Asked whether Angelos can block a deal with D.C., Tuohey said, "I don't think so. I think there will be a resolution among the owners that will transfer the team to D.C. If they decide on the merits, we'll get it."
DuPuy said there were no discussions at Thursday's meeting regarding compensation for Angelos.
Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy says are "some loose ends that need to get tied up" before the owners decide on the Expos' relocation.
(Ron Kuenstler -- AP)
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| _____ Baseball Returns to D.C. _____
• Bud Selig announces that the troubled Montreal Expos will move to Washington, returning baseball to the nation's capital for the 2005 season.
• While the Expos aren't very good now, they have loads of potential.
• News Graphic: Time to settle down
• Q&A on the new team
• Graphic: Meet your Expos (PDF).
• Survey: What should we call D.C.'s new team? | Discuss.
• After having RFK to itself for eight years, D.C. United will share.
• Details sketchy on how regional sports network would operate.
• There was a time when the Expos were the envy of all of baseball.
• News Graphic: Coming full circle.
• D.C. region has suffered through an endless number of close calls.
• City officials, led by Mayor Anthony A. Williams, gleefully celebrate the end of a generation of frustration.
• District's offer described as very generous.
• News Graphic: Stadium strategy
• A majority of the D.C. Council supports the mayor's stadium plan.
• When the hoopla dies down, will D.C. still have baseball fever?
• In Virginia, some blame Gov. Warner for failure to lure Expos.
• More than 50 years ago, it was Baltimore that needed D.C.'s help.
• Orioles management had little to say Wednesday about the news.
• Expos final home game is marred by unruly fan behavior.
_____ Post Columnists _____
• Thomas Boswell: We are finally getting exactly what we wished for.
• Sally Jenkins: D.C. is getting a bad team and a potential financial mess.
• Michael Wilbon: There are only four choices for the name of the new club.
• Mike Wise: Talk to the old Nats, you realize baseball never left.
• George Solomon: Finally, Shirley Povich is looking down and smiling.
• Marc Fisher: Baseball's challenge is to connect with the black kids.
_____ Multimedia _____
• Video: D.C. residents have mixed feelings about the relocation.
• Video: D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams makes the announcement.
• Video: In 2003, a D.C. official details improvements to RFK.
• Video: The Post's Garcia-Ruiz on what still needs to be done at RFK.
• Audio: Ex-Senators announcer Ron Menchine on the proposed move.
• Audio: Ex-announcer Bob Wolf says D.C. team, Orioles can thrive.
_____ Live Online _____
• Post's Tom Heath was online Thursday. Read the transcript.
• The Post's J.J. McCoy took questions before Wednesday's announcement. Read the transcript.
_____ On Our Site _____
• The District has been without major league baseball for more than 30 years. Look back at a visual history of the Washington Senators.
• Eighty years ago, the Senators won their only world championship.
• What's your opinion?
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DuPuy said there are "some loose ends that need to get tied up" before the owners decide. One of them is almost certainly the federal lawsuit filed by the ex-partners of former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria, who are seeking an injunction to block the move of the franchise. The investors claim Loria purposely diluted their shares in the team in order to move it.
Although DuPuy has played down the threat of the lawsuit in the past, a source familiar with the issue said Thursday that baseball officials are concerned over its potential to affect their plans to move forward with relocation.
Baseball has not said whether the Expos would be sold immediately upon being moved. The league has owned the team since prior to the 2002 season, when its plans to "contract" -- or eliminate -- the team were foiled by various legal challenges. While the Washington Baseball Club has been pursuing the team for several years, there is no guarantee it will be allowed to purchase the Expos.
Winston Lord, executive director of the group, said it believes it is well-positioned to compete if MLB puts the team up for auction.
"We've been working with the city for five years to bring the nation's pastime back to the nation's capital," Lord said. "We have a strong and diverse group of local community and business leaders who have a deep and personal commitment to this city. If indeed this becomes competitive, we believe we are extremely well-positioned."
Baseball owners hope to sell the team for at least $300 million and they expect new potential buyers to emerge once the move to the District is approved, sources said. Any move must be approved by 22 of baseball's 29 owners.
Gene Orza, the second-ranking official in baseball's players' association, met with Expos players in Montreal prior to Thursday's game against the New York Mets, keeping them apprised of the situation.
"We're hopeful Major League Baseball will decide today . . . to relocate the franchise, hopefully in the D.C. area," Orza told Montreal radio station CKGM-AM (The Team-990).
Orza said the union strongly endorses selling the team immediately, rather than seeing baseball operate it for another season.
"It would be very disappointing if in fact Major League Baseball continued to operate this team and set its budget and playing personnel for any more time than they already have," he told the radio station. " . . . That's a basic integrity issue that I think it's the commissioner's obligation to address, and I think he senses that."
While there remains opposition within some factions of the city government for using public funds to pay for the stadium, proponents of the plan believe they have enough support to push it through. Bob Peck, chairman of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said it appears his members will support the financing plan, which he said is not significantly different from the plan the board endorsed last year.
"That isn't to say I haven't had some members volunteer that they are not happy with it," Peck said. "But in one or two cases, they thought this was a significant income tax hike. And when we told them the magnitude of the dollars, people said, 'Oh, never mind.' "
If baseball were to make its announcement next Thursday, it would hold a certain symbolic symmetry. On Sept. 30, 1971, the Senators played their final game at RFK Stadium.
Staff writers Peter Slevin, Lori Montgomery, Debbi Wilgoren and George Solomon contributed to this report. Sheinin, Montgomery, Wilgoren and Solomon reported from Washington; Heath and Slevin reported from Milwaukee.
