2020 Premier Lacrosse League season
The 2020 Premier Lacrosse League season will be the second season of the Premier Lacrosse League. The season was originally set to begin on May 29 and culminate with a championship game played in late September. Due to the spread of COVID-19, the league postponed the start of their season, and in May announced their season would take place as a championship series between July 25 and August 9, replacing NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics. The Championship Series will consist of playoff seedings based on 4 games of group play taking place at Zions Bank Stadium just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The series begins with the Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club as the defending league champions and the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club joining the league as an expansion team.
Milestones and events
- February 27 - The league announces Ticketmaster as their Presenting Sponsor and Official Ticketing Partner.
- May 6 - The league announces the regular season will be replaced with a condensed Championship Series due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns. A total of 20 games are set to take place between July 25 and August 9.
- June 11 - The league announces the Championship Series will take place in Herriman, Utah just outside of Salt Lake City. Games will be played inside of Zions Bank Stadium, home of Real Monarchs in the USL Championship.
Coaching changes
- Atlas Lacrosse Club - Ben Rubeor was announced the new Atlas head coach after John Paul announced his retirement. Rubeor joins the lacrosse club after serving as an offensive coordinator in the MLL. He played collegiately at the University of Virginia and had a seven year career at the professional level.
- Chrome Lacrosse Club - Tim Soudan was introduced as the new Chrome head coach following legendary coach Dom Starsia's announcement that he would be transitioning to the league advisory board. Soudan arrives with a distinguished professional coaching career, including winning coach of the year in the MLL in 2014. He transitioned into coaching lacrosse after a 14 year career indoor, outdoor, and on the World Lacrosse Championship stage.
- Waterdogs Lacrosse Club - Andy Copelan became the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club's first head coach on January 2, 2020. He takes the reigns of an expansion franchise that will build its entire roster through an expansion draft, new player entry draft, and the collegiate draft. Copelan was hired based on his successful NCAA coaching resume. At the helm of Fairfield Stags men's lacrosse, Copelan led the team to the best team record under one head coach and was named MAAC coach of the year in 2015.
Expansion
Original Schedule
| Week | Venue | City | Ref. |
| 1 | Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA | |
| 2 | Fifth Third Bank Stadium | Kennesaw, GA | |
| 3 | Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium | Stony Brook, NY | |
| 4 | Homewood Field | Baltimore, MD | |
| 5 | Ford Center at The Star | Frisco, TX | |
| 6 | TCO Stadium | Eagan, MN | |
| PLL All-Star Game | Orange County Great Park | Irvine, CA | |
| 8 | Providence Park | Portland, OR | |
| 9 | WakeMed Soccer Park | Cary, NC | |
| 10 | Tom & Mary Casey Stadium | Albany, NY | |
| 11 | Rio Tinto Stadium | Sandy, UT | |
| 12 | Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium | Denver, CO |
Standings
Expansion Draft
The 2020 expansion draft occurred on February 12 for the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club to build their initial roster. The original 6 Lacrosse Clubs submitted a roster of 11 protected players to the PLL. These 11 players were not be available for selection by the seventh Lacrosse Club in the Expansion Draft. Any player, with the exception of active military members and rookie holdouts, not protected by their club was entered into the pool for selection by the Waterdogs.Format:
- A total of 18 players were selected in the expansion draft
- No more than 4 players could be drafted from an existing Lacrosse Club
- Remaining non-protected players were removed from the expansion draft pool and returned to their original club
| Pick # | Player | Pos. | PLL Team | College |
| 1 | Connor Kelly | Midfield | Whipsnakes | Maryland |
| 2 | Christian Cuccinello | Attack | Archers | Villanova |
| 3 | Brodie Merrill | Defense | Chaos | Georgetown |
| 4 | Charlie Cipriano | Goalie | Chaos | Fairfield |
| 5 | Ben Reeves | Attack | Whipsnakes | Yale |
| 6 | Kyle McClancy | Midfield | Chaos | SUNY Albany |
| 7 | Kieran McArdle | Attack | Atlas | St. John's |
| 8 | Brian Karalunas | Defense | Redwoods | Villanova |
| 9 | Ben McIntosh | Midfield | Archers | Drexel |
| 10 | Drew Snider | Midfield | Whipsnakes | Maryland |
| 11 | Ryan Drenner | Attack | Whipsnakes | Towson |
| 12 | Noah Richard | LSM | Atlas | Marquette |
| 13 | Steven DeNapoli | Midfield | Atlas | Hofstra |
| 14 | Wes Berg | Midfield | Redwoods | Denver |
| 15 | Chris Sabia | Defense | Chrome | Penn State |
| 16 | Ryan Conrad | Midfield | Atlas | Virginia |
| 17 | Dan Eipp | Midfield | Archers | Harvard |
| 18 | Drew Simoneau | Faceoff | Chrome | Nazareth College |
Player Entry Draft
The 2020 player entry draft occurred on March 16 for teams to select players arriving from rival Major League Lacrosse. On March 4, Paul Burmeister and NBCSN hosted an entry draft lottery for selection order. Out of 100 balls to select from, Waterdogs had 40, Chrome had 25, Atlas had 15, Archers had 10, Chaos had 6, Redwoods had 3, and the champion Whipsnakes had 1.Rob Pannell was announced to be transferring to the PLL on March 9, followed by 15 other players the following day, which comprised the selection pool for the entry draft. A total of 14 players were selected in the entry draft with remaining new players entering the league player pool.
