Move over, Edmonton -- you've got company.

Groups representing Denver, Winnipeg, and the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut have all stepped forward looking to purchase the troubled Washington Power and relocate the team by next season, the Edmonton Sun reports.

Those three cities join Edmonton in vying for the Power. In the City of Champions, officials representing the Skyreach Centre are attempting to reassemble the team of investors which tried unsuccessfully to win an expansion franchise last spring.

"We're in a critical situation and we need to figure out what the next step is and what the future of the franchise might hold," Power vice president and general manager Steve Govett said. "Edmonton is one of several options."

The difference between Edmonton and the three "new" cities is simple -- the other groups appear ready to bid on the franchise.

Still, that might not necessarily leave Edmonton behind the eight ball.

"It really comes down to the quality of the deal," Govett explained. "It's not necessarily the dollar amount but it's the quality and how it's going to play itself out over the course of the next couple of months.

"Life is much easier when there's three or four offers on the table rather than one. Our situation is to find the best-possible scenario for us with the [NLL's] blessing. "

Prior commissioner approval for professional indoor lacrosse likely will factor into deciding which bid is best, and Edmonton is the only candidate known to have the Jim Jennings seal of approval.

Edmonton's strong desire to bring in a team will also play a factor.

"If an Edmonton group puts something together to get a deal done, there's a very good possibility that we'll have a team next year," said Northlands Park sales manager Duane Vienneau.

Northlands, which operate the Skyreach Centre, is trying to rebuild the expansion group from earlier this season.

"If the purchase doesn't happen," Vienneau said, "the league will concentrate on expansion in the U.S. and the future for professional lacrosse will be bleak for the next two or three years locally."

Looking at a potential sale price, Govett speculates that if the Power wasn't in the type of trouble it's in now, a $3 million price could be had.

However, the Power is not a solid franchise right now and debt assumption, much like how the Montreal Express was created from part of the Columbus Landsharks last June, could drive down the final price considerably, perhaps even below the current expansion franchise fee of $1 million.

In the meantime, it's business as unusual in Landover, MD, where Govett and his staff must sell boxla on a city that doesn't seem to care, just to stop team owner Steve Comiskey's wallet from hemorrhaging.

"We were hoping to be able to make it work in the Capital Centre from game to game based on ticket sales," Govett said. However, sales for the two home games thus far have fallen well short of expectations.

The Power's season ticket base is around 1,000, with about as many walk-up sales for the games on 1 December and 15 December. Numbers like that, if extended through the balance of the eight-game home schedule, would be among the worst in league history.

However, there's not a lot Comiskey and Govett can do except tough it out and hope for the best.

"What the (pending sale) does to our ticket sales," Govett says, "the people in this market don't care anyway. We're obligated to finish the season in Washington and we'll do that."