MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad has confirmed that his team is being seriously considered for elimination in baseball's plans to contract, saying the Twins and Montreal Expos wound up at the bottom in a study of the teams' economics.

	“	How much shall I pay for a legacy? Shall I pay a couple of hundred million dollars just for the privilege of showing baseball in the state of Minnesota? No. ”
		— Carl Pohlad

In an extensive interview with Minnesota Public Radio broadcast Friday, Pohlad was asked whether the Twins were one of the teams being "considered very seriously" for contraction.

"That's true," Pohlad said.

"Baseball didn't go into this blindly. They did a lot of market studies. They had a point system, the performance of baseball teams at a given town and they developed a lot of statistics that said Montreal and Minneapolis -- or Minnesota -- simply doesn't meet the test of being able to field a winning team because of the economics."

Since owners voted Nov. 6 to shut down two teams and disperse their players, the Twins and Expos have been mentioned most prominently as the ones that could go. But the two Florida franchises and the Oakland Athletics have been mentioned, too.

Pohlad said he didn't know how soon contraction -- baseball owners' term for eliminating franchises -- would happen, if it does.

Pohlad repeated earlier statements that his family doesn't want to get out of baseball. But he can't justify spending his family's money to prop up the Twins any longer, he told MPR.

In September, Fortune Magazine estimated his net worth at $1.8 billion. That was before the recent sale of most of his banking assets to Wells Fargo. Some estimates now put his worth at close to $3 billion.

Pohlad rejected the idea that he should pay for a stadium simply because he's wealthy.

"How much shall I pay for a legacy? Shall I pay a couple of hundred million dollars just for the privilege of showing baseball in the state of Minnesota? No," Pohlad said. "You wouldn't do it and neither would anybody else."

Baseball owners want to eliminate two teams by next season, but face several obstacles. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission obtained an injunction to compel the Twins to play in the Metrodome in 2002, though the Twins and baseball are appealing the decision.

The players' union has challenged contraction with a grievance that has stalled work on a new labor contract that must be settled before next season. And legislation in Congress would repeal baseball's antitrust exemption as it applies to franchise moves and contraction.

Alabama businessman Donald Watkins has expressed interest in buying the Twins, and a group of Minnesota businessmen have been exploring a run at the team. A government task force is looking at stadium possibilities and will present its findings to the Legislature, which might consider some plan during the session that convenes in January.

Pohlad wouldn't say how much he would seek for the Twins, and told MPR he's had no serious offers.

"Our family doesn't want to get out of baseball ... sometimes what you want to do and what you end up doing can be driven by a number of factors," Pohlad said.

"For the last 10 years we've been working hard to get a stadium. We've spent millions of dollars in that effort in the legislative session and we were never able to get it done. As a result of that, you finally get tired of underwriting all of the losses that we've have had in baseball and it wasn't fair to my family or our business."