NEW YORK -- Washington, Northern Virginia and Portland, Ore., have been invited to make formal presentations to baseball next month on why the Montreal Expos should be moved to their areas for the 2004 season.

The three groups, who had initial meetings with baseball on Jan. 28 and 29, were asked to travel to Phoenix to meet with the committee commissioner Bud Selig established on the future of the Expos.

Portland will go first, on the morning of March 20, followed by the District of Columbia in the afternoon. Northern Virginia will present the following day.

Baseball is meeting first with government and stadium authority officials. Owners prefer that financing for a new ballpark be in place before approving a move.

Selig's committee hopes to complete its work by midsummer, but Selig said last month he wasn't committing to a timetable.

The Expos, who started play in 1969, were purchased a year ago by the other 29 teams. The team has drawn poorly in recent years at Olympic Stadium, and the commissioner's office moved 22 home games this season to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an effort to raise attendance and revenue.

Portland would have the Expos play in 2003 at PGE Park, the 19,566-seat ballpark of the Triple-A Portland Beavers, until a new stadium in ready. Washington and Northern Virginia would have the team play at RFK Stadium in the District of Columbia until a new ballpark is constructed.