Five Baltimore businessmen who two years ago...

Five Baltimore businessmen who two years ago tried to buy the New Orleans Saints have sent in an application for a National Football League expansion franchise.

Lawrence R. Rachuba, spokesman for the group, said that he sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and that three members of the group met Tuesday with their lawyer and Herbert J. Belgrad, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority.

“We thought it was time to come out and start to push things,” said Rachuba, head of Rachuba Enterprises Inc. Others in the group are John Paterakis, president of H&S; Bakery; Mike Batza, president of Heritage Properties; Henry J. Knott Jr., president of Henry J. Knott Development Co., and Earl Lindhan, president of Meridian Investments.

The NFL has said it won’t act on expansion until Rozelle negotiates new contracts with the television networks and the NFL Players Assn., and the defunct United States Football League exhausts its court appeals.