| Rnd. | Pick # | PLL Team | Player | Pos. | College |
| 1 | 1 | Waterdogs | Zach Currier | Midfield | Princeton |
| 1 | 2 | Chrome | Jesse Bernhardt | Long Stick Midfield | Maryland |
| 1 | 3 | Atlas | Rob Pannell | Attack | Cornell |
| 1 | 4 | Archers | Eli Gobrecht | Defense | Ithaca |
| 1 | 5 | Whipsnakes | Zed Williams | Midfield | Virginia |
| 1 | 6 | Redwoods | Finn Sullivan | Defense | Hofstra |
| 1 | 7 | Chaos | Dillon Ward | Goalie | Bellarmine |
| 2 | 8 | Waterdogs | Ryland Rees | Long Stick Midfield | Stony Brook |
| 2 | 9 | Chrome | Donny Moss | Defense | Adelphi |
| 2 | 10 | Atlas | Craig Chick | Defense | Lehigh |
| 2 | 11 | Archers | Christian Mazzone | Midfield | Rutgers |
| 2 | 12 | Whipsnakes | TJ Comizio | Midfield | Villanova |
| 2 | 13 | Redwoods | Greg Puskuldjian | Faceoff | Adelphi |
| 2 | 14 | Chaos | Jason Noble | Midfield | Cornell |
College Draft
The 2020 collegiate draft occurred on May 13 after being reschedule due to COVID-19 concerns. The draft was broadcast on NBCSN and featured a condensed format. With many seniors choosing to return to school on an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA and the PLL season being condensed into a prime time tournament, the 2020 draft was conducted through two rounds. All previous draft pick trade rights from the past season were transferred to the 2021 draft.Format:
- Each club is awarded two picks.
- Eligible players must have completed their senior season.
| Rnd. | Pick # | PLL Team | Player | Pos. | College | Conference | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Archers | Grant Ament | Attack | Penn State | Big Ten | |
| 1 | 2 | Atlas | Bryan Costabile | Midfield | Notre Dame | ACC | |
| 1 | 3 | Waterdogs | Michael Kraus | Attack | Virginia | ACC | |
| 1 | 4 | Chrome | Tom Rigney | Defense | Army | Patriot League | |
| 1 | 5 | Chaos | Matt Gaudet | Attack | Yale | Ivy League | |
| 1 | 6 | Redwoods | Peyton Smith | Faceoff | Marist | MAAC | |
| 1 | 7 | Whipsnakes | Sean New | Defense | Holy Cross | Patriot League | |
| 2 | 8 | Waterdogs | Matt DeLuca | Goalie | Delaware | CAA | |
| 2 | 9 | Chrome | Reece Eddy | Defense | Boston | Patriot League | |
| 2 | 10 | Atlas | Aidan Hynes | Defense | Yale | Ivy League | |
| 2 | 11 | Archers | Jack Rapine | Defense | Johns Hopkins | Big Ten | |
| 2 | 12 | Chaos | Jeff Teat | Attack | Cornell | Ivy League | |
| 2 | 13 | Redwoods | Chris Price | Defense | High Point | SoCon | |
| 2 | 14 | Whipsnakes | Matt Hubler | Midfield | Johns Hopkins | Big Ten |
Awards
| Award | Recipient | Team | Position | Ref. |
| Jim Brown Most Valuable Player | ||||
| Eamon McEneaney Attackman of the Year | ||||
| Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year | ||||
| Dave Pietramala Defensive Player of the Year | ||||
| Oren Lyons Goalie Player of the Year | ||||
| Brodie Merrill Long Stick Midfielder of the Year | ||||
| PLL Rookie of the Year | ||||
| Dick Edell Coach of the Year | ||||
| Paul Cantabene Face Off Athlete of the Year | ||||
| George Boiardi Hard Hat Award | ||||
| Welles Crowther Humanitarian Award | ||||
| Brendan Looney Leadership Award | ||||
| Jimmy Regan Teammate Award | ||||
| Dave Huntley Sportmanship Award Award |