SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Baseball owners appear to agree with commissioner Bud Selig's proposal to have the league that wins the All-Star Game get home-field advantage in the World Series.

More on the All-Star Game ...

A couple of things to keep an eye on as owners meet to vote on linking the All-Star Game's result to home-field advantage in the World Series: 1. The Players' Association has deep reservations about this idea, so even if it's approved, it may never come to pass. 2. Although Bud Selig has a number of ideas for how to make the All-Star Game more meaningful and more competitive (and of course, less likely to end in a tie), none of them will be formally enacted. Selig plans to urge the All-Star managers to play their starters deeper into the game and will instruct managers to save enough players (and pitchers) over the first nine innings that if a game goes extra innings, they'll actually be able to finish it. -- Jayson Stark

"The game has lost importance. It's turned into an exhibition," Montreal Expos president Tony Tavares said Wednesday. "Last year was embarrassing and difficult."

Selig came up with the plan following last year's All-Star Game, which ended in a 7-7, 11-inning tie when both leagues ran out of players. Owners were to vote on it Thursday morning.

"It will put back a little of the sizzle," San Francisco executive vice president Larry Baer said.

In recent years, as the differences between the American and National leagues lessened because of increased player mobility and interleague play, many players have treated the All-Star Game as a show rather than a game.

"I spent eight months thinking about this and, frankly, we've spent years thinking about it," said Selig, who credits Philadelphia owner Bill Giles with coming up with the idea.

Since the start of the World Series in 1903, home field has alternated between the leagues.

The change is strongly backed by Fox, which holds baseball's national television rights. It also needs approval of the Players' Association.

"We've been discussing it with players," union head Donald Fehr said. "We know they're interested in it, and we'll get back to them."

Some veteran players are against it, including New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, the NL player representative.

"It's not something I'm in favor of," Glavine told The New York Times. "I would find it hard to believe that most players would want the outcome of the All-Star Game to determine home-field advantage for the World Series."

A management official who had spoken with the union said that while the change was likely to become an issue between the sides, the union said it was still unclear what position it would adopt.

As the two-game meeting began Wednesday, the committee on the future of the Montreal Expos met. Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who is not on the committee, said he remains opposed to a move to the Washington area.

Downtown Washington and Northern Virginia are among the areas that have groups ready to bid for the Expos, who were bought last year by the other 29 major league teams.

Angelos said the committee had not consulted the Orioles, who claim a move to the Washington area would erode their fan base.

While Angelos said his talks with Selig were cordial, he sounded as if Baltimore's had little weight with Selig and Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

"The Orioles' position has been fully elaborated to the commissioner and Mr. DuPuy," Angelos said. "The commissioner and his people keep their own counsel."

When the committee was formed in November, DuPuy said his goal was to have a recommendation on a permanent solution for the Expos' problem by midsummer. Selig wouldn't say Wednesday whether that remained the goal.

"They're still working on getting organized," he said.

Groups from Washington, Northern Virginia and Portland, Ore., remain the favorites to land the Expos, who would be the first team to move since the expansion Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season.

People in other areas have expressed interest, such as Mexico City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the Expos will play 22 home games this season in an effort to increase revenue. While those areas may be allowed to meet with the committee, baseball views them as more likely for a future franchise than for the Expos in 2004.

Tavares said the bidders from the Washington area and Portland appeared to be ahead of the other areas because they have stadium plans.

"That's an important component," he said.

Community officials expect that following this week's meetings, they will be sent a list of information baseball would like to have, and that baseball will schedule interviews for February, March or April.

If baseball attempts to move the Expos to the Washington area, it could lead to a suit by Angelos, who made his fortune as a litigate. Downtown Washington is about 40 miles from Camden Yards, and he could claim putting a team that close interferes with his rights.

"You wouldn't put another team in the same market with Boston or in the same market with St. Louis or the same market with Minnesota," he said last year.