As we gear up for CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan conference this summer, let’s learn more about one of the event’s featured speakers, Premier Lacrosse League co-founder Paul Rabil.
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and Boardroom, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s premier media brand covering the business of sports, music, and entertainment, are teaming up to produce CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan, an all-new, high-powered event taking place on July 25 in Los Angeles. Today, we’re highlighting featured speaker Paul Rabil, retired lacrosse star, entrepreneur, and Premier Lacrosse League co-founder. Click here to view the full list of CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan speakers.
Paul Rabil didn’t just fight off legions of opposing players and teams as a high school and college lacrosse champion en route to becoming one the greats of the sport at the professional level — as a sports entrepreneur, he fought off lawsuits, financial strain, and a chorus of skeptics on the way to co-founding the Premier Lacrosse League alongside his brother, Mike.
As captured in the ESPN “30 for 30” documentary Fate of a Sport, Rabil’s second act as a lacrosse mogul actually began when he was still fully active as a player. He had already logged nearly 400 professional games between Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League through 2018, but his dream was to create something new that brought both greater athlete compensation and a more visible platform to help the game he loved earn a bigger audience.
On June 1, 2019, the dream came true when the PLL played its very first game. The very next year, it negotiated a merger with Major League Lacrosse. In 2022 — a year that marked Rabil’s final season as a player — it launched the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame with an inaugural class of 11.
Learn more about Paul Rabil’s Game Plan below, and click here to listen to his appearance on Boardroom’s “Out of Office” with Rich Kleiman.
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Paul Rabil’s Game Plan
Background & Career
- Native of Montgomery County, Maryland outside Washington, DC
- Graduate of Johns Hopkins University
- 2018: Co-founded Premier Lacrosse League
- 2016: Co-founded Rabil Ventures investment company
- 2011: Co-founded nonprofit Paul Rabil Foundation
- 2008: Founded Rabil Companies to advance the growth of lacrosse at the grassroots level
Accomplishments & Milestones
- Oversaw 2022 launch of Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame
- Negotiated PLL apparel deals with Champion and rapper Method Man
- Oversaw 2020 PLL merger with Major League Lacrosse
- Negotiated PLL media rights deals with NBC Sports and ESPN/ABC
- Sports Business Journal “40 Under 40” and Entrepreneur Magazine “Top 40 Most Entrepreneurial Athletes” honoree
- No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse Draft by the Boston Cannons
- Two-time NCAA national champion with the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
Click here to learn more about Boardroom and CNBC’s Game Plan event and find out how you can sign up today.
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