D.C. Confirmed as New Home for Expos
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – Major League Baseball will announce today that Washington will be the new home of the Montreal Expos, the Associated Press has learned.
A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington has been notified by Major League Baseball of the impending announcement that will return the national pastime to the nation’s capital for the first time in 33 years.
The city is planning its own news conference at a downtown location this afternoon, the official said.
The announcement will come one day before the 33rd anniversary of the Washington Senators’ final game. The Senators moved to Texas after the 1971 season, which was also the last time a major league team changed cities.
Baseball has been looking for a new home for the Expos since the financially troubled team was bought by the other 29 major league owners in 2002.
Recent negotiations have produced a 30-page document that would conditionally award the Expos to Washington, pending approval by the City Council. Final talks have been ongoing since a meeting of the sport’s executive council last Thursday. Plans call for a $13 million refurbishment of RFK Stadium and a new ballpark costing slightly over $400 million, which would be built along the Anacostia River in the southeast section of the city.
The move must be approved by three-quarters of major league owners and survive legal challenges by the Expos’ former limited partners and possibly by Baltimore owner Peter Angelos, who objects to having a team just 40 miles from the Orioles.
Montreal’s last home game is scheduled for tonight against Florida.
