"We're running a very tough timeline right now," commissioner Bud Selig said after the quarterly owners meetings ended. "There's intense work going on because if we're going to proceed for 2005, we obviously have to do so in the next month or so."

The games, though, targeted for the United States during Spring Training, could be delayed until 2006 if a number of logistical considerations are not resolved in the next few weeks, including invitations to the baseball federations of the 16 countries being considered for the competition. All Major League players would be eligible to participate in the World Cup.

"The next three weeks are critical," said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president of international business operations."There are so many things to be done, you come to a point where you just run out of time."

In other news, Selig said that MLB will continue to take a closer look at an exclusive MLB cable channel, having agreed to the concept, but there's no timeframe for implementation. Regarding the relocation of the Expos, Selig reiterated on Thursday that he expects to hear a comprehensive report from the relocation committee in the next few weeks with a decision about where the team will be moving still targeted for July's All-Star break.

Six communities are vying for the MLB-owned and operated team: Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, Portland, Ore., Norfolk, Va., Las Vegas and Monterrey, Mexico.

"I don't want to put a timeframe [on that meeting], but it will be very soon," Selig said. "The [committee] still has a lot more work to do and they're talking about gathering more information. The sooner that it's done, the better. It's just one more thing to get off my plate and I'll be happy about that."

As far as baseball's World Cup is concerned, Archey and Selig said that MLB still wants to have the first one played as soon as possible with the next event virtually set for 2009 and then every four years after that.

Archey said MLB would rather not have to bump up against a 2006 international sports schedule, which includes the Winter Olympics and soccer's own World Cup. Those major events are also scheduled on a four-year cycle that MLB would like to avoid.

After this summer's Olympics in Athens, Greece -- which includes an eight-country baseball tournament -- MLB would have the world arena to itself next year.

"To be in the cycle we want to be on it's important that we do it right away," Selig said. "Whether we can or not, time will tell, but I'm hopeful we can. We're really trying to expedite things, but there's an enormous amount of work to be done on this. There are all kinds of logistics to be worked out."

The timeline on baseball's World Cup was stalled this year as MLB and the players association negotiated a drug-testing program that matched well with standards set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and adhered to by the Olympics.

That program was resolved earlier this month and was approved by the International Baseball Federation.

As opposed to MLB, which tests only for anabolic steroids once a year, random urine analysis is conducted often on athletes involved in international competition. That testing is much wider in scope and includes a number of non-steroid-based drugs.

An athlete testing positive for a WADA-supervised event is suspended immediately from international competition for two years. An athlete testing positive for a second time is banned for life.

MLB players who participate in the World Cup would not have their professional status affected if they test positive during the international event.

With that out of the way, MLB International is now trying to set up marketing, television and advertising agreements while selecting applicable venues in the U.S. to play the games.

"It's a massive task," Archey said. "We want to get all our ducks in a row, before we've decided we're going ahead with March 2005."

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.