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PHILADELPHIA -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig received a contract extension through 2009 Thursday as owners praised his 12-year reign, but dissension surfaced among teams in the decision to launch a World Cup tournament.

Bud's selling himself short: He now has five years after this one.

Selig, who has presided over revolutionary changes in the most traditional of major U.S. sports, was given the three-year extension in a unanimous vote of the 30 teams. If he serves out the new term, he will have held the job for 17 years -- the second-longest tenure behind Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who became the first commissioner in 1920 and held the job until he died in 1944.

The 70-year-old Selig, whose family controls the Milwaukee Brewers, became acting commissioner in 1992 after leading the group that forced Fay Vincent's resignation. Selig was given a five-year term in July 1998, and three years later owners extended it through 2006.

"In September 1992, I told my wife when I got off the plane, she asked how long it would be, and I said, 'Two to four months,' " Selig recalled. "It's got to be the longest two to four months in history."

In April 2003, he said his current term would be his last.

"I had a series of owners who asked me after that time not to close my mind, and they were a little surprised that I had said that," Selig said. "Once they have articulated that, I believe that my responsibility and my feeling for the sport is such that I want to do what they think is in the best interests of the sport. ... I finally felt it was the right thing to do."

Selig could be commissioner-for-life if he wanted to, according to several owners.

"At this point, yes," the New York Mets' Fred Wilpon said. "God willing, Bud's health will be good. His own interest may change. But right now I'd say yes."

Colorado Rockies vice chairman Jerry McMorris said the group would have extended Selig's term for however long he desired.

"If he had wanted six years, seven years, 10 years, I think he would have gotten it today," McMorris said.

They also gave their preliminary go-ahead for the launch of a World Cup tournament, which Selig finally admitted could not begin until 2006.

However, the Chicago White Sox, Detroit and Kansas City voted against the World Cup and the New York Yankees abstained, one baseball official said on the condition of anonymity. In addition, Oakland made its vote for approval conditional, subject to insurance for players being worked out to its satisfaction.

Under Selig, baseball expanded the playoffs from four to eight teams in 1995, started interleague play in 1997, vastly increased revenue sharing among the clubs, got players to agree to a luxury tax on high-payroll clubs. Two years ago, players agreed to a labor contract without a work stoppage for the first time since 1970.

"This sport was a dinosaur. It didn't change, and then when you tried to change it, it obviously had a lot of critics," Selig said. "But the competition among other forms of entertainment and other sports will just intensify, and we have to be smart enough to always stay ahead of that curve."

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, told owners that no decision had been made on where to move the Montreal Expos, but that the relocation committee understood it was under time pressure to make a decision, one official at the meeting said.

Washington and Northern Virginia remain the leading candidates to land the franchise for next season, Baseball plans meetings government officials from both those areas along with Las Vegas and Norfolk, Va.

Baltimore owner Peter Angelos has objected to having a team in either downtown Washington, about 40 miles from Camden Yards, or Loudoun County, near Dulles International Airport, about 60 miles from Baltimore.

"I have a great affection for Peter Angelos, there's no question about that," Selig said. "In the end, on all subjects, you do what's in the best interests of the sport."

Several owners have said that without the Orioles issue, Washington and Northern Virginia are clearly the top choices.

"I would think that's the general view," San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan said. But he also added: "I'm sympathetic, as I think every other owner is, to any decision that would have a negative impact on any other owner."

Owners also approved the start of a baseball television network, which hopes to reach the air in July or October 2005.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press