What can rowing learn from the Premier Lacrosse League?

I'm sure people are tired of hearing the same thing about how rowing is outdated, elitist, and other similar stereotypes. These are the same stereotypes that the Rabil brothers were tired of hearing about their sport, Lacrosse.

To combat this they took a stand and in 2018 they founded the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) a rival to the existing Major League Lacrosse (MLL) that had been the main league in the US since the early 2000s. Their new league worked to break down the negative stereotypes alongside other annoyances they had about playing in the MLL and watching the sport in their own experiences. The key to their approach was player centrism.

Player centrism was a method of putting players in the spotlight and allowing them to engage freely and openly with fans or anyone willing to watch. To gain the most reach they utilised social media to its full potential. They understood that if they got their players posting about their matches, but also about what goes on behind the scenes, and then pushed this content to their fans the stereotypes that existed could be broken down by revealing the more modern nature of the sport.

As a result, the PLL took over the MLL which ceased in 2020. Their social media following skyrocketed, their engagement levels in their content are completely unprecedented for a company of that size, and interest in lacrosse is at an all-time high. Due to this the PLL is broadcast on major US TV channels and is in the headlines in major sports journalism sites.

So how could this be applied to rowing?

Firstly, bigger rowing teams to have robust social media pages with content that is interesting and engaging. Get people to start conversations and drive discussion about the sport. This engagement will push the content outside of the smaller audiences that it would usually reach, spreading the word further beyond the tight-knit rowing community.

Secondly, allow promotional content within the rowing show willing to sponsors and promotional content on your social media or club kit. Social media as a promotional tool is severely underutilised by the majority of clubs and is a huge missed opportunity. By building social media audiences through the methods mentioned above, sponsorship opportunities become far easier to come by, as little as 1,000 followers on Instagram can open doors. There is a huge lack of sponsorship in a sport that has, in theory, a lot of money. By allowing more promotional opportunities, rowing content can improve, higher quality filming of regattas, and higher quality equipment to more people. This in turn can draw in larger audiences and the cycle continues.

In conclusion, rowing as a sport must evolve with the times. By embracing the age of social media and online image negative stereotypes can be broken down and sponsorships and new audience members can be drawn in. However if rowing continues to perpetrate the same image of elitism and dated-ness, eventually interest and funding will be dropped and the sport will cease to bring joy to the community.