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NLL, Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz Looking To Build On Momentum With League Expansion

There have been "signs of success" for the NLL and second-year Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz this season, and the league's "topic number one" is expansion, according to Budd Bailey of the BUFFALO NEWS. The NLL has teams in nine cities, five in the U.S., but "most of the continent's major metropolitan areas are not represented." Sakiewicz said, "I've focused my time on expansion and getting more teams in the league. We're talking to over 30 markets, and pretty seriously with four or five of them." Sakiewicz has "tried to find ownership for new teams from a pool of other sports franchises, such as NHL or NBA teams." Bailey noted the NLL "took a step forward in the offseason when no teams moved or folded." Sakiewicz: "It's no secret that we've been in a lot of cities for a season or two. That's not good. We've relocated teams far too often. People that run NHL and NBA teams want to make sure of that stability." Bailey noted a number of cities have been "mentioned for an expansion team," including Edmonton, Boston and N.Y. Sakiewicz said that Philadelphia also is "one of the cities on the top of a wish list" after losing its team following '14. Sakiewicz said of the Philly market, "That (is) the league's home now (the NLL office moved there in the offseason), so we want to have a team there." Meanwhile, the NLL has signed sponsorship deals with Under Armour and New Balance in the past six months. The league has also "built a direct consumer database of almost one million names; the list was only at 4,000 a year ago." NLLTV.com has been launched and has 12,000 accounts. Season-ticket sales also were up 20%, and attendance is up 10% compared to a year ago (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/22).

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