BUFFALO, N.Y. -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will update the league's board of governors on the future of the financially troubled Buffalo Sabres when it meets Thursday in Toronto.

There is no motion on the agenda for the board to take action regarding the team's future. The NHL could choose to take control of the franchise, a move that would help clear the way for the Sabres to be sold.

"On the agenda, there is an item that the board of governors will be updated as to the situation concerning the league and the Buffalo Sabres,'' said NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur. "But there's no motion for action."

The Sabres have been in limbo for the past two months because of the financial problems of owner John Rigas, whose fortune was tied to the debt-ridden Adelphia Communications Corp., the nation's sixth-largest cable company.

Rigas operated the Sabres separately from Adelphia but used company money toward the purchase of the team. The Sabres reportedly owe Adelphia as much as $150 million, making it the team's largest creditor.

A group of mostly local investors has spent the past month forming in hopes of buying the Sabres and keeping them in Buffalo. Mark Hamister, who owns the Arena Football League's Buffalo Destroyers, has been identified as the group's catalyst.

Brendan McDaniels, a spokesman for Hamister, declined comment Tuesday.

Thursday's board of governors meeting comes a week after Bettman met with Adelphia executives, in part to clarify the company's stake in the team.

The NHL could opt to take over temporary control of the Sabres to protect the league's rights in the event Adelphia or Rigas declares bankruptcy. Such a takeover would also help ensure a smoother sale should a buyer emerge.

The NHL's action to take over a franchise is not without precedent.

In 1983, the league took control of the St. Louis Blues, whose owner -- Ralston Purina -- was rejected by the NHL in a bid to sell the team to a group interested in moving the franchise to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The NHL ruled that Ralston Purina had abandoned the Blues when the company padlocked the team's arena and failed to participate in the league's draft. Soon after, the Blues were sold to Harry Ornest.

And in 1999, the league submitted a bankruptcy reorganization plan to protect the faltering Pittsburgh Penguins in case a bid by Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux failed. Under the league's proposal, the franchise would have been sold for $85 million and relocated. Strongly supportive of Lemieux's bid, the board of governors eventually approved his plan to buy and keep the team in Pittsburgh.