Williams To Offer City-Paid Stadium

In that scenario, the team's owners would have had to pay $125 million or more before the stadium was built. That plan, however, included no rent payments from the team to help cover construction costs.

Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) said she agrees that Washington offers a good market for baseball, but she said she continues to object to any plan to raise the gross-receipts tax on businesses.

"It's dead on arrival," she said.

Baseball officials have said they would like any city that hopes to win the Expos to fully finance a stadium.

Other cities vying for the Expos include Las Vegas, Hampton Roads, Va., and Monterrey, Mexico. However, none has secured financing for a new stadium, and each has weaknesses that make it far less attractive than Washington or Northern Virginia, according to baseball officials familiar with the discussions.

If D.C. officials offer baseball a new, fully financed stadium, Selig might be forced to act, some baseball officials said.

Financier Frederic V. Malek, head of the Washington Baseball Club, which has been named the city's preferred ownership group, said the mayor's new proposal answers all the outstanding concerns.

"The mayor is giving Major League Baseball what they're asking for," Malek said. "We've got four terrific sites with 100 percent financing plans behind them."

D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), head of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, has said he is confident he can move a financing package through his committee. But he reiterated yesterday that he will not do so until Major League Baseball officials award Washington a team.

"I will not agree to spend one dime until baseball commits to coming to D.C.," Evans said.

Previously, D.C. officials had focused on two proposed stadium sites, one at North Capitol Street and New York Avenue and one on the Anacostia River waterfront, near South Capitol Street. Putting a new stadium on the RFK site was considered a backup option. In recent months, city officials have considered a fourth location, near the Southwest Washington waterfront, with part of the stadium overhanging Interstate 395. That site would be the most expensive, with the stadium's cost estimated at $385 million.

Under the mayor's new proposal, RFK is the cheapest option. A new stadium would be built near the current one for $340 million, and the city would not have to pay for land or a parking garage, officials said.

Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos has long opposed putting a team in the Washington area because he contends it would hurt attendance and fan support for his club.

"Two teams within 35 miles of each other will result in neither team being competitive because of a lack of revenues to compete with the likes of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox," Angelos said yesterday. "I believe the Orioles provide sufficient baseball entertainment for fans in this region and have done so for 50 years."

Although Selig did not talk about the mayor's proposal, he repeated comments he made more than a year ago that Angelos "will not be a problem" if the commissioner recommends moving the Expos to the Washington area.

"We'll make a decision on merit, and he'll deal with it. I'm sure of that," Selig said.

Staff writers Steve Fainaru, George Solomon and Dave Sheinin contributed to this report.