SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen is convinced the NFL needs a team in the Los Angeles area. Where and when remain the multimillion dollar questions.

Bowlen and NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue were among league officials who held a luncheon meeting Thursday with Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, other city officials and Orange County business leaders. The previous evening, they dined with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and businessmen from that city.

The two mayors and their cities are competing to bring an NFL team back to the area, abandoned after the 1994 season when the Raiders left the Los Angeles Coliseum for Oakland and the Rams departed Anaheim for St. Louis.

Bowlen said the proposals by both Anaheim and Los Angeles are very attractive. The league is allotting each city $5 million to explore, among other things, how much financial support businesses might provide toward defraying the cost of a new stadium.

The NFL would finance the construction at either site, with cost estimates between $650 million to $850 million.

``I wouldn't say this one's better or that one's better,'' Bowlen said of the proposals. ``I don't have any choices in mind. I clearly think we've got two very viable alternatives here.''

There is no timetable for a decision, and Tagliabue said the league intends to be thorough in its evaluation process because ``we are looking at investing multiple millions of dollars.''

Leaders in both Anaheim and Los Angeles understand the process won't be rushed, the commissioner said.

The Anaheim proposal would involve having a new stadium built in a parking lot near Angel Stadium, where the American League's Angels play. Under Los Angeles' plan, a stadium would be built near downtown, inside the existing shell of the aging Coliseum.

Bowlen said there were different considerations in both proposals. Building a new stadium on a ``clean site'' like the area around Angel Stadium would be easier than the job at the existing Coliseum, Bowlen said, adding, ``But Los Angeles is Los Angeles.''

Pringle said the meeting with Tagliabue and the others was very productive and that he believed the league officials got an idea of the potential support they could expect from the area's business leaders.

Although Anaheim will continue to woo the NFL, the city council earlier this month decided to explore other options for the land parcel that would be used for a stadium. That process is expected to take up to six months.

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