WASHINGTON -- Major League Baseball was in the final stages Tuesday of the drawn-out sale of the Washington Nationals, and a group including former Atlanta Braves executive Stan Kasten appeared to be the front-runner.

 

Kasten's group, one headed by Maryland-based real estate businessman Theodore Lerner, was called by Bud Selig on Wednesday to let Lerner know he'd be the next owner, The Washington Post reported. A conference call on the Nationals is scheduled for 4:45 ET.

 

A baseball official said no final decision had been made and that once Selig did choose a new owner, all of the bidders and baseball's executive council would have to be notified before a public announcement.

 

"I can't really comment," Kasten said when reached by telephone.

 

Eight groups were in the running, with bids originally placed in June 2005. The top contenders were thought to be three groups, one headed by Lerner; the Washington Baseball Club, led by Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients; and a group headed by former Seattle Mariners owner Jeffrey Smulyan.

 

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council rejected a proposal that would have urged baseball to pick the Malek-Zients or Smulyan groups.

 

The sale price was thought to be about $450 million. Major League Baseball's other 29 clubs bought the then-Montreal Expos in 2002 for $120 million as part of a complicated transaction that also involved new owners for the Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins.

 

After moving the Expos to Washington for the 2005 season, baseball hoped to sell before the Nationals had played a game in their new city. Then the goal was the early summer, then the All-Star break, then the end of last season.

 

By November, with lease negotiations between baseball and Washington dragging on, Selig said he would stop setting timetables for completing the team's sale. His one hedge then: A new owner would probably be selected before the start of the 2006 season.

 

That semi-deadline passed, too, and Washington is 9-18, the third-worst record in the National League. Manager Frank Robinson has said he thinks the uncertainty surrounding the team's ownership hurt its chances to sign top free agents last offseason.

 

Stadium lease negotiations between the city and baseball dragged on into February before the District of Columbia Council approved a deal capping city spending on the ballpark project at about $610 million. Baseball signed the lease in March, and a ceremonial groundbreaking for the team's new stadium is scheduled for Thursday. The plan is to have the stadium ready for the 2008 season.

 

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said last week that Selig wants to have a vote on the sale of the Nationals when major league owners meet May 17-18 in New York. DuPuy said he thinks the sale will close by mid-June.

 

 

 

 

LINK

It's as good as a done deal.

 

That's great for the Nats!

 

Now MLB can focus their attention on resolving the situation in South Florida.

 

This is a good day for the Nats......and the Marlins.

congrats to the nationals, they needed it. like said befoer we need the focus on us now.

Congrats to the Nationals!

It's about damn time

NEW YORK ? (AP) ? The $450 million sale of the Washington Nationals to Theodore Lerner and Stan Kasten was unanimously approved Thursday by baseball owners, one of the final steps before Major League Baseball turns the team over to new management.

 

The incoming ownership must complete its financing before the transfer takes place. Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, projected the sale will close between mid-June and mid-July.

 

Baseball's other 29 teams purchased the Montreal Expos for $120 million in 2002, and the commissioner's office has operated the team since then. The franchise was moved to Washington for the 2005 season and renamed the Nationals.

 

The other teams will make a profit on their investment in the Expos/Nationals, but DuPuy said the amount hasn't been determined because operating profits or losses during Major League Baseball's ownership have not been totaled.

 

Eight groups bid for the Nationals, and the Lerner/Kasten group was chosen by commissioner Bud Selig. The sale process was delayed several times, the last by a lengthy negotiation between baseball and Washington politicians over the lease for a new ballpark.

 

The only previous time a major league team was owned by a league or the commissioner's office was when the National League took over the Philadelphia Phillies from Feb. 9 to March 15, 1943, according to research by the Hall of Fame and the Elias Sports Bureau.