For a moment, I thought I was in the TV thread. Moving on… Procedures have varied from one expansion to another. Timelines have been different, and the expansion drafts have been structured differently. But generally, I think baseball has asked for applications and has gone from there. That wouldn't stop a potential ownership group from making their desires known at any time they please, though. Fútbol (soccer) is definitely the number one team sport in Mexico. But baseball does have a presence. The Cardinals played the 49ers in Mexico City in 2005. I can't find any horror stories about that; what I find is overwhelmingly positive. It appears that the Texans are looking to schedule a game there in 2017. Regarding safety, I'd be very careful about sensationalist language used by people who have an agenda. Objective reports state that personal safety concerns are significantly greater than they were a couple of decades ago. But they also emphasize that Mexico is a huge country and that the majority of it is fine as long as you take the precautions you'd take when traveling anywhere else. Specifically, the US government says that the Federal District (Mexico City) is good but that travelers should exercise caution in its outer suburbs in the State of Mexico. FWIW, Jamaica has a much higher homicide rate than Mexico.