Paul Rabil Discusses Premier Lacrosse League's Plans For A Quarantined Tournament

BOSTON (CBS) -- While the wait will likely continue for baseball, basketball and hockey amid the coronavirus pandemic, America's oldest sport already has an exciting plan in place to return. 

The Premier Lacrosse League was supposed to start its second season Memorial Day weekend at Gillette Stadium. That obviously will not be happening. But there will be lacrosse come July 25, making the PLL the first team sport to announce its return.

And it will do so in a unique and electrifying fashion.

The PLL will return with a quarantined, one-site tournament for its seven teams. All players and essential league personnel will be on site at a mass complex (location still TBD) similar to an Olympic village, where they'll remain throughout the tourney. That also includes talent, reporters and producers covering the event. Everyone will be fed on site, and will be tested before and during the tournament.

League co-founder and former Boston Cannons star Paul Rabil spoke with WBZ-TV's Dan Roche about the tournament, and said that it will have the feel of another famous tournament that grabs the attention of the sporting world every four years.

"It will be like a World Cup where fist half is group play to determine seeding and then second half is a single-elimination tournament," said Rabil, who not only helped found the league but still takes the field for Atlas LC. "We'll have 20 games across 16 days, and then on Aug. 9 crown a champion."

The tournament will air on NBC platforms, and though fans won't be in attendance, Rabil is promising some new and innovative features for those watching from home.

"We're really excited," he said. "There is a lot that goes into the engagement and excitement, and we have the best players in the world competing for a championship. Given that we have one game site in this model and it is fan-less, we'll be deploying new broadcast techniques and some innovation that team sports haven't seen yet. We were the first to mic-up players live and go to hot mics during games last year. We're going to ramp up audio packaging and change camera angles to try to create more of a sense of being on the sideline for fans at home."

A lot of work has gone into planning this tournament. Players and personnel will be tested before they arrive during a one-week training camp, again when they arrive to the site, and then again midway through the tournament. Once everyone gets on site, no one will be allowed to leave and no outsiders will be allowed in. The site will be cleaned throughout, and players not playing in games and operations staff members will wear masks and gloves.

If anyone tests positive at any point on site, the tournament will be shut down and the PLL will deploy its medical strategy to track any potential spread.

It's a very advantageous plan, but one that will have a great payoff. With its small numbers -- roughly 300 players and personnel in the league -- the PLL has an advantage that the major sports leagues don't when it comes to returning to action.

"For leagues of our size, the reason we can do this and why the NBA, MLB and NHL are unable to as a total league is because they have 30-plus teams and their numbers go above 1,000 people," explained Rabil. "There aren't complexes that can fully quarantine and house them. You've heard Vegas and Arizona, other places that can block off an entire strip, but you still have exposure in a public vicinity."

Rabil hopes that the two-week tournament will provide fans a much-needed escape during such a frustrating and difficult time.

"Sports are critical. There is the economic impact they have on our country and getting people back to work," he said. "It's a major workforce and it's important to figure out a path back to work.

"Then there's the emotional side. Sports, as Nelson Mandela said, have the power to change the world. It's a communal and universal language," he continued. "You can communicate through that vessel. It's a topic at the dinner table for families and a lot of athletes are role models for kids. I view getting sports back as vital to a sense of normalcy, but also happiness and excitement that we're desperately seeking."

The PLL has also paired with Genius Sports Group, which will allow betting on the event. He's hoping that, plus potentially having the only game going in the country, will put a lot of new eyeballs on the sport of lacrosse.

"We're, right now, the first team sports league to announce a comeback. It will feel a bit like March Madness, and with sports betting it will feel like March Madness and we'll attract more viewers," he said. "Hopefully that will introduce the game to sport fans who otherwise hadn't seen lacrosse or were familiar with it."