WWE And Kevin Durant Invest In New Sports League

WWE and Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures are getting into the world of professional lacrosse, and they're doing it together.

According to Bloomberg, the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) received a new round of funding, and WWE & Durant were reportedly amongst the investors. While no numbers were provided, this round of investment earned twice the amount of the last round, which took place in June 2021.

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After purchasing Major League Lacrosse in 2020, the PLL is currently in its fourth season and is the only professional lacrosse league in the country. The latest round of investments was led by The Chernin Group, an investment firm that was founded in 2018 by Peter Chernin, former president and COO of News Corp. and producer of the popular "Planet of the Apes" franchise, as well as the Academy Award-winning film "Ford v. Ferrari."

According to PLL President Paul Rabil, the latest round of investing was intended to help the company "[get] out in front of the opportunity to grow the sport internationally," with the hopes of making lacrosse an Olympic sport. The league recently signed a media rights deal with ESPN, hoping to "punch through the ceiling of casual sports fans," according to Chernin.

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The league recently held their all-star game in Boston, MA, where the team led by Trevor Baptiste trounced the team led by Connor Farrell 33-13. The league is set to resume its regular season on July 23rd.

The full nature of WWE's interest in PLL is unclear, but the league could potentially provide a well of athletes for WWE to pull from, as the company recently began focusing on developing athletes into sports entertainers, instead of drawing from the independent wrestling scene. WWE is set to hold another round of tryouts during SummerSlam weekend in Nashville.

Thirty Five Ventures was founded by Durant in 2017 and produced the Academy Award-winning short film "Two Distant Strangers."

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