The Cannons Lacrosse Club changed ownership when the older Major Lacrosse League (MLL) merged with the new Premier Lacrosse League (PLL).
The team used to be known as the Boston Cannons when it was in the MLL and was originally owned by Rob Hale.
But teams in the PLL don’t have a single owner. Instead, they are in common ownership. All teams belong to the league itself, which is owned by a group of investors.
If that seems complicated, we’ll break it down clearly in this article and we’ll explain who the main shareholders are.
Who Owns The Cannons In The PLL?
The Cannons Lacrosse Club is owned by Premier Lacrosse League, inc.
It is one of eight professional teams in common ownership by PLL, a private company with significant investment from shareholders including:
- Mike and Paul Rabil (co-founders)
- Blum Capital
- CAA Sports
- Chernin Group
- David O’Connor
- Fortress Investment Group
- Harris Blitzer
- Chris Hogan
- Sol Kumin
- Kraft Group
- Raine Group
- Joe Tsai
All players in the league also have some equity in the holding company. The level of their ownership stakes hasn’t been made public.
The lengthy list of minority owners above doesn’t actually include them all. In this article, I’ll look at some of the more interesting owners of the Cannons.
If you want bios of the full list, check out our overview of PLL ownership.
Chris Hogan, Minority Owner and Former Player With The Cannons
Just to be clear, the Chris Hogan I’m talking about here is the same guy who won two Super Bowls as a wide receiver with the New England Patriots.
Hogan played lacrosse at Penn State, where he captained the Nittany Lions. Right through his stellar NFL career, Hogan had always proudly talked about his love for lacrosse.
He was approached in 2018 by the Rabil brothers and was one of the earliest investors in the PLL.
But Hogan took his interest one step further than the others. He pulled on his gloves and picked up a stick!
Hogan entered the PLL draft in February of 2021 but wasn’t drafted at the time.
But the story doesn’t end there (well, not quite).
From investor to player
The Cannons Lacrosse Club signed Chris Hogan a few months later. Hogan didn’t play in the opening weekend, but he got his chance in the second weekend of the league and played against the Whipsnakes.
Unfortunately for Hogan, he was on the losing side that day.
Because all players get some equity in the PLL, technically they are all player-owners. But Hogan owns significantly more shares through his early investment.
Hogan only played one game for the Cannons. He quickly returned to the NFL some months after his debut.
However, his appearances in the PLL garnered enough sports headlines to make his brief sojourn an overall benefit to the rest of his fellow owners.
And Hogan isn’t the only owner involved in the NFL. He’s not even the only owner with a connection to the New England Patriots! Just take a look at the next investor in this review.
CAA Sports, Minority Owner
The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was founded in 1975 as a talent agency to represent actors and singers in the entertainment industry. Michael Ovitz, who would later be President of Disney, built the company into one of the most powerful agencies in the world.
The list of stars has included Bob Marley, Chris Pratchett, and Will Ferrell.
They got into sports representation in 2006. That list includes plenty of the most high-profile NFL players as well as many other sports stars from the NBA, the MLB, and other leagues.
You may be wondering why they’d go after a smaller sport like lacrosse.
Well, one of the current top agents at CAA Sports is Michael Levine. As co-head of CAA Sports, he holds a lot of sway inside and outside the company.
And Levine played lacrosse during his years at Cornell University. Levine not only steered CAA Sports into investing in the PLL, he also is on the league’s advisory board.
Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, Minority Owner Of The Cannons
One minority owner, Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, also owns the Philadelphia 76ers (in the NBA) and the New Jersey Devils (in the NHL).
This company is a joint venture of Josh Harris and David Blitzer. It seems that it’s Josh Harris who is primarily interested in lacrosse.
You may also see mention of Bolt Ventures as an investor in the PLL. That equity-investment company is also owned by Josh Harris.
Who Owned The Cannons Before The Club Joined The PLL?
I mentioned in the introduction that the club was originally owned by Rob Hale when it was part of the Major Lacrosse League (MLL).
That was when the club was called the Boston Cannons. However, the ownership changed once before the club transferred into the PLL.
In 2020, the MLL was under pressure from the formation of the PLL as a competitor league. All the MLL clubs were in separate ownership, but most of the owners voted to switch to a single-entity league. In other words, they moved to the same structure as the PLL.
This means that Rob Hale agreed to transfer his ownership of the Boston Cannons to the MLL.
But this arrangement didn’t last very long. The following year, the MLL merged with the PLL and the latter league took ownership of the Cannons (with a name change).
More Owners
We’ve only looked at a handful of investors in this article.
If you want background stories to the full list, check out our review of all owners in the Premier Lacrosse League.
