The arrests of the owners of the Buffalo Sabres -- who were charged yesterday in federal court with a multibillion-dollar fraud in the running of Adelphia Communications -- should not affect the team's operations, the National Hockey League commissioner said.

''It's business as usual,'' Commissioner Gary Bettman said, ''and we're urging our fans to continue to buy tickets and keep the team going.''

He will meet today in Buffalo with civic leaders, team management and the news media.

The league took control of the team last month when the owners, John J. Rigas, the chairman of Adelphia, and his sons, Timothy, Michael and James, who each own 25 percent of the Sabres, gave the league their proxy to operate the franchise.

Adelphia is the nation's sixth-largest cable television operator.

John, Timothy and Michael Rigas were charged yesterday with bank and securities fraud; they are accused of, among other things, borrowing more than $2 billion from Adelphia without reporting it to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among those loans were $150 million to buy and operate the Sabres.