Major League Baseball owners are leaning toward moving the Montreal Expos, wards of the league the past two years, to Washington for the 2005 season, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The newspaper, citing undisclosed sources, said the ownership relocation committee is leaning toward recommending the Expos be moved to the United States capital city at an executive council meeting on Friday in Milwaukee.
Owners hope to have a final deal struck by October 1, two days before the end of the current season. That would give likely new ownership six months to plan for the start of the season.
The Expos, who have played home games in Puerto Rico as well as their namesake Canadian home the past two seasons, would play in the National League.
Peter Angelos, owner of the nearby American League's Baltimore Orioles, have objected to putting a team back in Washington after 33 years, saying it would hurt his club financially because so many of his fans are from Washington.
Washington officials disclosed plans for a $US400 million ballpark on Wednesday within view of the US Capitol building.
The club would likely play one or two years at RFK Stadium, former home of baseball's Washington Senators before the club was relocated.
While Washington is the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a major league club to call its own, American football teams co-exist side-by-side in both markets.
A lawsuit filed in Miami by former Expos owners could disrupt the plans of baseball owners, who bought the Expos from Jeffrey Loria in 2002 for $120 million and have lost many millions since keeping the club alive.
The ex-Expos owners claim baseball was determined to remove baseball from Montreal by withdrawing support and letting declining attendance and other economic factors make the situation unviable.
Washington and a group in nearby Northern Virginia were competing with groups from Las Vegas; Norfolk, Virginia; Portland, Oregon and Monterrey, Mexico, to become the Expos' new home.
