More to come

 

I will post video links when they become available.

I hope Selig dies before he can make the announcement. :thumbdown

 

He treats the expos like crap and gives the brewers special treatment.

Confirmed to me: MLB will start a new regional sports network that will be run by the Orioles, but carry DC Baseball until 2006 when the Orioles will join the network. The channel's broadcast territory consists of all of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Washington and parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The Orioles Television Network will also take over duties for the DC Baseball Television Network including signing up a flagship in Washington. The teams will most likely share affiliates along the network.

 

MLB will negotiate radio seperate of the Orioles.

ESPNEWS says it will start at 5 pm.

ESPNEWS says it will start at 5 pm.

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I start my coverage at 4:30.

Bah, I'll be driving home when this starts

Story and Video from WJZ in Baltimore: http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_273074213.html

Story and Video from WBAL-TV in Baltimore: http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3768897/detail.html

Cape do you really think this video is helpful? I doubt anybody is going to watch it, I mean we all have ESPN, no need for their local news. Just wondering.

Cape do you really think this video is helpful? I doubt anybody is going to watch it, I mean we all have ESPN, no need for their local news. Just wondering.

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:cool It's called perspective miami15...and not everyone has ESPNews.

Big difference between Baltimore and Washington even though they are only 40 miles or so apart.

hehe 73% say they will not attend any games.

hehe 73% say they will not attend any games.

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But this is a Baltimore poll, remember DC/Virginia has a large population for itself.

hehe 73% say they will not attend any games.

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But this is a Baltimore poll, remember DC/Virginia has a large population for itself.

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From what I know, virginia has a lot of o's fans. I think at least half of them will remain loyal. The Senators will have to be an awesome team to establish a large fan base in maryland. As it is right now, only people in DC will be the real fans of the franchise.

Remember that around 40 years ago, these roles were reversed. Washington had its Senators and Baltimore got the Browns to move from St. Louis to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. I don't think the Washingtonians complained like Marylanders who live away from the District have.

MLB Radio says Portland and Las Vegas should not give up on getting a team since teams such as the marlins have no stadium deal. :plain

MLB Radio says Portland and Las Vegas should not give up on getting a team since teams such as the marlins have no stadium deal. :plain

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We will soon enough.

ESPNews Audio Feed: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espnews/index

 

Click on the link on top.

MLB Radio says Portland and Las Vegas should not give up on? getting a team since teams such as the marlins have no stadium deal.? :plain

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We will soon enough.

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Dont forget that Expos fans were confident the team would stay until last night. Remember, Loria can screw another franchise.

MLB.com

 

09/29/2004 4:29 PM ET

Washington, D.C.'s proposal selected by MLB

 

 

 

Major League Baseball has selected the Washington, D.C. proposal as its choice for relocation of the Montreal Expos, Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today. Relocation of the club is subject to certain contingencies, including a formal vote of ownership at the next owners' meeting in November and passage of legislation by the District of Columbia Council to provide for financing and construction of a ballpark on the Anacostia River waterfront in Southeast Washington. MLB has also provided the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida the required notice of MLB's intent to move forward with relocating the team.

The D.C. agreement also includes financing for the refurbishing of RFK Stadium, where the Washington, D.C. franchise will play until a new stadium is completed.

 

"Washington, D.C., as our nation's capital, is one of the world's most important cities and Major League Baseball is gratified at the skill and perseverance shown by Mayor Williams throughout this long process," Selig said. "There has been tremendous growth in the Washington, D.C. area over the last 33 years and we in Major League Baseball believe that baseball will be welcomed there and will be a great success."

 

Selig also said: "I would like to thank the representatives who worked on behalf of Northern Virginia, Norfolk, VA, Las Vegas, Portland, OR, Monterrey, Mexico and others for devoting so much time and energy in their attempts to bring a Major League Baseball team to their communities."

 

Washington, D.C. is the largest market in the country in terms of population (5.4 million) and television market size (8th) without a Major League Baseball team.

 

Concurrent with the D.C. legislative process necessary to fulfill the agreement reached among the D.C. Government, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission and the Expos, Major League Baseball will begin to accept and review bids of prospective ownership groups and expects to have new ownership in place for the beginning of the 2005 season. Details concerning that process will be announced shortly.

 

Even though Washington, D.C. baseball has a long history with the American League, the team will play in the National League East Division, which in fact marks its return to its baseball roots. The first Washington, D.C. franchise joined the National League in 1886 and was part of the NL, except for a two-year hiatus in 1890-91, until the National League contracted Washington and three other franchises in 1900.

 

But a year later, Ban Johnson organized the American League and included Washington, D.C. as one of its charter franchises. Although the original Senators were mostly mediocre throughout their history, they fielded one of the game's greatest all-time pitchers, Walter "Big Train" Johnson and made three trips to the World Series, winning it in 1924 in a seven-game series against the New York Giants. In 1925, the Senators lost in seven games to Pittsburgh and lost in five games to the Giants in 1933.

 

The second incarnation of the Senators came in 1961 in the form of an expansion team. Like its predecessor, the Senators usually finished in the second division and had only one winning season in their 11-year history. The Senators moved after the 1971 season and Washington, D.C. has been without Major League Baseball since then.

MLB Radio says Portland and Las Vegas should not give up on? getting a team since teams such as the marlins have no stadium deal.?? :plain

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We will soon enough.

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Dont forget that Expos fans were confident the team would stay until last night. Remember, Loria can screw another franchise.

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Who was confident? I didn't see it.

Mayor Anthony Williams is on ESPNews

Official: Expos move to Washington, to become Senators?

