This article is from AP/CNNSI, from 01/28/2003

Expos suitors meet with baseball officials

Posted: Tuesday January 28, 2003 1:32 PM


NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball officials began meeting Tuesday with representatives from three U.S. areas that want to lure the Expos from Montreal.

Discussions focused on stadium financing and how fast the areas -- Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia -- could put in place plans to host the Expos in 2004.

Portland Mayor Vera Katz led her city's delegation Tuesday. District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams was to meet at the commissioner's office later in the day, and Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore was to head the Northern Virginia delegation Wednesday.

Katz said she believes baseball wants to make a decision by the end of the summer and that the groups will be invited back for more formal presentations in 6-to-8 weeks.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his chief deputy, Bob DuPuy, did not attend the meetings, which were described as "get-to-know-each-other" sessions.

Baseball wanted to hear how quickly Portland could put financing in place for a new ballpark and the timeline for getting PGE Park ready for major league play. PGE Park, the 19,566-seat home of the Class AAA Portland Beavers, would be the Expos' temporary home until a new stadium is built.

"This can't be done if it involves raising income taxes, involves raising property taxes," said David Kahn, the former Indiana Pacers general manager who is a leading figure in Oregon Stadium Campaign.

Kahn said a bill would be introduced in the Oregon Legislature to use income taxes from player salaries to service bonds the state would issue to raise money to construct a ballpark, which would cost $300 million or more. Several potential sites were discussed, but none has been selected.

"They wanted to know what our situation is in Oregon, who had authority for what revenue sources, whether we need to go to the voters," Kahn said.

Baseball also wanted to know if rain would be a problem in Portland, one of the wettest U.S. cities. It's unclear if a new ballpark would have a retractable roof, such as Safeco Field, the home of the Mariners in rainy Seattle.

"It doesn't rain any more in Portland that some East Coast cities," Katz said.

Portland's only professional team in the four major sports is the Trail Blazers, who began play in 1970.

"Portland is by far the most underserved professional sports market in the United States," Kahn said.

No potential owners have been invited to speak with baseball, only government authorities.

Selig established the committee in November. The Expos, who have drawn poorly at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, were purchased before the 2002 season by the other 29 teams and are operated by the commissioner's office.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Kilgore, believes the Virginia Legislature would approve necessary public funding. Sites in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties are being considered.

"He thinks it's an important economic development program," Murtaugh said. "You want to attract businesses to Virginia. Certainly a baseball team should be looked at as a business."

The District of Columbia also is examining potential sites and financing plans.

Awaiting a permanent solution, the Expos will play 22 home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this season to raise revenue.