Premier Lacrosse League Introduces New In-Game Interview Format And Every Sport Should Follow

The Premier Lacrosse League hasn’t been around for long, but it’s already introduced an on-air feature that other sports should jump on ASAP.

During the PLL’s debut game on NBC between the Atlas and Chaos, Kieran McArdle scored a nice goal on an upper-left, low-to-high rip. What was unique about this moment, however, was directly after the goal, McArdle was interviewed by the booth announcers and discussed how the play unfolded while he was still on the field. He had an earpiece in and was mic’d up too. Skip ahead to 35 seconds into the video for the interview.

It’s hard to compare a start-up sports league like the PLL to a behemoth like the NFL, but who wouldn’t want to hear from Tom Brady right after he threw a touchdown in the Super Bowl? Of course, that would never happen, but maybe the NFL can do more of it in the preseason. They already interview players on the sideline during that time, but something about the timeliness of this interview coupled with the earpiece and mic made it feel special and different.

The NBA currently interviews coaches during the game, but with the exception of Gregg Popovich, name another in-game interview during an NBA game that you remember. The MLB, similarly, interviews managers, position coaches and occasionally players during all-star game moments, but nothing like this.

Don’t expect to see players being interviewed mid-game in the big leagues soon, but if the PLL has taught us one thing so far it’s a new league can create buzz by introducing new ideas to the broadcast game.