The National Hockey League will operate the Buffalo Bandits until the team can be sold, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday.

The NHL currently controls the Bandits because it also is running the Buffalo Sabres hockey team. Both clubs are owned by Niagara Frontier Hockey LLP and run by John J. Rigas, but were put in the NHL's trust as Rigas' legal troubles increased.

The criminal and civil complaints against Rigas reached a new peak Wednesday when the 77-year-old founder of Adelphia Communications was arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy and several counts of fraud.

Rigas, his sons, and several other former Adelphia executives are accused of misusing company funds for personal use and of trying to keep the expenditures off the company ledger.

Bettman's responsibility is to operate the Sabres and to locate a buyer for the teams. In the meantime, because the Sabres own the Bandits, Bettman is expanding his role into the box.

"We've told the National Lacrosse League that the Bandits will be playing [the 2002-03 season] as well," the commissioner said.

"And that's a decision that, obviously, we had to make. But, again, it's another indication that it's business as usual in Buffalo."

To those around the NLL, the decision didn't seem so obvious. When the Sabres were handed over to the league, it wasn't clear that the Bandits would follow along.

Bettman, though, pointed to the ownership structure and the fact that many Sabres sponsorship deals include the Bandits.

"The hockey team has the rights to run the building, and the hockey team owns the Bandits," Bettman said. "So that package is there."

Bandits general manager Kurt Silcott was pleased with the announcement.

"It's nice to hear it officially from his [Bettman's] mouth," Silcott said. "I've been saying "yes' along the way, that we'd be playing this season, but it's great that any internal worries have been taken away."

"Things won't change at all as far as I'm concerned... It'll be just like past years. We've submitted a budget and been told to stick to that budget. It's a matter of doing things the same way."

Bettman said that five groups had shown interest in buying the Sabres, and thus the Bandits as well, but refused to identify them. However, the leader appears to be Mark Hamister, owner of the Arena Football League's Buffalo Destroyers.

Also believed to be in the running are Sherry Bassin, general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Erie Otters, and Frank DuRoss, a Utica, NY businessman who also owns the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins.

If DuRoss' name sounds familiar, that's because it should -- he acquired the Boston Blazers when the Major Indoor Lacrosse League became the National Lacrosse League in July 1997. However, the Blazers suspended operations by the end of that year, and DuRoss eventually lost the rights to the Blazers franchise.