The National Lacrosse League welcomed its eleventh member into the circuit this afternoon, introducing the Vancouver Ravens as the second of perhaps five expansion teams to begin play next season.

The Ravens, owned and operated by Sportsworks Entertainment, will call General Motors Place home and have a strong relationship with arena owner Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment. The principal investors in Sportsworks -- David Stadnyk, Tom Mayenknecht, and Bob Smart -- also own stakes in the Vancouver Breakers and Vancouver Whitecaps soccer teams.

Logo of the expansion Vancouver Ravens.

"When one looks at how strong the history of lacrosse is here in British Columbia, you can understand how excited we are today to continue our aggressive western expansion by awarding a new franchise to Vancouver and to Sportworks Entertainment," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said at today's news conference, held at GM Place.

"We see Vancouver and Calgary as the flagships for our long-term plan to create a solid Western Conference featuring teams from Canada and the United States," continued Jennings, "so it is very gratifying for us to partner with such a strong local ownership group.

"We were very impressed with the vision of Sportworks and the strong local community connections they are already building through their involvement in the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Vancouver Breakers of soccer. Their bid underlined respect for the heritage of lacrosse in British Columbia and the importance of strong, meaningful partnerships with both BC Lacrosse and the Western Lacrosse Association and that made a difference to our Board of Governors."

Mayenknecht cites Jennings as a major factor leading to Sportsworks buying an NLL franchise.

"We were turned on to this opportunity for Vancouver and for British Columbia largely because of the approach that Jim Jennings and the National Lacrosse League are taking in promoting this exciting version of indoor lacrosse," said Mayenknecht, who will serve as the team's governor. "We have seen the success of the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Centre and the Ottawa Rebel at the Corel Centre and we saw a natural fit with General Motors Place and the great tradition of BC lacrosse.

"All of us at Sportworks are committed to the promotion and development of new opportunities in family entertainment and NLL lacrosse certainly fits the bill. It's a fast, exciting game, it looks great on television and it's well-priced for families. We believe it will create significant added value for Vancouver and for BC and we're convinced it will fuel the growth of youth lacrosse in particular and youth sport in general."

The name Ravens is derived from Aboriginal mythology, in which the raven is one of the four dominant symbols. The others -- the Grizzly, the Orca, and the Salmon, which are represented in the names or logos of other Vancouver sports teams.

"Our name pays tribute to the Aboriginals who first brought the game of lacrosse to British Columbia," said Mayenknecht. "There is a great tradition of lacrosse here, and we are proud to open an exciting new chapter in BC's lacrosse history."

The Ravens logo features a black, fierce-looking raven, with a gold beak and a red V on its chest, holding a lacrosse stick. At the bottom of the logo, there is the word "Ravens" in black, with concentric trim in white, red, and black.

Vancouver becomes the second expansion franchise admitted for the 2002 season. The Calgary Roughnecks, owned by Brad Banister and Kevin Melnyk, were accepted late last month.