COMMACK, N.Y. -- A suburban New York businessman says he wants to buy the Montreal Expos and move them to Washington but has had only preliminary contact with baseball officials in the District of Columbia.

Mark Broxmeyer called a news conference Monday to discuss his interest in the Expos, who are owned by the other 29 major league teams and are up for sale.

Baseball officials, however, have been dealing with government groups, not potential owners, as they start the process of selling the Expos. Representatives of Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Portland, Ore. -- the three leading contenders -- met with baseball's committee on the Expos last week.

Broxmeyer met last week with officials of the commissioner's office but has not yet met with the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is leading the bid for Washington. One of his associates made a preliminary contact with the DC commission

Washington hopes to move the Expos to RFK Stadium in 2004 and into a new downtown stadium several years later.

Baseball officials want financing for a new ballpark in place before deciding where the Expos will move, a factor complicating the bid of Northern Virginia, which wants a conditional award of the team to be made before approaching the Virginia Legislature to complete a financing package.

A group headed by Fred Malek has spent the last few years trying to get a team for Washington.