Yesterday, we got a little peek behind the PLL roster management curtain. Or, perhaps it is just the first time we noticed these things.
At 1:46PM, the league account tweeted that Austin Staats had been reinstated to the Chaos' 25 man roster.
At 3:28PM, the Chaos announced Staats was on the gameday roster.
At 9:09PM, the Chaos shared a photo of Staats at practice in Charlotte.
This gives us some insight into the gameday roster selection process.
Were you aware of this?
Is this how they have always done things?
The gameday roster is set before the teams arrive for pregame practice. Staats must have been on his way to Charlotte before they had publicly announced his return.
At some point during the week, the roster is determined. That sounds like it could be really difficult to crack a game day roster.
Perhaps the reserve rostered players travel in case of an injury during practice. It may mean that the non game day rostered players don't travel at all. If the non rostered players aren't traveling at all that is a way for the league to save money. If they are saving money in this manner, expansion sounds further off than Lax Twitter would like to believe.
How the bubble roster players play their way onto a roster sounds increasingly difficult.
It is a very interesting twist to roster management. A former MLL coach told us it is a major difference between the MLL and PLL. He said, "I don't know what that day time is but it's in advance."
This makes sense because you have so many moving pieces in terms of travel. Every weekend is a new location. You have to give the players time to make their plans.
You really have to know what buttons you are pressing as the head coach because unlike say the NHL, you aren't getting the benefit of a morning skate before setting your line up.
For the last week, we've been asking for the league to put a camera in front of the coaches to make them do a pregame press conference announcing their gameday roster and explaining their choices. Given that the roster is set say by Wednesday they should have ample time to film a ten minute press conference or at the very least record an interview that is then transcribed to text.
More Chaos News
Did you see that news from Quint?
Towers over Gait was a gigantic win for the PLL.
Despite not having an updated bio picture, Towers is one of the biggest stars in the league.
To be fair, the PLL hasn't posted photos of any of their coaches. Weird, but they have had minor trouble with their website for what feels like since the dawn of the league.
Did you watch any Syracuse games this spring?
ESPN cameramen treated Petro like he was still the head coach. Gait, an exceptional player, doesn't have the sideline bravado of Towers who absolutely loves the camera.