Game

Main article: Box lacrosse

The version of lacrosse played in the NLL is "box lacrosse" otherwise known as "indoor lacrosse". The NLL plays four 15-minute quarters with 2-minute breaks between the 1st and 2nd quarters and between the 3rd and 4th quarters (with a 12-minute break between the 2nd and 3rd quarters referred to as "half-time").^[4] The clock does not run when play is stopped. The team that has scored the most goals at the end of regulation time is declared the winner. If a game is tied after regulation, the two teams play sudden death overtime periods of up to 15 minutes each where the next team to score wins the game.^[5] Each team dresses 18 players of whom 2 are goaltenders; the remaining 16 are called "runners".

Season and playoffs

Each team in the NLL plays 18 games during the regular season, 9 at home and 9 away.^[6] The teams are divided into 2 divisions: the East Division and the West Division. Each team plays at least 12 of its 18 regular season games against division opponents.
The regular season begins in late December and ends in April. At the end of the regular season, the top 3 teams in each of the East Division and West Division make the playoffs to compete for the Champion's Cup. The 2 regular season division champions earn a first-round bye as top seeds. The 2nd seed hosts the 3rd seed in their respective division for the single-game elimination Division Semifinal in the 1st round.
In 2014, the Division Finals and Championship expanded to a 2-game series from the previous single-game elimination setup. The top seed from each division played the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the 2nd and 3rd seeds with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. Whoever won both games would win the 2-game series. In the event of a series split with both teams winning one game, a 10-minute mini-game period would be played; if still tied, multiple 10-minute overtime periods thereafter, until one team scores. The mini-game was played immediately following the conclusion of the second contest to determine the winner of the playoff series.^[7]
In 2015, the playoff format changed once again, expanding the Finals to a best-of-3 series. The first two playoff rounds remained the same, with the Division Semi-finals as a single-game elimination, and the Division Finals as a best-of-2 plus a tie-breaking mini-game if necessary.^[8]
All NLL games are played on weekends, save for the occasional Friday night game.^[9] Most NLL players have full-time jobs off the floor; notable examples include Toronto's Dan Ladouceur, a Durham Region police officer,^[10] and Buffalo's John Tavares, a high school teacher in Mississauga, Ontario.^[11]

Current league structure

The National Lacrosse League currently plays an 18-game regular season with three teams from each division qualifying for postseason play. The second and third seed in each division meet in a divisional semifinal game, and the winner meets the first seed in the division finals. The divisional champions then meet in the Champions Cup final for the league title. The league previously held a mid-season All Star Game; this was discontinued following the 2012 season.
The average salary as of the 2013 season was $19,135.^[12] The maximum salary for a franchise player is approximately $34,000.^[13]

Current teams

Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined	Head Coach
East
	Buffalo Bandits	Buffalo, NY	KeyBank Center	19,070	1991	1992	Troy Cordingley
	Georgia Swarm	Duluth, GA	Infinite Energy Arena	11,355	2004*	2015	Ed Comeau
	New England Black Wolves	Uncasville, CT	Mohegan Sun Arena	7,700	1987*	2014	Glenn Clark
	Rochester Knighthawks	Rochester, NY	Blue Cross Arena	10,664	1995	1995	Mike Hasen
	Toronto Rock	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	18,819	1998	1998	Matt Sawyer
West	Calgary Roughnecks	Calgary, AB	Scotiabank Saddledome	19,289	2001	2001	Curt Malawsky
	Colorado Mammoth	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center	18,007	1987*	2003	Pat Coyle
	Saskatchewan Rush	Saskatoon, SK	SaskTel Centre	15,100	2005*	2015	Derek Keenan
	Vancouver Stealth	Langley, BC	Langley Events Centre	5,276	2000*	2013	Jamie Batley

An asterisk (*) denotes the franchise moved to its present location and has been in one or more previous locations in its history.