Albany has been awarded a professional indoor lacrosse team, starting next January, but ownership of the team is still up for grabs.

The National Lacrosse League approved expansion into Albany in a unanimous vote of the league's board of governors last week at the league meetings in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Albany will begin play at Pepsi Arena in the 2000 season, when the league expands from its current seven teams.

But ownership must be resolved first. Two bidders -- one foreign and one local -- are competing for the Albany franchise.

A Canadian group, led by law firm partners John Zuber, Ernie Coetzee and James Smith, made its presentation to the lacrosse league Wednesday night.

The other possible owner, Albank CEO Herb Chorbajian, was scheduled to make his presentation Thursday.

The owner must pay a $250,000 fee to enter the league.

"The sooner a group can be chosen, the more beneficial it's going to be," said Bruce Wawrzyniak, the lacrosse league's vice president for public relations. He added that he expects the league to settle on an owner by the end of June, at the latest.

Zuber, one of the Canadian investors, said that finances, connection to the community and sports experience will be factors the league will use to determine the owner.

Local connections obviously favor Chorbajian, the Albany banker, but the Canadian group has prior experience running a professional team -- the Phoenix Roadrunners, an International Hockey League team that currently has suspended operations and is looking for a new home.

Pepsi Arena general manager Bob Belber said that Spectacor Management, the company that manages the arena, had a representative at the lacrosse league meetings. But Belber said he didn't know which owner would get the nod.

If it seems strange that the National Lacrosse League would choose a city before determining an owner, Belber said it indicates that both owners have very strong bids, thus the league would consider the franchise in good hands regardless of which owner gets it.

Wawrzyniak, the league spokesman, said Albany was chosen as an expansion site because of the area's large population, because Pepsi Arena is a suitable facility and because there is a decent talent base to draw from with nearby Siena College and Skidmore College.

In addition, he said the league's board of governors was impressed by the fact that the Arena Football League's Albany Firebirds, another Pepsi Arena tenant, draw good crowds.

The Albany team will be stocked partly with local college players and through an expansion draft in which Albany will select players from other teams' rosters, according to Wawrzyniak.

Teams played a 12-game regular-season schedule last season that started in January and lasted through April, with teams playing only on weekends. The schedule could grow as the league adds more teams. Boston, Detroit, Montreal and Ottawa also have been mentioned as possible expansion sites for next season.