The Columbus Landsharks will move to Phoenix for the upcoming 2004 season, the team announced at a press conference late this afternoon.

Among the notables in attendance were NLL commissioner Jim Jennings and Phoenix Coyotes managing partner Wayne Gretzky, whose team has purchased an undisclosed percentage of the Landsharks.

"This is a great day for the sports fans of the Valley of the Sun, the entire state of Arizona and the NLL," Jennings said. "We have moved into another successful National Hockey League market, and formed a partnership with the Phoenix Coyotes."

"The Coyotes are moving into a beautiful new arena, and they are taking us with them," the commissioner added. "We are very excited to work with the Phoenix Coyotes and Coyotes Hockey, LLC and look forward to a great future in Glendale.

"When we started our relocation efforts, [the] Phoenix metropolitan area was one of the first targeted areas to move a team to."

Coyotes co-owner Steve Ellman, like owners in other brand-new NLL cities, emphasized lacrosse's growth across the United States.

"We are extremely excited to bring the NLL to the Phoenix market and specifically Glendale and the West Valley," Ellman said. "In the past few years, the sport of lacrosse has grown substantially throughout the United States and Canada, particularly on the west coast with new franchises in Anaheim and San Jose and one of the NLL’s most successful franchises in Denver."

The Landsharks are the third NLL club to relocate this offseason. The Albany Attack moved to San Jose in June, and the New Jersey Storm shifted to Anaheim in July.

Like the California clubs, Phoenix is launching a name-the-team contest, running through 19 September. The winner will receive a pair of season tickets, a trip to see the team at a road game, and a team-autographed jersey.

The team will play at the new Glendale Arena in suburban Glendale, Arizona. Now in the final stages of construction, the $210 million arena opens right after Christmas -- just in time for the start of the NLL season.

Ellman suggested that Glendale Arena's first event would be a lacrosse game on 26 December, although that's dependent on how the NLL's schedule shakes out. The much-anticipated schedule is due out next week.

Arizona Lacrosse (the team will identify itself by state instead of city) has launched a web site, arizonalax.com, complete with all the usual start-up features, such as a section on the history of lacrosse.

The site also lists ticket prices, which range from $12 for end zone accomodations up to $35 for seats behind the benches. All season tickets will be discounted, though, cutting the prices down to a range of $10 to $30.