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Expos' relocation would benefit state

Date published: 3/2/2003

ESTON--"Northern Virginia Is Major League!" That's the slogan of Virginians for Baseball, a volunteer fan club numbering over 12,000 members that's working to bring America's national pastime to the commonwealth.

Later this month, Virginia will get its chance to demonstrate to Major League Baseball's relocation committee that it is ready to join the ranks of big-league states. Yes, after three decades of hoping that MLB would locate a team in the capital area to replace the old Washington Senators, Virginia is a finalist in baseball's World Series of franchise relocation.

MLB is expected to announce by mid-July where the Montreal Expos' new permanent home will be: Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, or Portland, Ore. No other localities are under consideration. Frankly, we do not believe that Portland is ready to support a major-league team. This time, it's going to be either Virginia or D.C. (Both Virginia and D.C. would use Washington's RFK Stadium on a temporary basis, while the new ballpark is under consideration.)

Thanks to the foresight of Govs. George Allen and Jim Gilmore, and Del. Vince Callahan, Sen. Dick Saslaw, and other strong supporters in the General Assembly, Virginia has prepared carefully for this day since a group led by then Fairfax County Board Chairman (now Congressman) Tom Davis and telecommunications executives Bill Collins and Mark Warner made an unsuccessful Northern Virginia bid for a baseball expansion franchise back in 1994.

A succession of legislation enacted since then established a framework for a responsible public-private partnership to build a new major-league ballpark in Northern Virginia once a franchise award is guaranteed. Under the Virginia model, the team's owners would pay for at least one-third of the cost of building the ballpark--estimated at $300 million in 1997 and now likely to be somewhat higher, depending upon site acquisition and preparation costs.

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Date published: 3/2/2003