Bird watching

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

In no uncertain terms Monday, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos told the Sun that he would not welcome the Montreal Expos in his own back yard and that Major League Baseball should not consider the move.

Reached at his One Charles Center office in Baltimore, Angelos refuted recent reports that suggested he might cave in to the relocation of the Expos to Washington, D.C., for a princely sum, then sell the Orioles for an even bigger fortune.

He also said he liked the sound of "the Las Vegas Expos."

"Would I be opposed to Vegas?" Angelos said of the possible transfer of the team to Southern Nevada. "Of course not."

This is the third season that the beleaguered Expos have been run by baseball's 29 other teams, and groups representing several candidate cities, including Las Vegas, have been wooing MLB's nine-member relocation committee.

As first reported in the Sun, those groups have until May 14 to hone their final proposals. The relocation committee, chaired by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, will likely trim its list to two or three, then present those recommendations to a limited group of owners in New York on May 19-20.

In subsequent weeks the committee will make a final recommendation to baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who will, at some point, seek approval from a majority of the full ownership for the formal move of the Expos.

Selig plans to make a public announcement during the mid-July All-Star break. Until then, according to an insider, the relocation committee and owners are apt to follow any timetable that best suits them.

Washington is considered to be a front-runner in the Expos sweepstakes, because of its 71 years of major league history, vast neighboring population and strong median income.

However, many MLB executives consider the Angelos factor, as in the threat of Al Davis-like litigation, to be credible. That has forced the relocation committee to take a keener look at Norfolk, Va., Las Vegas and other suitors.

Angelos did not temper his words.

"Consequences have to be expected when you do that to any major league franchise," Angelos, who turns 75 on July 4, said of territorial infringement. "You'll cause some serious problems, and we don't want to see that happen to the Orioles.

"It's been a great franchise with a long tradition, and (the Orioles) deserve to enjoy the territory that's been allotted to them without any intrusions."

A potential courtroom showdown with Angelos is just one of the many factors that the MLB relocation committee must weigh. There is no obvious, clear-cut choice for the Expos' new home.

Population

Figures used in the Sun's review of each candidate city (see chart on page 3D) are from U.S. Census Bureau reports, but they are misleading.

San Juan, for instance, is a city of about 430,000, but Puerto Rico has roughly 3.5 million residents. Las Vegas gets help from neighbors, including North Las Vegas and Henderson, to boost its metropolitan-area total to 1.6 million.

Monterrey has about 2.6 million people living within a reasonable driving distance to Estadio Monterrey.

Northern Virginia, or Arlington and Alexandria, has about 320,000 residents as an immediate fan base, but it could also count nearby Loudon County as a rich source of support.

From 2000-03, according to Census estimates, no county in the nation grew as fast as Loudon's 31-percent rate, to about 222,000. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, checked in at 53rd, with a 15-percent jump.

Where does the relocation committee draw the line in projecting a reasonable fan base? Recent Census figures place the D.C. metropolitan-area population at 7.6 million, but only by including Baltimore.

Angelos doesn't plan to lose one of those fans.

To highlight the committee's vexations, if population were the sole determinant to a city's major league status, why is Los Angeles embarking on a 10th consecutive season without a National Football League franchise?

Site

Every candidate has issues here, even Washington.

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has pledged complete public financing, but suburbanites might not support a redevelopment effort in an area adjacent to RFK Stadium that badly needs it.

The other three potential venues have major land acquisition, transportation infrastructure and other costs that could burden an ownership group.

Norfolk is considering bumping its Triple-A field from 12,000 to 18,000, as a temporary home for the Expos while a permanent stadium is constructed. Anyone who has ever driven in the Chesepeake Bay area, however, knows that's tricky.

Those who are closely involved with the Las Vegas groups, Teamscape LLC and the Las Vegas Stadium Co. (LVSC), have said they are executing "due diligence" in exploring convenient traffic and parking options in their proposal.

Cashman Field isn't a suitable major league temporary home, but a key Teamscape and LVSC player suggested that the team might split home games between Monterrey and San Antonio until a stadium is built in 2007.

Teamscape and LVSC, however, have found the exploration of acquiring public funds difficult, which might be a deal breaker with MLB. In the last 42 years, only SBC Park in San Francisco, in 2001, has been built entirely with private financing.

Past performance

Las Vegas and Norfolk, among others, owe Northern Virginia, Washington and Portland, Ore., because their bungling a year ago extended the Expos sweepstakes.

Some newcomers have rallied in a major league way, and the first trio has tried to regroup. Washington will try to convince the relocation committee that the third time will be the charm for the game in the district.

Market

Much has been said about the size of Las Vegas' television market, ranked 52nd in the country. That could cost a major league team in Southern Nevada more than $10 million annually in lost revenue.

A Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority official recently told the Sun that the LVCVA most likely would not compensate the team for that loss, but that's the basis for revenue sharing.

The Milwaukee Brewers, in a small market considered similar to Las Vegas, are expected to fetch almost $20 million in revenue sharing this year, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Meanwhile, Angelos sits back in his 22nd-story office overlooking the city his family moved to from Pittsburgh when he was 12 and salivates over another potential courtroom battle.

His law firm has reportedly earned more than $500 million in asbestos litigation over the last 20 years, and suits against the tobacco and lead-paint industries have multiplied his wealth.

He assembled a group of owners that bought the Orioles for $173 million, then a sports-franchise record, in 1993, and he is still the franchise's majority owner. The Orioles are now worth $296 million, according to Forbes.

During the 1994 labor stoppage, Angelos broke ranks with his peers when he was the lone owner to oppose hiring replacement players to finish the '95 season, which would have broken the players' union.

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who has vowed to fight the future relocation of any team to New Jersey, is a new bulldog ally.

Angelos, who hates vacations, adores bulldogs. He works weeknights until 8 or 9, then usually brings his English bulldog, Sluggo, into the office on weekends, when he toils until early afternoon.

"The Angelos Factor" is a common phrase in Maryland's capital halls in Annapolis.

"I don't think any major league franchise wants another one next door to them, 30 miles away," he said. "It hasn't worked and it won't work. It only makes two mediocre franchises that can't compete, and I don't think that helps anyone."

Angelos seems very well aware how that might help Las Vegas.