On December 9, 2010, Commissioner David Gross, announced that in February 2011, there would be two expansion teams created for the 2012 MLL Season.
There were nineteen sites identified as potential markets including Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Later on January 21, 2011, Commissioner David Gross announced that Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio, had been approved as expansion teams for the 2012 season.
Gross also announced that with the adding of two more teams, (to bring the total to eight) the league will return to a fourteen-game season in 2012.
The 2011 New Balance MLL Championship Weekend took place on Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28 at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland during Hurricane Irene.