Board Member

David Gross
Commissioner
Major League Lacrosse

Commissioner David Gross is about to begin his 12th season at the helm of Major League Lacrosse. During his tenure, he has created a truly national footprint for the league.

Gross first joined Major League Lacrosse with the Boston Cannons before their inaugural season as Vice President & General Manager. After leading that organization for three years, Gross moved to the league office as Chief Operating Officer in December of 2003.

In his first year at the league level, he helped grow attendance by 34 percent. During his tenure, attendance has steadily grown, highlighted by the 27,184 fans who attended the July 3rd game in Denver in 2011, a professional lacrosse record. In July of 2004, Gross was elevated from his position as COO to become MLL’s first-ever Commissioner. As Commissioner, Gross is responsible for the league’s strategic planning and day-to-day operations. He oversees all marketing and public relations efforts, which have increased the league’s brand awareness. Gross handles all budgeting, forecasting, television rights negotiations, special event planning, and business development.

In 2007, Gross negotiated an historic 10-year contract with ESPN, which is the longest commitment given by any television outlet to a lacrosse entity. In 2011, ESPN2 aired six live MLL games including the All-Star Game and Championship Weekend. For the third consecutive year, every game in 2011 was televised and streamed live on ESPN3.com. Recently, Gross has negotiated major broadcasting deals with the CBS Sports Network and YouTube. In 2014, the MLL will air 24 live games on CBS Sports Network, as well as 20 games on ESPN3 and 16 games on YouTube.

Gross has also spearheaded MLL’s expansion initiatives. He oversaw the 2006 expansion and in January 2011, he announced that the Charlotte Hounds and Ohio Machine would join as expansion teams. In November 2013, Gross announced that the MLL would expand to Florida, as the Florida Launch will join play in 2014. Gross has announced expansion plans that will bring the MLL to a total of 16 teams before the end of this decade.

Gross has been active with sponsorship, helping MLL add several partners  to the MLL stable of corporate sponsors.

In 2008, Gross was named President of Lax United Marketing, a sister company to MLL that has the broadcast and digital media rights for the league.