The Pittsburgh CrosseFire have been sold and will move to northern Virginia for the upcoming season, according to sources close to the team.

After a season of poor attendance in the franchise's first year in Pittsburgh and several more in Baltimore before that, team owner Dennis Townsend has had enough and will sell the team to a group led by current CrosseFire star Gary Gait. It is expected that Gait will withdraw from day-to-day operations of the team to focus on playing and to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Gait's minority partners are believed to include equipment manufacturer STX and auto maker Toyota. It is not known if there are additional investors.

The team will now play out of the 10,000-seat Patriot Center, located on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The arena is about a half-hour west of downtown Washington, and it is expected that the District of Columbia will be targeted in team promotions.

Although no decisions have been made on coaching or management roles, it appears that neither general manager Dave Huntley nor head coach John Tucker will be retained for another season. Gait is said to be favoring Canadian talent to coach the team, which is expected to lose little, if any, of its core roster from the 2000 campaign.

It also remains undecided at this time whether the name CrosseFire will be retained or replaced, or whether the team's location designation will be "Northern Virginia," "Washington," or "D.C."

From 1987 to 1999, the CrosseFire were known as the Baltimore Thunder. Poor attendance and rising expenses forced Townsend to relocate to Pittsburgh for this past season.