New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Major League Baseball is about to get its first Mexican-American owner as Arturo Moreno will be taking over the Anaheim Angels. The official announcement is expected to come Thursday from commissioner Bud Selig.

The 56-year-old Moreno, who made nearly a billion dollars in the billboard industry, will take over the team from the Walt Disney Company, which bought the club following Gene Autry's death in 1998. However, Disney has apparently lost money on the Angels since purchasing the team.

Major League Baseball owners met on Wednesday and apparently approved of Moreno's $180 million purchase of the team.

Being a Mexican-American owner in a city with an increasing Hispanic population should provide a positive step promotion-wise for the world champion Angels. Twenty-eight percent of major league rosters are composed of players born outside the United States.

"The commissioner is committed to diversity," said Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer "This is just the next step, a very important step, one that I think will be a first step in what I would think would be increasing minority involvement in ownership over time."

Moreno used to be a minority investor in the Arizona Diamondbacks, but couldn't get a controlling interest in the team in 2001 and was bought out last year. He also owns part of the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

Moreno has been familiar with the Angels since the team plays its spring training home games at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Moreno and his partner, Williams Levine, built a billboard company called Outdoor Systems and sold the entity to Infinity Broadcast Corporation for $8.7 billion in stock in 1999. Due to a merger, his Infinity stock was converted to stock of Viacom in 2000.

GOAL REMAINS TO MOVE THE EXPOS FOR 2004

Another topic DuPuy briefly discussed with the media on Wednesday afternoon was that of the Montreal Expos, who have in a sense become vagabonds. DuPuy noted there would be little public conversation about the proposals to move the Expos for 2004. However, he did say Major League Baseball is trying to come to a conclusion about the team getting out of Montreal at the end of this year.

DuPuy was also optimistic to have a specific stadium set in place, other than Montreal's Olympic Stadium, for the Expos to play in 2004. "It is possible to get it done in time for next season," said DuPuy. "We have not given up on that goal."

The owner members of Major League Baseball's Relocation Committee met today with Selig.

Washington, DC; Portland, Oregon; and Northern Virginia are being examined by baseball officials, who have said they want to make a decision on the Expos' future by the All-Star break in mid-July.

"There are back-up plans, there will continue to be back-up plans, but our primary goal is to get it done for next year," DuPuy said.

One of those other plans is to have the Expos play some or all of their games outside of Montreal in 2004, and not in one of the aforementioned areas. Twenty-two of the team's designated home games this year are taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"That's one of the options we have discussed from time to time," said DuPuy. "Just as we did for this year."

Playing the games in San Juan has proven to be a positive change of scenery for the Expos. An average crowd of 14,282 came out during a 10-game homestand in April at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which was filled at an average of 75 percent capacity.

The Expos have had tremendous trouble drawing crowds. A three-game series against the San Diego Padres last week drew just over 16,000 total fans.