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By JEFF BLAIR

BASEBALL REPORTER; With a report from Associated Press

 

 

UPDATED AT 1:54 PM EDT Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2003

 

 

CHICAGO -- In what some in baseball's inner circle say is another sign the Montreal Expos will play more games in Puerto Rico next year, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday he will be at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan in September when the team plays six home games there.

 

Speaking at an annual meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America held in conjunction with last night's All-Star Game, Selig said he had no timetable for the relocation of the beleaguered Montreal franchise. He signalled that he is sensitive to political issues that have caused ballpark funding bills to proceed slowly in several jurisdictions interested in becoming the new home of the Expos.

 

The Expos have played 16 of the 22 games of their home schedule that were transferred to San Juan from Olympic Stadium in Montreal. While Selig called it a matter of making the best of a tough situation, he said, "The Puerto Rican experiment has worked out, given how we want to internationalize the game."

 

Last night, Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's chief operating officer, said the Expos could play their entire home schedule in Puerto Rico next season.

 

"Puerto Rico has made a proposal to play all 81 home games in Puerto Rico, and it has not been rejected," he said.

 

Major League Baseball's relocation committee has not submitted its report to Selig, decreasing the likelihood of having the Expos, owned and operated by a limited partnership of the 29 other major-league teams, moved to Northern Virginia, Washington or Portland, Ore., in time for the 2004 season. The team could play all its games in Montreal or San Juan, or split them between the two.

 

Top officials have indicated that baseball would not play games at RFK Stadium in Washington -- the likely temporary home for any club relocated to the District of Columbia -- until a new ballpark and ownership group is lined up. Washington Mayor Anthony Williams was at the game last night to show support for the city's bid.

 

None of the preferred sites for relocation has completed the ballpark financing plans that baseball says is the first step toward gaining a franchise.

 

"Each year, it gets more difficult everywhere to build new stadiums," said Selig, who will meet with the relocation committee in the next two weeks. "Given the economy and everything, it's a mistake to assume that any stadium bill is a given.

 

"I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's tough. A lot of states are broke. A lot of cities and counties are in trouble. This is just a tough economy we're living in, right now.

 

"I saw the problems [former Boston Red Sox owner] John Harrington had getting a new park in Boston, but what really reinforced it for me was when I saw what happened in Green Bay. There was a lot of trauma associated with that."

 

A three-year, $295-million renovation of Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, has been completed with $160-million in public money. As part of that plan, a vote to sell the naming rights to the NFL shrine passed with 53 per cent, causing a split between the club and civic leaders, who are in favour of selling the rights.

 

In a wide-ranging discussion of other matters, Selig said he believes a World Cup of baseball is inevitable before the end of his term as commissioner. He also said he will continue to evaluate the use of the controversial Questec camera, which was supposed to help analyze and standardize the strike zone but has caused great anger among pitchers and umpires.

 

Despite labour peace after last year's new collective labour agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Selig has found himself under attack this week on issues ranging beyond baseball's continued ownership of the Expos and the perception that baseball attendance is lagging.

 

Players to a man are almost uniformly against the new concept of using the All-Star Game to determine home advantage for the World Series and the manner in which Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito was unceremoniously dumped from the American League roster for Roger Clemens, a move instigated by Selig.

 

Players believe Selig has ceded too much control to Fox television executives, especially after last year's poorly handled tied All-Star Game in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wis.

 

Selig said the changes were in the works before that game. He said he does not foresee changes before next year's game in Houston, affirming he is in favour of having players vote to fill out the all-star rosters in addition to the fan balloting.

 

"For years, baseball was told it was a bad broadcast partner, that we were dinosaurs and living in the stone age," Selig said. "Now, when the dinosaur begins to change, there is a lot of inherent resentment.

 

"For the ratings of this game to continue to drop would have been a disaster. Somehow in this game we are held to a different standard. I understand it."

 

Selig said baseball could not use the best record in the majors to determine home advantage for the World Series, as is done in other sports. "It's just not pragmatic, because we need 10,000 to 12,000 hotel rooms, and you can't do that in 24 hours," he said.

 

He also said he is committed to the concept of having every team represented in the All-Star Game. "The message you send by not having a representative from each team causes it a lot of distress," he said. "I just think it's fair."

 

Possible cities for Expos

 

Four areas have interest in the Montreal Expos:

 

WASHINGTON

 

Strengths: A population of 4.6 million makes the U.S. capital and its metropolitan area the eighth largest television market in the United States and the largest without a Major League Baseball franchise. A team in the District of Columbia would be a smart political move, less because President George W. Bush, a former majority owner of the Texas Rangers, knows his way around a baseball diamond, but more because baseball's sacrosanct antitrust exemption often comes under scrutiny by the U.S. Congress.

