Buoyed by financing from newly-signed sponsor Reebok, the National Lacrosse League has formed a committee to explore expanding to field lacrosse, with a summer league to launch as soon as 2007.

Little is known of NLL's plans for the outdoor league, such as the number of teams, franchise locations, season length, and whether players would be free to moonlight in other summer action, such as the Canadian box leagues.

"We're going through all the pros and cons," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said. "We think it makes a lot of sense for us from a business standpoint."

"NLL Outdoor," as it might be called, would directly compete with the five-year-old Major League Lacrosse, not only for players but also for markets.

Case in point: Denver. An MLL expansion franchise owned by the Denver Broncos will begin play at Invesco Field at Mile High in 2006.

Of course, there's a rather successful NLL franchise in Denver, and Colorado Mammoth general manager Steve Govett told the Denver Post recently, "If it existed, we will definitely put a team in the NLL Outdoor."

The Mammoth's team would play at Prairie Gateway, the new stadium of the Colorado Rapids soccer team.

The two professional leagues also have Philadelphia and Rochester as common cities, and both would get serious consideration for a spot in NLL's outdoor league.

It is doubtful that two professional field lacrosse teams in the same city (or two professional field lacrosse leagues at all) could co-exist for very long.

Look for a decision on launching the summer league by the end of this year.