The Buffalo Bandits are a team in the National Lacrosse League

National Lacrosse League

The National Lacrosse League is a men's professional indoor lacrosse league in North America. It currently has nine teams; three in Canada and six in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring. Each year, the playoff...

 (NLL). They play at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992

1992 MILL season

-Awards:-All-Pro Teams:First Team:*Gary Gait, Detroit*Paul Gait, Detroit*Dave Pietramala, Pittsburgh*Rick Sowell, Baltimore*John Tucker, Philadelphia*Sal LoCascio, New York Second Team:*Jeff Jackson, Baltimore*Derek Keenan, Buffalo...

 to 1997

1997 MILL season

-Awards:-Weekly Awards:Each week, a player is awarded "Player of the Week" honours.-Monthly Awards:An award is also given out monthly for the best overall player.-All-Pro Teams:First Team:*Gary Gait, Philadelphia*Paul Gait, Rochester...

, until the MILL turned into the NLL in 1998

1998 NLL season

Before the 1998 season, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League was renamed to be the National Lacrosse League, in the process increasing the length of the regular season from ten to twelve games. The first season as the NLL began on January 3, 1998 and concluded with the second championship game on April...

.

The Bandits are owned by Hockey Western New York LLC, the consortium led by Terrence Pegula

Terrence Pegula

Terrence M. "Terry" Pegula is an American businessman. Pegula founded East Resources, a natural gas drilling company, before selling the company to Royal Dutch Shell for approximately $4.7 billion....

 that also owns the Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...

.

The Bandits played their first season in 1992. They played home games at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium was an indoor arena in downtown Buffalo, New York. It hosted the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL, the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, the Buffalo Braves of the NBA, the Buffalo Stallions of MSL, the Buffalo Bandits of MILL, the Buffalo Blizzard of the second NPSL and the Buffalo...

 sharing with the Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...

 until its closure in 1996.

The Bandits became the first expansion franchise

Expansion team

An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...

 in MILL/NLL history to win a championship in its first season.