 

Weaknesses: The economic impact on the Baltimore Orioles is uncertain, as is Orioles owner Peter Angelos's stomach for a legal challenge based on a hazily defined territorial integrity issue. Washington's supporters often point out that the Baltimore Ravens co-exist with the Washington Redskins, but National Football League teams have eight regular-season home games compared with 81 for a baseball team, and the game's economics are different. Baseball flopped once before in Washington, causing the Senators to leave for Arlington, Tex., in 1972.

 

Ownership: Two groups have emerged, one fronted by former Rangers partner Fred Malek that includes Vernon Jordan, an adviser to former U.S. president Bill Clinton, and Franklin Raines. Mark Broxmeyer, a Long Island real-estate developer who has strong political connections through his chairmanship of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, is also interested in putting a team in either the District of Columbia or Northern Virginia.

 

Ballpark status: Preliminary plans call for a $436-million (all figures U.S.) stadium publicly funded through a tax on gross receipts of D.C. businesses and ballpark-related business and $292-million of insured bonds. The plan has legislative and legal hurdles to clear because since the district is prohibited under federal law from taxing the income of non-residents. Also the Major League Baseball Players Association opposes a plan that would take player income taxes to service the debt on a new park.

 

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

 

Strengths: The Virginia Baseball Club has existed since the early 1990s and is well known to high-level baseball executives because of a failed bid to land a franchise in the last round of expansion. Front man William Collins III also had an agreement in principle to purchase the Houston Astros in 1996. Putting a team in Northern Virginia might be more palatable to the Orioles because the rush-hour drive from Fairfax, Va., to Baltimore is two hours, compared with 75 minutes from downtown Washington. Since the Senators folded, the population of Northern Virginia has grown 88 per cent, and the istrict of Columbia's has decreased 28 per cent.

 

Weaknesses: The bridesmaid factor. Despite existing for a decade, the Virginia Baseball Club still doesn't have all its public financing lined up, and only recently unveiled plans for a new ballpark. Each of the five possible sites announced in March has either met with opposition from antidevelopment activists or, in one instance, the owner of the land.

 

Ownership: Collins, a former telecommunications magnate, has gradually added to his group several high-profile people from visible minority groups, including former Redskins players turned entrepreneurs Mark May and Art Monk. But the group lacks the political clout of the D.C. group. Broxmeyer would be prepared to relocate the Expos in Virginia, but only after temporarily operating them at RFK Stadium in Washington.

 

Ballpark status: Plans have been unveiled for a ballpark with a Georgian-style fa?ade that would cost close to $400-million, with $285-million funded through 30-year municipal bonds. The rest would come from the team owners. The bonds would be repaid through sales taxes and personal income taxes on players and others employed at the ballpark.

 

PORTLAND, ORE.

 

Strengths: Portland and its metropolitan area of two million is the largest sports market in the United States with only one professional franchise, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association.

 

Weaknesses: Geography. Despite concerns about rain, statistics show that Portland receives less precipitation than 13 major-league cities. However, relocating the Expos to the West Coast would mean no realignment and might adversely affect the Seattle Mariners' regional nature. No defined ownership group has stepped forward. Bill 3606, which would provide $150-million in state funds for a new ballpark through taxes on the incomes of players and club executives, is hung up in the Oregon legislature's rules committee -- no surprise in a state that faces a $650-million budget deficit and has already seen a ballpark financing plan die on the House floor in 2001.

 

Ownership: Despite a series of mergers that have taken several head offices out of the city, there is plenty of individual wealth in the area. But millionaires such as Nike's Phil Knight, Paul Allen and Tim Boyle, the chief executive officer of Columbia Sportswear, have expressed no interest in being front men.

 

Ballpark status: Given a $38.5-million renovation in 2001, PGE Park seats 19,566 and is home to the Triple-A Beavers. One plan calls for a phased construction plan that would turn the ballpark from a temporary place into a permanent home, with construction taking place in stages.

 

SAN JUAN

 

Strengths: It is said that possession is nine-tenths of the law, so what does having the Expos play 22 of 81 home games this season mean in the long run? Promoter Antonio Munoz, who guaranteed Major League Baseball $7-million for this season, thinks the island can support as many as 40 games in 2004. The Latin-American island is one of the game's hotbeds, and international expansion is something the game is both economically and morally obligated to address.

 

Weaknesses: Per-capita income in Puerto Rico is $1,000 a month, and the island's demographics do not inspire confidence. Few of the Expos' games have sold out.

 

Ownership: Charles Vaughn, an Atlanta-area businessman, says he has a group of investors ready to bring a team to Puerto Rico.

 

Ballpark status: Hiram Bithorn Stadium seats fewer than 20,000 and is not a major-league complex. Among other things, teams have had, on occasion, to wash their uniforms at hotels because clubhouse ventilation systems are located too close to some of the most expensive seats in the stadium.

 

Jeff Blair

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