Owners delay Expos vote

CHICAGO -- Major League Baseball owners surprisingly did not vote Thursday on the proposed move of the Montreal Expos to Washington D.C.\nBaseball commissioner Bud Selig said he still expected the move to take place, and said owners will vote on the deal by Dec. 6.\n"There are a myriad of issues still in play, so there was no vote taken," Selig said. "There will be a vote in the very near future."\nThe District of Columbia government has delayed financial approval of a new ballpark. The Expos' agreement with Washington calls for funding to be in place by Dec. 31.\n"The City Council has nothing to do with it," Selig said, adding that the postponement of a decision was caused by "internal issues."\nBaseball officials said they planned to announce Friday when the franchise will be renamed.\nThere has been great local interest in the Expos in Washington, which has been without a major league team since 1971, and season tickets went on sale Thursday morning. Plans call for a new ballpark to be built along the Anacostia River, about a dozen blocks south of the U.S. Capitol, and for the Expos to play there starting in 2008.\nWhile the agreement estimates the cost of refurbishing RFK Stadium, land acquisition and ballpark construction at $435 million, some D.C. council members have claimed it would be far higher, perhaps exceeding $600 million.\nDistrict of Columbia Council Chair Linda Cropp postponed a Nov. 9 vote on the deal, saying the District should spend two weeks seeking private financing. The money would come from a new tax on the city's largest businesses, a tax on baseball-related income and lease payments by the team's new owners.