It started with a tongue in cheek comment from Toronto Rock Owner/GM last November stating fear of “World War III“, and now officially, the collective bargaining negotiations between the NLL owners and the NLLPA have led to the first calendar delay in the 2025-26 league calendar.

The start of free agency is being pushed from August 1 to August 15th, as the league posted to their social media channels Tuesday evening.

In a rebuttal to Dawick’s comments in November, NLLPA President Zach Currier and Vice President Reid Reinholdt stated that they would not be negotiating in the media, which has carried on to this summer. During Dawick’s most recent appearance on the Lacrosse Classified Podcast last week, while he did not use the similar doomsday rhetoric of the earlier appearance, he did voice a concern for the lack of urgency from the PA and that a “year off” could be in the cards if the talks don’t pick up and get completed by summer’s end.

All that to say, there isn’t much else to report on the negotiations at the time.

The current expiring CBA was ratified on August 5, 2022, a handful of days following the appointment of Brett Frood as the league’s new commissioner. The negotiations came after the NLLPA opted out of the previous CBA in November 2021, likely to allow for adjustments to the previous agreement after exiting the COVID pandemic, which cancelled the end of the 2019-20 season and all of the 2020-21 season. Between the opt out date and that next agreement, NLL commissioner, Nick Sakiewicz, had stepped down effective immediately on February 23, 2022. He became the Chief Business Officer of the Arizona Coyotes that upcoming March and stayed in the position until September 2023.

The CBA that had been signed in November 2018 signified the last time that the league had a formal work stoppage, with the league cancelling the first two weeks of the 2018-19 season. The first two weeks of the season were ruled cancelled, but given the timing of the resolution, a full 18 game season was still played.

As mentioned, there are not a lot of details out there about the most critical topics of negotiation, but one would have to imagine a lot of the tension comes from both sides trying to navigate the direction of the league not only in the context of franchise instability, with Panther City folding last summer and the Knighthawks still not having an owner, while the future of a few other teams has been pondered from lacrosse talking heads, but also the state of the continental economy causing travel expenses, equipment, etc. to be uncertain due to newer policies (tariffs, etc.). Commercial flights are a large piece of the league’s expense budget, with most players not working as full-time lacrosse players or in-market. Commissioner Frood has said on multiple occasions that the building the stability of the existing franchises is the greatest goal for setting a foundation for further league growth.

More should follow in the coming weeks.

On the state of the Knighthawks, optimism has been reported towards interested potential new owners, but no official reports have been released outside of speculation.