09/29/2004 4:28 PM ET

MLB selects D.C. for Expos

Relocation is subject to certain contingencies

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

 

Almost 33 years to the date of the Senators' final game in Washington, D.C., the District and Major League Baseball on Wednesday announced that the Montreal Expos are moving to the nation's capital.

The Expos will be the first MLB franchise to move since 1971 when the second Senators franchise left Washington for Arlington, Texas. By choosing D.C. over suitors from Northern Virginia, Norfolk, Va., Portland, Ore., Monterrey, Mexico, and Las Vegas, the league ended a nearly two-year internal search to relocate the team.

 

The Expos will be renamed and plan to play the next three seasons at RFK Stadium while a new $400 million ballpark is being built at a location along the Anacostia River waterfront near M and South Capitol Streets, which is now the preferred site among the four proposed in the District last year.

 

RFK Stadium hasn't had baseball regularly since the Senators moved to Texas. The Senators played 10 years at RFK when the oval, two-decked stadium with the roller-coaster fa?ade opened in 1962.

 

The deal is contingent on the District's City Council passing the funding for the new ballpark, including a $13 million package to refurbish 43-year-old RFK Stadium. It must also be approved by a 75 percent vote of the owners, which is considered to be a formality.

 

"Washington, D.C., as our nation's capital, is one of the world's most important cities and Major League Baseball is gratified at the skill and perseverance shown by Mayor (Anthony) Williams throughout this long process," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement released by the league. "There has been tremendous growth in the Washington, D.C. area over the last 33 years and we in Major League Baseball believe that baseball will be welcomed there and will be a great success."

 

Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, an ardent opponent of moving the team 35 miles from Camden Yards, has been in negotiations with MLB regarding compensation and the Washington Post reported that the outlines for an agreement are in place.

 

The D.C. City Council now must quickly move to fund the new ballpark by the end of the year before three new council members, who are all against the project, take office. Three pro-ballpark councilmen lost their seats in the recent D.C. Democratic primary.

 

At the same time, MLB must settle a federal lawsuit filed in Florida by the former Expos minority partners, who are seeking an injunction to keep the team in Montreal.

 

Plus, the Expos must be sold as soon as possible to the highest bidder. A nine-member management team called the Washington Baseball Club and headed by former Texas Rangers minority partner Fred Malek, has long been trying to bring baseball back to the nation's capital and may have the inside track to purchase the team at a price of between $200 million and $300 million.

 

A spokesman for the group said Wednesday that the Washington Baseball Club would be more than ready to purchase the team.

 

MLB's relocation committee, which has been studying the matter, zoomed in on the District in recent weeks. Members of the committee met for 7 1/2 hours late last month to discuss all facets of the District's proposal and again met for 11 hours buttoning down details last week.

 

For months, D.C. and Northern Virginia had been the prohibitive frontrunners to obtain the team, rising above the other contenders.

 

But the Northern Virginia bid faded. During recent meetings with that contingent, the relocation committee was told there was significant political opposition in the state government to writing the particular bonds it would take to build a ballpark near Dulles Airport. At any rate, state money set aside for the ballpark project in Virginia is slated to disappear by the end of the year.

 

MLB opted instead to go with the District, the fourth largest media market in the country when combined with the Baltimore area, and certainly the largest without a baseball team.

 

Wednesday's announcement came almost 33 years to the day -- Sept. 30, 1971 -- that the Senators played their last game at RFK Stadium, a 7-5 loss to the Yankees before 14,460.

 

The Expos expanded into the National League in 1969 along with the San Diego Padres and have been in Montreal ever since, boasting such stars as Hall-of-Fame catcher Gary Carter, center fielder Tim Raines, right fielder Andre Dawson and more recently outfielders Moises Alou, Admin Walker and Vladimir Guerrero, who left the Expos for the Angels as a free agent last winter.

 

The Expos are scheduled to play their last home game in Montreal's Olympic Stadium against the Florida Marlins tonight. They were Canada's first MLB team and will close their 36th and final season as such with a three-game series in New York this weekend against the Mets at Shea Stadium.

 

During that period, they never ascended to the World Series, coming closest in baseball's two most ravaged strike seasons -- 1981 and 1994. In 1981, the Expos played in the NL Championship Series for the only time. A team replete with stars' Carter, Raines, Dawson and starting pitcher Steve Rogers lost to the Dodgers in what was then a five-game series for the pennant.

 

In Game 5 at Olympic Stadium, Rogers was used in relief in the top of the ninth and Rick Monday homered to win the game and the series, 2-1. Fernando Valenzuela pitched a three-hitter for the Dodgers.

 

In 1994, the Expos led the NL East with a 74-40 record by six games over the Atlanta Braves when the players struck on Aug. 11. Play never resumed that season and the playoffs and World Series were ultimately canceled.

 

In the years since the strike, the Expos have been buffeted by deteriorating finances and attendance. Attempts by ownership to build a new downtown stadium in Montreal met with the severe resistance from local taxpayers and never came to fruition.

 

The Expos were earmarked for contraction after the 2001 season, along with another MLB team, widely reported to be the Minnesota Twins. But court decisions in Minnesota and a lease that tied the Twins into the Metrodome for the 2002 season forced the owners to change course.

 

When the owners and Players Association signed a new Basic Agreement in 2002, both sides stipulated to take contraction off the table for the life of the contract, which expires on Dec. 19, 2006.

 

On Feb. 15, 2002, the other 29 owners purchased the Expos for $120 million from Jeffrey Loria and his minority partners, who at the same purchased the Florida Marlins. MLB has owned and operated the Expos for the last three seasons.

 

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Expect MLB.com to have a website for the new team by the end of the year.