The Sidelines : Approval of Expos’ Sale on Hold

MONTREAL —  The sale of the Montreal Expos to a group headed by team President Claude Brochu apparently is being delayed by questions baseball owners have about the complicated financing package put together by the prospective management.

An agreement in principle for Charles Bronfman to sell the team was announced on Nov. 29, and both sides hoped everything would be cleared by early February.

“To be honest, the entire process has taken a little longer than I anticipated,” Brochu said in an interview that appeared in today’s Montreal Gazette. “I met last week with the major-league ownership committee and there were a couple of aspects of the sale that they questioned. Really, what they want more than anything else is to be absolutely certain that the ownership structure is solid, that all the loans have been approved--things of that nature.”