December 15, 2002
MLB: Show us the stadium money
Major League Baseball appears to be set to start the bidding for the league-owned Montreal Expos franchise - not among prospective owners, but among prospective host cities. The league has notified government officials in several locales, including Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Portland, Oregon, that they will be invited to meet with an Expos relocation committee by late February.
Potential ownership groups, said the league, will not be invited - the first hurdle, apparently, will be the willingness of cities to cough up public stadium dough. "MLB wants to know, 'What evidence do you have your market can support a franchise?' and 'Where are you going to play and how is that stadium going to be paid for?' " an MLB source told the Washington Post. "In a perfect world, jurisdictions should have all approvals in place and money set aside." Lack of cities eager to finance a new stadium has been the main obstacle to moving the Expos before now; it will be interesting to see whether MLB's attempts at fomenting a bidding war will lead local officials to be looser with the public purse.
