PORTLAND, Ore. -- For six years, Lynn Lashbrook has been on a crusade to bring major league baseball to Oregon. In the Montreal Expos, he sees his best chance yet.

"Nobody really believes it can happen,'' said Lashbrook, former athletics director for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "But you and I both know the Expos have to go somewhere.''

Lashbrook worked at UAF from 1988-1993.

Major league baseball, which operates the Expos on behalf of the other 29 teams, isn't sure whether the team will remain in Montreal after this season.

A move is an option, with Washington, D.C., the leading candidate. Charlotte, N.C.; Las Vegas; and Portland also are possibilities, and an investor group said this week it wants to buy the franchise and move it Puerto Rico.

"I'm embarrassed that we're bigger than Kansas City and we don't have a major league team,'' said Lashbrook, president of the Oregon Baseball Campaign, which hopes to bring the Expos to the City of Roses.

Commissioner Bud Selig said back in January that Washington was a "prime candidate,'' for relocation. But Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos doesn't want another team in his area.

Expos president Tony Tavares doesn't know where the team will wind up.

"It's a very difficult situation to be in,'' he said. "To be the leader of a group of people who every day want to know what the future holds for them.''

John McHale, executive vice president of administration in the commissioner's office, is studying the alternatives for Selig and his staff.

"The season isn't over yet,'' McHale said. "There's no particular immediacy to this.''

The Portland Oregon Sports Authority has already submitted a proposal to major league baseball and is poised to do whatever necessary to formally bid for the Expos. That includes playing host to them temporarily to demonstrate that Portland can support a team.

"They need to answer first that philosophical question whether it's best for the Expos to exist in Montreal -- or flourish somewhere like Portland,'' said Drew Mahalic, chief executive officer of the sports authority.

Portland supporters cite the availability of an interim stadium, PGE Park, the commuter-friendly downtown home of the Triple-A Portland Beavers. The ballpark seats more than 25,000 and features 38 luxury boxes.

The Portland metropolitan area has 2.3 million people, the largest metro area with just one pro sports franchise -- the NBA's Trail Blazers.

"Our city was made for baseball,'' Lashbrook said. "We're a pedestrian city. They'd sell out every game. You could grab a latte and walk less than three blocks to a baseball game.''

While no potential owner or ownership group has emerged locally, those putting the Portland bid together aren't concerned. "That will be the easy part,'' Mahalic said.

Lashbrook, who teaches sports management and is president of an online company that trains sports agents, will keep on trying, even if the Expos don't move to Portland. He admits that some see him as a dreamer, but the Expos have him as hopeful as he's ever been.

"It's coming,'' he said. "It's just a matter of when.''