The agreement covers this year's World Lacrosse Women's Championship in Townson and Men's Under-21 World Championship in Limerick, as well as the 2023 World Lacrosse Men's Championship in San Diego.

It gives American cable sports channel ESPN broadcasting rights to 246 matches across the three World Championships on its linear network and the ESPN+ streaming service in the United States.

Matches will be shown in more than 170 territories through ESPN International as part of the deal.

The Women's World Championship is scheduled for June 29 to July 9 this year, with 112 matches set to be shown.

This includes six matches on linear channels - hosts and defending champions the US' fixtures against Canada and Australia, the semi-finals and the medal matches.

The 2022 Women's World Championship is set to be only the second edition given linear distribution in the US, following on from the 2005 final.

Twenty-two games from the Men's Under 21 Championship, scheduled for August 10 and 20, are also due to be shown by ESPN.

The event is set to receive linear distribution for the first time, with one semi-final and the gold-medal match featuring on ESPNU in the US.

Plans for the Men's World Championship, scheduled for June 21 to July 1 in the Californian city of San Diego, are to be revealed at a later date.

Lacrosse is aiming for its sixes format to make its debut at the Olympic Games in 2028, which are also due to be held in California in Los Angeles.

Scherr believes coverage gained from the ESPN deal will enhance lacrosse's appeal to the Organising Committee, which is tasked with proposing new sports to be added to the programme.

"This is truly a historic day for World Lacrosse, and the millions of lacrosse players and fans in all corners of the world," Scherr said.

"ESPN is the ideal partner to further showcase our great sport around the globe as we experience exponential growth and interest in the game.

"This unprecedented coverage also provides a significant boost to our Olympic proposal as we seek to gain inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games."

ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions Dan Margulis said that the deal, coupled with its coverage of college lacrosse, "demonstrates our firm commitment to the sport".

Competition is high for additional places at Los Angeles 2028 as a number of sports have already expressed an interest.

These include baseball and softball, cricket, flag football, flying disc, karate, sambo and teqball.

A final decision on the disciplines to be included at Los Angeles 2028 is expected to be made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board next year, with events, quotas and competition formats finalised in 2024 after the Olympics in Paris.

World Lacrosse gained permanent IOC recognition last year.