Lacrosse in different cities, flying into town for games. Canadians and Native Americans make up over 90% of the players. The NLL started in 1987 as the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League. Teams in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Baltimore and Washington, DC, played a 6-game season. The league operated as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1989 to 1997, when there were six teams playing a 10-game schedule. The current NLL name began in the 1998 season, which included the first Canadian team. The most successful franchises have been the Toronto Rock and the now-defunct Philadelphia Wings, each has won six championships.
Box lacrosse in unused hockey rinks. Canadians adopted the new version of the sport quickly. Eventually, it became the more popular version of the sport in Canada, supplanting field lacrosse. The form was also adopted as the primary version of the game played on Native American reservations in the US and Canada by Iroquois and other Native peoples. It is the only sport in which the American indigenous people are sanctioned to compete internationally, participating as the Iroquois Nationals. However, many field lacrosse enthusiasts viewed the new version of the sport with negativity. The first professional box lacrosse games were held in