The last time the league added expansion franchises before Sakiewicz took over as commissioner was in 2007, when the Chicago Shamrox and the New York Titans joined the league. Starting with the 2008 season, the league saw continued consolidation, with the league going from 13 teams in 2007 to nine teams in 2012. Under his watch, the NLL has grown back to 13 teams, and Sakiewicz has repeatedly stated his intention to grow the league by two teams per year to eventually reach 20-30 teams. Sakiewicz' biggest initiative for expansion franchises is to get what he calls "blue-chip owners" in the league, with teams who have favorable arena deals and to be in a good sports and entertainment market. The first team to be announced as an expansion franchise was the San Diego Seals on August 30, 2007. Joseph Tsai, co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Group, was announced as the ownership group. Two weeks later, on September 14, 2017, the NLL awarded an expansion franchise to Comcast Spectacor to return the Wings to Philadelphia. Tsai and Comcast each paid a reported $5 million for their expansion franchises. On September 13, 2018, Sakiewicz announced that the Rochester KnightHawks would be moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia for the 2019-2020 season. Rochester will be awarded an expansion franchise under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula, who also own the Buffalo Bandits. On December 11, 2018, Sakiewicz announced that New York would be awarded an expansion franchise to begin play during the 2019-2020 season. The team will play at the newly renovated NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and will be owned by live events and sports media entertainment company GF Sports Sakiewicz also oversaw the sale and move of the Vancouver Stealth from previous owner, Denise Watkins, to the Canucks Sports & Entertainment group. The Stealth moved from Langley Events Centre to the Rogers Arena and were rebranded as the Vancouver Warriors, starting with the 2018-2019 season. On February 23, 2022, the NLL announced that Sakiewicz "has decided to leave his current position (as NLL Commissioner) to pursue other interests but will continue to advise the league until June 30, 2022". References External links Nick Sakiewicz official website Philadelphia Union bio 1961 births Living people American people of Polish descent American people of Ukrainian descent American soccer players American Professional Soccer League players Association football goalkeepers Tampa