NEW YORK -- Virginia officials want baseball to conditionally approve a move of the Montreal Expos to their area before completing financing plans for a new ballpark.

Baseball's committee completed its first round of meetings with the three contenders for the Expos -- Northern Virginia, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. -- and all three areas said financing for a new ballpark dominated discussions in their bids to lure the Expos from Montreal for the 2004 season.

"There was money, there was money, and there was money," Virginia Commerce and Trade Secretary Michael J. Schewel said after his delegation's meeting Wednesday.

"Obviously, I think that's the No. 1 issue on the minds of major league baseball," Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said.

Northern Virginia -- which would build a ballpark in Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun counties outside Washington -- thinks it is farthest along because the Virginia government enacted legislation in 1997 to partially fund a ballpark with revenue generated by sales and income taxes generated by a new team and a tax on tickets.

The Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority estimates it would have enough revenue to issue $125 million in 30-year bonds to fund construction, but a ballpark would cost more than $300 million. The ownership group that would by the team is expected to pay one-third of the ballpark cost, but no plans cover the rest.

The District of Columbia and Portland haven't put any financing plans in place.

"We are asking for a conditional award so we can get out final pieces in place," authority executive director Gabe Paul Jr. said.

The Virginia group would have the team play in Washington's RFK Stadium for at least three years before a new ballpark is built.

Paul thinks legislators would be more likely to approve additional financing if they knew their votes would guarantee a move of the Expos to their area. Too many baseball supporters in Virginia, according to Paul, "had their hearts broken before."

But the Virginia Legislature is likely to recess next month and isn't scheduled to meet again in a regular session until 2004, creating doubt on the speed financing could be put in place. Baseball officials would like to make a decision this summer on the future of the Expos, who were purchased by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season.

After their meetings Tuesday, officials from the District of Columbia and Portland said they are formulating financing plans but weren't ready to disclose them.

The baseball committee hasn't publicly reacted to this week's meetings. More formal presentations will follow, probably in six-to-eight weeks.

"They would like to see, as anybody in their position, 100 percent public financing," Paul said. "It's our opinion that's not going to happen."