Each National Lacrosse League team plays 18 games during the regular season. The standard schedule includes 9 home games and 9 away games.
The NLL is a professional indoor, or box, lacrosse league founded in 1986. Its games are played on a compact playing surface, producing a faster and more physical style than outdoor field lacrosse. The regular season generally runs across the winter and early spring, with games commonly scheduled on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The 18-game format has become the league’s modern standard, although the schedule was shorter in earlier eras. Historical NLL seasons included formats ranging from 6 to 16 games before the league reached an 18-game schedule in the 2010s. The 2021 season was cancelled, but the league returned with an 18-game schedule in 2022.
The regular-season record determines playoff seeding. The postseason is separate from those 18 games and leads to the NLL championship series.