Thirteen months after owner Paul Reinhart walked away from the team, there may finally be a buyer for the Vancouver Ravens.

Ravens governor Tom Mayenknecht has sold a majority stake in the team to an Atlanta-based group with ties to Ottawa, the Vancouver Province reported today.

Mayenknecht reclaimed control of the team after the Valentine's Day 2003 ownership crisis, months after selling his stake in the the Ravens to the former NHL defenseman.

A National Lacrosse League conference call was scheduled for this afternoon, at which time the league's Board of Governors was expected to approve the sale.

Without financial backing the past year, the Ravens have struggled to stay alive, missing payroll several times and coming perilously close to running out of money.

"There were a lot of Band-Aid solutions out there," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said, "but we're trying not to put on a Band-Aid. The next move we make with this team will be a long-term solution."

Although Jennings said the Ravens would remain in Vancouver, the "next move" could be to Atlanta itself.

The buzz is that Atlanta Spirit LLC -- close to finalizing its purchase of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, NBA's Atlanta Hawks, and Phillips Arena -- has been looking at buying an expansion franchise.

It appears likely that if an NLL team came to town, Atlanta Spirit would have a role.

It is even possible that the Ravens' new owner, not identified in the Province article, is Spirit itself.

And of course, it's also possible that the Ravens stay in British Columbia and blossom into one of the league's most stable franchises.

That's actually what the league would prefer, with about a quarter of its players coming from the Canadian west coast.

"That's probably why we have more patience," Jennings said. "But it has to be done right so we're not going through this every year."