This humorous 1976 CBC news story details the uncertainty over the award of the Blue Jays expansion franchise. Gerald Ford had attempted to step in and force MLB to put a team in Washington first.
The best part of the video is Paul Godfrey (partway through the two-minute clip) apparently wearing some sort of Phil Donahue costume.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030825105634999