CHICAGO -- Stay or go? The Montreal Expos would like to know within 10 days.

After baseball owners ratified the new labor agreement Thursday, Expos president Tony Tavares expects commissioner Bud Selig will now turn his attention to the team's future.

"There are two general options, stay or move. Then if you move, where to and how fast can you do it?'' Tavares said. "I would say our fate will be determined over the next 10 days or so.

"From my perspective, the sooner the better.''

Bill Bartholomay, chairman of the Atlanta Braves, agreed.

"I think it's very important to get it resolved sooner rather than later,'' he said. "I think our leadership is already moving in that direction.''

With low attendance, hardly any local broadcasting money and only slight prospects for a new ballpark, the Expos were the leading candidate for contraction. On Thursday, the team drew an announced crowd of 2,134, the smallest since Olympic Stadium opened in 1977.

Under the new labor agreement, though, no franchise can be folded through the 2006 season. So baseball's 29 other clubs must decide whether to keep the Expos in Montreal and continue subsidizing them or allow them to move.

The other 29 clubs bought the Expos earlier this year for $120 million from Jeffrey Loria, who purchased the Florida Marlins.

"I guess it's a tolerance issue for the rest of the owners, how much they're willing to spend,'' Tavares said. "What I wouldn't want to do is, 'Let's go in and be a Triple-A franchise and take all our best players and sell them off.' That's happened much too often in the past in Montreal.

"You've got to really slap up everything on a wall, look at all the obstacles and all the benefits and, after a comprehensive analysis, say what's best,'' added Tavares, hired last winter by Selig.

While Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and Charlotte, N.C., have expressed interest in having a major league team, Selig in January called Washington the "prime candidate.''

Washington has been trying to lure a team since the expansion Senators moved to Texas after the 1971 season. Washington is also the only prospective city with a major league-size ballpark available for 2003.

Any team moving to the area would play at RFK Stadium for at least two years while a new stadium is built.

"As far as relocation is concerned, Washington D.C., has been and remains ready and eager to welcome major league baseball back,'' said Bobby Goldwater, president and executive director of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is working with one of the two area groups trying to attract a team.

"If a call came tomorrow or 10 days from now or a month from now, we're prepared to work with major league baseball to successfully have a team return to the District,'' Goldwater added. "There are many scenarios that could play out here. We just know that there's no better place to relocate a major league baseball team to than the District.''

Orioles owner Peter Angelos disagrees. Angelos objects to moving a team to Washington because he says it would cut into his club's fan base. Camden Yards is only about 40 miles from downtown Washington.

"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. "Why then 30 miles from Camden Yards?''

Tavares didn't rule out the possibility of staying in Montreal.

But the team lacks the lucrative broadcast deals most clubs have. Only a handful of games were on television this year, all on a French-language station.

Attendance has been over 2 million only four times in the team's 34-year history. There's little public support for a new stadium, and no prospective owner who could fund construction has come forward. Then there's the simple cost of doing business, made more expensive by the weak Canadian dollar.

While the Expos will get help from increased revenue sharing, Tavares said it won't be enough to cover the projected jump in payroll next year. Montreal had an opening day payroll of $38.7 million, and Tavares said he expects it to increase by a minimum of $16 million next year.

Eight players are eligible for salary arbitration, and several others -- including All-Stars Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro -- already have deals calling for raises.

"How do you operate given the increase in costs?'' Tavares said. "While we'll get some relief, it's certainly not enough to solve all our problems.''

Which is where the owners come in.

"We're still an orphan,'' Tavares said. "Nobody's adopted us yet.''