The National Lacrosse League has been described at times as a three-ring circus.

Now, it's been evicted by an actual three-ring circus (insert your own clown joke here).

The Rochester Knighthawks, by virtue of their league-best 14-2 record in the regular season, had earned the right to host the NLL Championship Game on Saturday, 12 May, at Blue Cross Arena.

However, the arena was previously booked for three shows that day by the Ringling Brothers circus. NLL, with commitments to sponsors and to American television carrier Versus, could not reschedule the game.

Further heightening the drama, the league -- perhaps hoping the problem would resolve itself with a Rochester loss in the Eastern Division playoffs -- would not make a final decision on where to host the game until after the participants were decided.

That decision came this afternoon, by vote of the league's Board of Governors; they decided to allow the Western Division champion Arizona Sting to host the game at Jobing.com Arena.

"We're thrilled that the championship game will be held in Glendale," Sting general manager and head coach Bob Hamley said. "Our fans have been very supportive of us over the years and we’re very happy that we’ll get a chance to play for the title for them at home."

According to a report on the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle web site, Knighthawks owner Steve Donner proposed playing the game at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, but that idea was shot down.

If Arizona also had a scheduling conflict, it might have been a popular idea with the governors, since Toronto is one of the few NLL cities which could draw a decent crowd for a game not involving the hometown team.

However, there are no scheduling obstructions in Glendale, and so the show will go on there.

"It’s crushing," Donner said. "It’s disappointing for our players and coaches, they earned that right. It was put to a vote and we lost it fair and square, but I don’t agree with the decision and our players and fans are being cheated out of something we earned."