National Lacrosse League commissioner Jon Livsey appeared this afternoon on Fan TV, a daily sports newsmagazine which airs on the Empire Sports Network. During the ten-minute segment, Livsey fielded questions on a variety of subjects, but much of the interview was claimed by a discussion of league's future.

In recapping the 1999 season, which Livsey called "a great success," the commissioner emphasized his pleasure in seeing the Toronto Rock sell out the historic Maple Leaf Gardens during their championship run. Livsey was also "pleased with the All-Star Game" held last February in Rochester, in which the league's best Canadians faced off against the top Americans.

Soon, though, the conversation turned to the league's expansion plans, beginning with Livsey's thoughts on the league's newest member, Albany. Citing a "favorable location," as well as the Pepsi Arena and player availability in the region, Livsey appeared quite pleased with the league's decision to expand there.

However, Livsey stated that the league isn't finished with expansion -- perhaps not even done for the upcoming 2000 season. "We certainly want to add more [teams]," he said, adding that decisions on other cities will be made in the next few days. No cities were named as prospective expansion cities, however.

Looking beyond this season, Livsey said the league is "confident we'll be in Chicago in 2001," and fired off Columbus, Cleveland, and Detroit as other expansion possibilities. Due to Toronto's success this season, Livsey said that "there is no lack of interest [for further expansion] in Canada." He also offered the possibility of a western division as soon as 2002 or 2003.

When asked about divisional play, or at least weighting the schedule so that natural rivals play each other more often, Livsey offered that some owners very much favor such a change, and that there have been discussions about separating into two divisions.

An expansion draft is being planned for mid-August, according to Livsey, with the annual amateur draft to follow soon after that. The league will also be working to renew regional broadcast affiliations, so that more games can appear on television. The commissioner added that a schedule for the 2000 season should be released by the middle of September, if not sooner.

Although overly optimistic -- the commissioner insisted that all existing teams were on solid footing and that all seven which appeared in 1999 will return for the coming season, contradicting the popular belief that several are shaky and the rumors that Baltimore may relocate -- Livsey represented the NLL well during the ten-minute interview. His best performance as a salesman came late in the segment, when he reminded the audience that one of the league's best marketing tools is that NLL includes all of the world's top lacrosse players, a claim very few other leagues can make -- and a claim that many fans would like to see the league use more often.