National Lacrosse League Director of Lacrosse Operations & Player Personnel Jim Cahill recently released the following eligibility guidelines for next month's NLL Draft, which is tentatively scheduled for 14 September:

For U.S. players:

1. No previous NLL/MILL experience.

2. Player must have completed his NCAA college lacrosse eligibility or has decided not to play college lacrosse, to enter the draft.

3. Player can actively attend college courses at local university or college and enter the draft. (NOTE: player must have completed number 2 to be eligible)

4. No individual enrolled at a U.S. college or university with the intention of playing lacrosse can be drafted or otherwise signed as a free agent by a National Lacrosse League member club. Further, any individual who has entered a U.S. college or university with the intention of playing lacrosse who leaves school for any reason during that school year is not eligible to play in the National Lacrosse League until the commencement of the succeeding season, at which time he will become eligible for the draft.

For Canadian players:

1. No previous NLL/MILL experience.

2. Players must be entering their last year of junior lacrosse to be eligible (to mean, players born in 1978 or earlier).

3. Players who go away to a U.S. university or college must have completed his NCAA college lacrosse eligibility or has decided not to play college lacrosse, to enter the draft.

4. Player can actively attend college courses at local university or college and enter the draft. (NOTE: player must have completed numbers 2 and 3 to be eligible)

5. No individual enrolled at a U.S. college or university with the intention of playing lacrosse can be drafted or otherwise signed as a free agent by a National Lacrosse League member club. Further, any individual who has entered a U.S. college or university with the intention of playing lacrosse who leaves school for any reason during that school year is not eligible to play in the National Lacrosse League until the commencement of the succeeding season, at which time he will become eligible for the draft.

The draft will be nine rounds and the order of selection for the first round (only) is currently as follows:

The announced draft order, as well as preliminary season ticket bills sent out by several teams, implies that there will be no new teams and that the Boston Blazers will not be returning. However, anything is possible with the NLL, so nothing is out of the question.

This article was amended 01 September 1998 to correct NLL error of citing Baltimore with a first-round pick.