This article is from the 09/09/02 St.Louis Business Journal,as well as the Portland Business Journal.

Charter's Paul Allen - baseball team owner?

The Business Journal Of Portland

A Canadian sports columnist wrote last week that Paul Allen, chairman and majority owner of St. Louis-based Charter Communications, is negotiating with the owners of the Montreal Expos to buy the team and move it to Portland by the beginning of next season.


Marty York wrote on http://www.sportsnet.ca that with the threat of Major League contraction at rest for at least another four years, the Expos are up for grabs.

An unnamed source told York that "If Paul Allen wants the Expos, and he wants to put them in Portland, it'll happen. No ifs, ands or buts about it."

A group pushing for Major League Baseball in Oregon, the Oregon Baseball Campaign, distributed York's column Monday.

The Portland metropolitan area, with a population 2.3 million, is the largest in the nation without a Major League Baseball franchise, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The group points out that PGE Park could serve as an interim venue until a Major League park was built.