My Expos will come back before the Sonics ever do.... lol irishock
Still
baseball
From Nick Cafardo's Sunday baseball notes column in the Boston Globe
Montreal now seen as a viable alternative
We’ve written before about a Montreal baseball revival. But now there’s some real talk about the possibility that the Rays, for instance, could see Montreal as a real alternative if plans for a new stadium don’t work out in the Tampa area.
The reason?
As we’ve pointed out, the Montreal business community is much different than it was in the past. There are large telecom companies and financial ins utions with big money. The city would need a new stadium, but Montreal baseball has a very strong grass-roots movement to explore the possibility.
As one AL executive pointed out recently, “Other cities — Washington D.C. and Seattle — have received second chances for franchises. It appears that Montreal would be a viable second-chance city given the financial opportunity there now. There have always been great baseball fans there. They never had a venue that was desirable for baseball and the economics never allowed them to keep the great talent they developed over the years.”
Former Expos outfielder Warren Cromartie, one of those spearheading the return of major league baseball to Montreal, said the group he’s formed will soon announce the results of a feasibility study, which Cromartie said has been positive.
Montreal will also host spring training games March 28 and 29 between the Blue Jays and the Mets, a sign that MLB sees the city as a viable option for expansion and/or relocation. Unfortunately, the games will be played at Olympic Stadium, but part of the feasibility study includes the building of a downtown stadium.
“We’ve sold 50,000 tickets for the games already,” Cromartie said. “We’re very excited about these games and a big gala we’re going to have. We hope to bring back all of the old Expos, like Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, and many others. We’re going to honor Felipe Alou. It’s going to be great.”
My Expos will come back before the Sonics ever do.... lol irishock
So you're an Expos, Clippers, and LA Kings fan? WTF
lol French-Canadians
lol Quebec s
lol you and your superioirity complex
Montreal got screwed the first time around. The Expos were a good organization who were about to surpass the Braves in the 90s before the strike occurred and when they got screwed out of a new stadium. I honestly miss the Expos and their logos. They had a ton of really good players in the 80s and 90s.
How old is the stadium? all the owners want new toys.......what comes first
the team then the stadium or?
Truth bombs, I still maintain to this day that the Expos were ed out of at least the 1994 World Series championship by Selig and the players' union, tbh....
In a ranking of baseball relocation candidates Montreal is ranked 8 out of 10.
City's that are rated ahead Las Vegas,San Antonio and Portland...........
They do take into account the Jeffery Loria ownership mess.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...rticleid=18886
yeah it's nice, but we have ed up and corrupt officials
So on paper it's look great, but .... time will tell
Well a stadium is 1st imo ........ well more specifically stadium location ... a downtown stadium would attract more people
This was the project before the relocation to DC
Now they are building new fancy condos there, so .....
Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Vladimir Guerrero, and Moises Alou! Love the unis as a kid and I have an Expos cap that I keep in my beisbol collection.
San Antonio could have them easy. Build a stadium north of SA and hand it over. That easy.
Good new for Expos fans
Still, lol baseball
Group Touts Baseball’s Return to Montreal
CANADA REAL TIME HOME PAGE »
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By David George-Cosh
Can baseball make a comeback in Montreal? Mais oui.
That’s the conclusion of a study that explored the financial viability of seeing Major League Baseball return to a city that hasn’t seen a professional baseball game since the Montreal Expos flocked to Washington D.C. at the end of the 2004 season.
“Based on several realistic assumptions, including broadcasting revenues and ticket sales similar to MLB averages, baseball’s return to Montreal is definitely feasible,” Warren Cromartie, president and founder of the Montreal Baseball Project and former Expos player, said in a statement. His group, along with the Board of Trade of Greater Montreal and other partners, commissioned the study.
Before baseball could return to the city, though, Montreal needs a new baseball stadium, and one-third of the cost of the estimate total 1.025 billion Canadian dollar ($963 million) cost should come from public funds, the group said.
