" was the PLL's 2025 season brand campaign – a cinematic, high-intensity commercial built to elevate national awareness heading into the league's seventh season on ABC and ESPN. The campaign follows a PLL rookie from his first day on the Maryland Whipsnakes through the defining trials of professional competition: grueling practices, failure, and the challenge of proving himself among the sport's biggest stars. The narrative culminates with the rookie scoring a game-winning goal and earning the game ball, crystallizing the preparation, resilience, and relentless mindset that leads to success at the highest level. Shot with immersive first-person POV camera work, bold close-ups, and a pulse-pounding cadence calibrated to the sport's physical intensity, the spot simultaneously introduced casual sports fans to professional lacrosse and reinforced what every elite competitor already knows: when the moment arrives, you don't wait for it. You step up and declare, "I Got the Ball."

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

"I Got the Ball" sets a new standard for how a growth-stage professional sports league can use advertising to simultaneously close the awareness gap with legacy leagues and deepen emotional connection with existing fans.

The campaign's most forward-looking contribution to the industry is its proof of concept that POV-driven, narrative sports advertising can function as a true crossover format, native to broadcast, social, and digital simultaneously, without compromising across any surface. As sports consumption increasingly fragments across platforms, campaigns that are engineered for multi-context performance represent the future of sports marketing. "I Got the Ball" was built that way from day one.

By centering the spot on a rookie's vulnerability and aspiration, surrounded by the league’s biggest stars, the PLL invited the broadest possible audience inside the sport's emotional core. 

Objective

The objective of "I Got the Ball" was threefold:

1. Elevate national awareness of the PLL and its athletes among both core lacrosse fans and the broader general sports audience tuning into ABC and ESPN
2. Drive measurable tune-in to live broadcasts – the league's primary commercial product – by creating urgency and excitement around the 2025 season
3. Cut through a crowded sports media landscape with a  campaign that captured the true essence of what is unique about professional lacrosse

Critically, the campaign needed to accomplish all three without relying on name recognition alone. Unlike NBA or NFL campaigns that can lead with superstar-driven awareness, the PLL needed to create that star power through compelling storytelling. 

The vision for “I Got the Ball” was developed by PLL Co-Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer Paul Rabil.  His decision to anchor the campaign around a fictional rookie's journey, rather than a highlight reel, was a deliberate strategic choice that welcomed new fans in while giving core fans the authentic inside access they crave. The result was a campaign that worked as hard commercially as it did artistically.

Strategy & Execution

The modern sports fan is a sophisticated consumer leveraging multiple media platforms, whose attention is competed for by an increasingly crowded media landscape. "I Got the Ball" was engineered with this reality at its center. Rather than a traditional broadcast promotional spot, the campaign was conceived as a short film, one that would perform equally well in a 90-second pre-game window on ABC, as a social-native video on Instagram or TikTok, and as a branded content moment in PLL's own digital ecosystem.

The strategy leaned into two proven engagement strategies for younger sports audiences: authenticity and immersion. The camera format from the perspective of a player - a device deeply familiar to gaming, action sports, and social media native audiences - made the experience feel more participatory and inviting. Viewers didn't just watch professional lacrosse, they were placed inside the game. 

The rookie narrative arc gave the spot universal emotional legs, speaking to every fan who has ever felt the pressure of a defining moment, regardless of sport affiliation.

Distribution was synchronized across ESPN networks, and PLL and ESPN social channels, launched during the PLL College Draft, a moment of peak audience attention and new-fan acquisition that amplified reach at launch.

Organizations

• Premier Lacrosse League

• 1440 Film Co.
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Links

•   Website

Featured

• Matt Rambo (Attack

• Maryland Whipsnakes)
• Michael Sowers (Attack)
• Jack Rowlett (Defense)
• Trevor Baptiste (Faceoff)
• Blaze Riorden (Goalie)
• Jim Stagnitta (Head Coach) — all active PLL players and coaches. 

Credits

Paul Rabil
Co-Founder & President
Premier Lacrosse League

Mike Rabil
Co-Founder & CEO
Premier Lacrosse League

Tom Brady
Chief Media & Marketing Officer
Premier Lacrosse League

Jordan Shiparski
Creative Director
Premier Lacrosse League

Stelios Kroudis
Sr. Producer/Editor
Premier Lacrosse League