June 24, 2003
DC to MLB: You first
MLB may not be the only one that can play hardball in the continuing skirmish over the Montreal Expos. D.C. council finance chair Jack Evans now says he'll hold off on a stadium finance bill until MLB commits to giving his city the Expos. (Northern Virginia officials had previously made similar demands.) With the third suitor, Portland, Oregon, also making little headway on a stadium bill, MLB could be faced with an unpleasant choice on July 15, when it is scheduled to decide the Expos' fate: tip its hand by picking a new home for the team, and then hope that the city comes up with the stadium dough; or delay a decision until next year, likely pushing any relocation back until 2006 at the earliest. It's far cry from the original plan to unleash a bidding war for the team, but then, times are tough all over.