That might be a tough sell, especially given that the province recently pushed back its forecastfor a return to a balanced budget due to a revenue shortfall. But a new stadium might just be what Montreal might need to see the sport succeed in the city.
Associated PressMontreal Expos fans fill an outfield section during a baseball game between the Tampa Bays Rays and Toronto Blue Jays Toronto in July 2013.
The Olympic Stadium, the Expos’ old home, was lambasted by fans and players alike for decrepit fielding conditions and cavernous playing environment.
Some fans shrugged off concerns over using public funds to lure baseball back to Montreal, saying the government could see its investment paid back in eight years by using MLB’s revenue-sharing model, which wasn’t in place when the Expos were around.
“Everything in [the study] is fairly reasonable. I don’t see anything in the study that isn’t out-of-whack or far-fetched,” said Matthew Ross, founder of Expos Nation, a non-profit organization that acts as a de facto fan club for the storied franchise.
Michel Leblanc, chief executive of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, said a new team in Montreal would boost Quebec’s economy during and after construction.
Jonah Keri, the author of a soon-to-be released book on the history of the Montreal Expos, said financial backing will remain a major hurdle for baseball in the city. But he said a major corporate sponsor could materialize.
Representatives from the Quebec government couldn’t immediately be reached.
Montreal’s return as a baseball town received some added weight Wednesday when American sports agent Scott Boras told reporters during the annual MLB Winter Meetings in Florida that Montreal would make an ideal candidate for MLB action, fueling speculation among wistful Expos fans. The Expos were the first MLB team to play outside the U.S., and achieved modest success during their 40-year run. They won the National League East division in 1981 while it was the best team in the majors in 1994 until a work stoppage forced the cancellation of the rest of the season. The franchise lives on as the Washington Nationals.
Expos fan support has lived on, with grassroots initiatives such as flooding left field seats with team jerseys during Toronto Blue Jays games.
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Would love to see the Expos back.
http://ballparkdigest.com/2013121969...rn-to-montreal
We baaaaaack, mother ers!Many baseball insiders assume MLB will return to Montreal, but some -- like agent Scott Boras -- are pushing for an earlier return if the Tampa Bay Rays cannot solve their ballpark issues.
Boras was pretty clear about Montreal serving as a better home to the Rays, as reported by Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune:
“The hope in baseball is you’d have a consistent product annually, you have a group of people in ownership that are putting winning baseball on the field, and you’d certainly have to say Tampa Bay has done that,” Boras said.
“My point was that baseball, collectively, to protect the game, to protect the market, and you have a product that is so successful and the market is not responding to it, what is the reason? The reason is not the performance of the franchise or the players. The reason has to be there’s a dynamic operating here that is not consistent with what other markets do in baseball.
“Clearly if you win and you’re successful, your fan base rewards. So my suggestion of New Jersey or Montreal or somewhere ... The idea is for the betterment of the game. I think we have to look at markets that aren’t rewarding playing the game at a high level.”
Now, Boras isn't the first person to suggest the Rays should look north of the border for a new home, but he's the one with the most knowledge of baseball's finances to say MLB would be viable in Montreal. The Rays would see an attendance jump playing at initially and temporarily at Olympic Stadium versus the Trop, to be sure, and given the state of politics in Tampa Bay, one could argue there's an equal chance of a new ballpark in both areas. And, one could argue that the economic future for an MLB is considerably brighter in Montreal than Tampa when it comes to TV contracts (Bell would be a natural partner) and media exposure. The trick would be turning that five-year honeymoon into momentum for a new ballpark.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Still, lol Baseball
Isn't sport agent Scot Boras loosing many of his clients and is one of the most
disliked agent that the owners have to deal with. I don't think he carries much
weight anymore. Sorry Clipper
Bring back the eLb!!!!
Expos will be backPERIOD
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/sel...6576--mlb.html
Still, lol baseball
Expos > Habs
Of course
Montreal was also mentioned by the Oakland A's too, along with San Antonio.
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