MLB.com

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

By involving local developers in the process, Northern Virginia has diminished the upfront investment from Bill Collins, the team's potential new owner, while at the same time attempting to reduce the cost of a $400 million-$430 million stadium project.

MLB, which is in its third season owning and operating the Expos, is resolved to move the team in time for next season. To that end, the relocation committee studying the issue wants to at least have designated the community the team will move to by July's All-Star break, with final ballpark financing and designation of an ownership group coming in the months after that.

"We're extremely optimistic," said Gabe Paul Jr., the executive director of the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority. "In working with developers, I feel certain we'll be able to reduce the cost of the project. The result of that will allow us the ability to be more flexible in our financing plan."

Members of MLB's relocation committee and the Northern Virginia team have met behind the scenes recently to discuss the restructuring of the stadium financing package that would range in cost depending upon the choice of five sites, all of which are within range of downtown Washington, D.C.

"There's still a significant owner contribution, but it's a much better proposal than they've had on the table before," said Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer and a member of the relocation committee.

At least five members of the committee, including Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks, are expected to meet Thursday in D.C. with government officials to discuss the merits of Washington's recently restructured stadium plans.

Last month, Washington mayor Anthony Williams revealed a revised prospectus that would allow the Expos to move to the nation's capital at a new ballpark on one of four proposed sites. Three of the sites would take at least a lease contribution from a potential owner -- in this case, Fred Malek, the lead investor for the Washington Baseball Club -- while a new ballpark in the parking lot adjacent to RFK Stadium could be paid for fully with public funds.

In Northern Virginia, there also would be a lease payment. "They've shifted an upfront payment by the owner to a long-term rent stream," DuPuy said.

In either case, while a new ballpark is being built, if the team moves to the Washington/Northern Virginia area, the team would play for three seasons in RFK Stadium, which needs about $15 million worth of work to convert it back to a baseball configuration.

Regular season baseball has not been played at RFK since 1972 when the second Senators franchise moved to Arlington, Texas.

All this is happening as the relocation process seems to be moving into the homestretch. With a quarterly owners meeting scheduled to take place in New York on May 19-20, the relocation committee seems to be ready to cull the prospective suitors to a workable list. The committee is slated to meet the day before the joint owners' meeting in New York.

Right now, there are still six communities vying for the team: Washington, Northern Virginia, Las Vegas, Monterrey, Mexico, Norfolk, Va., and Portland, Ore. San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the Expos are again playing 22 games this season, is out of the mix as a permanent site.

"My guess is that it's unlikely that we would announce an elimination of anybody at the meetings," DuPuy said. "We have a substantive [relocation committee] meeting in connection with the owners' meeting in two weeks. We'll then hone down the list and I'm still hopeful that by the All-Star Game we'll at least have a location decided upon."

For Northern Virginia, it's really now or never. Much of the state funding earmarked for a ballpark expires by the end of the year, and Collins, who has pursued an MLB team for more than a decade, has said he will end his efforts to procure a team at the same time.

Last year, Paul told MLB that his group needed to be awarded the team on at least a contingency basis to enable it to put the other component parts of the deal in place. Now he said the package could be constructed quickly if Northern Virginia is awarded the team.

"We'd have it done within months, meaning that a Northern Virginia baseball team would be playing the 2005 season in RFK Stadium," he said.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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