Nobody will be surprised at NLL Commissioner John Livsey's upcoming departure from the office has held since the league's formation in July 1997. After all, Livsey is leading the ownership group for the expansion Columbus franchise that will begin play in 2001. However, Livsey is far from the only league official leaving town -- and perhaps not even the league office itself will stay.

In addition to Livsey, the Columbus franchise (unnamed so far) will have the services of Jeff Hall, the NLL's Vice President of Marketing and Sales since October 1997. Prior to his appointment to the league office, Hall served since May 1993 as Assistant Director of Marketing for the NFL's Buffalo Bills, where he worked under Livsey. Hall has been with the league office longer than anyone other than Livsey and Bruce Wawrzyniak, Vice President of Media Relations.

Wawrzyniak himself is not sticking around the league offices. He is stepping down to take a position in Jacksonville, Florida. Before Wawrzyniak became the first employee hired by the NLL, he served concurrently as Public Relations Director for the Buffalo Bandits and Director of Information for the NHL's Buffalo Sabres for over a half a decade.

Now that the league office's connections to Buffalo sports teams -- and more importantly, to Buffalo's media -- have all departed, the importance of having the league office there has diminished greatly. The league owners are considering several new locations, with New York City among them, according to a report by Tom Borrelli in today's Buffalo News.

It is not known whether Barry Powless, Vice President of Lacrosse Operations; Ron Wicks, Director of Officials; or Leif Elsmo, Director of Broadcasting, will continue working in the league office, although there is nothing yet to suggest that they would also leave.