The National Lacrosse League has announced the playoff format for the 2012 season will remain at eight qualifiers in a single elimination system. New for this year's playoffs is the "Crossover" which will allow the 5th place team in the West Division to take the place of the 4th place team in the East Division if the 5th place team has a better record.  Crossover is also part of the playoff formats in Major League Soccer (MLS) and The Canadian Football League (CFL). 
 
The rest of the playoff format remains unchanged. Playoff games will be hosted by the higher-seeded team. The East and West Division winners will be seeded #1 within their respective divisions. In the first round (Divisional Semifinals), the Division winners will play the 4th seed within their division while the 2nd and 3rd seeds will play each other. 
 
The winners advance to the East and West Division Finals, and the winners of those games advance to the 2012 Championship Game.  The Championship Game will be hosted by the higher overall seeded team.  At the conclusion of the regular season, the eight playoff teams are given an Overall Seeding number (1 through 8) which is used solely to determine home field for the Championship Game. 
 
The 2012 Playoffs will begin after the conclusion of the regular season on Saturday, April 28.