Bring baseball back to Washington

WASHINGTON (AP)--Baseball officials wanted to know where the money is coming from. City officials wanted to know if baseball is serious about locating in Washington. When it was over, both sides gave positive reviews to Thursday's meeting in which Mayor Anthony Williams explained his new plan for a 100-percent taxpayer-funded stadium if the Montreal Expos are moved to the nation's capital. ``If we weren't serious about Washington, D.C., we would not be here,'' Major League Baseball chief operating officer John McHale said in a rare public statement. ``We consider it to have been a positive afternoon.'' Three owners--Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox, Tom Hicks of the Texas Rangers and Wendy Selig-Prieb of the Milwaukee Brewers--and other members of the relocation committee met with Williams and a host of city officials, including three members of the City Council, which would have to approve any stadium financing. Council member Jack Evans wanted frank answers from baseball on two fronts. Is Washington again being used as a pawn to attract other cities? And will baseball yield to Baltimore owner Peter Angelos' contention that Washington should not have a team because it is part of the Orioles' market? ``I think they liked the presentation, and they were less comfortable with my questioning,'' Evans said. ``It somewhat made them squirm, but I think the questions needed to be asked. I don't want to sit here and waste my time. If we're just getting used--or if Angelos is a problem--what are we doing here?'' Evans said he received assurances on both issues, but added, ``I still don't believe the Angelos story.'' Baseball has been trying to relocate the Expos since the struggling franchise was purchased by the 29 other teams before the 2002 season. The Expos are splitting their schedule between Montreal and San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the second consecutive year in order to ease the club's debt. Las Vegas; Monterrey, Mexico; Norfolk, Va.; Portland, Ore.; and Northern Virginia are all possible relocation candidates. The latest deadline for a decision is the All-Star break in July, but league officials have repeatedly missed similar deadlines in the past as they search for an acceptable deal--preferably one in which a stadium is built with all public money. That's what Williams said he was offering. ``If baseball makes a commitment to come to Washington, D.C., we're prepared to move quickly and move decisively to see to it that all the approvals are in place, all the financing is in place, all the elements are in place, to see that a team is here in a timely fashion,'' the mayor said. The mayor presented four stadium proposals, including a plan to build a facility on the RFK Stadium parking lot for $278 million as part of a waterfront initiative along the Anacostia River. The other three sites are downtown and preferable to city officials, but they would cost as much as $383 million and require lease payments from the team's owners, a sort of backdoor way of skirting the 100 percent public-funding requirement. Regardless of the location, the relocated team would play for two to three seasons at RFK while the new stadium is being built. A group led by local businessman Fred Malek is the city's preferred choice to own the relocated team. Malek's group was not represented at the meeting. The money to pay for the stadium would probably come from a new business tax and stadium-related taxes. Council chairwoman Linda Cropp praised local businesses who have said they would ``share an awful lot of the cost'' to bring baseball to Washington without curtailing city services. The relocation committee is expected to give a report at the next owner's meeting, May 19-20 in New York. Evans said this just might be the year a decision is made, although there is understandable caution in a city that has been without a team since the expansion Senators moved to Texas after the 1971 season. ``Jerry Reinsdorf said he's tired of doing this,'' Evans said. ``Maybe that's it. ... The owners own Montreal and they're losing lots of money, so maybe they talk with their wallets and say 'We've got to get rid of this thing.' ``We don't want to be strung along again. If they decide to put a team here, we will build them a stadium. They don't have to pay for it.''