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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Would Montreal be willing to pony up the funds to build a new MLB stadium? Is there a strong enough fanbase in Montreal to support an MLB tream? The Expos have been gone for 11 years, are they gone for good? Or is there a possibility of a baseball reincarnation in Montreal?
Would Montreal be willing to pony up the funds to build a new MLB stadium? Is there a strong enough fanbase in Montreal to support an MLB tream? The Expos have been gone for 11 years, are they gone for good? Or is there a possibility of a baseball reincarnation in Montreal?
There's alot of nostalgia for the Expos (hats everywhere) and there was a huge turnout when MLB hosted a game last year at the big O, but I'm going to go ahead and say no. I used to play baseball when I was a kid and loved to go and see the Expos, but even then baseball was losing popularity at the grassroots, youth level. Now with them gone, the grassroots popularity of the sport has cratered, major league soccer has come to the city and the team is starting to do very well, and the Alouettes and football have become even more popular. I just don't see it working without baseball as a sport becoming more popular again. Let's start with a minor league team as they have in Quebec City and go from there. If in twenty years Montreal has grown significantly and can support yet another professional sports league, baseball is doing well at the minor league and in the community, the dollar happens to be high, and government is in a spending mood for a stadium - then maybe.
Attendance records over the years.= Montreal Expos attendance per year - ExposNation
Enough for the public to finance a new stadium?
Seems to me if tax payers funded a new stadium youd still have the same baseball fans going to the games which obviously didnt equate to enough paying customers for Montreal to retain its MLB team.
If on the other hand its a totally private endeavor by all means build the stadium,maybe they will come.
Turcot Yards would be an ideal location.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Exhibition game -- Cincinnati and Toronto played here this past weekend. Attendance was pretty much at capacity at over 46,000. And that was on Easter/Passover weekend. It was very exciting and fun, which made it feel like Montreal could support a team again. It could have been the novelty of it, though, from not having the Expos here for so long.
The tricky issues are (a) build a new stadium or re-purpose an existing one; (b) location of the stadium -- nobody wants to schlep to the Big O on a regular basis; (c) money -- it's going to take someone (or a group of someones) with deep pockets to fund this.
Do I hope that it happens? Sure. It would be great to have baseball back in Montreal.
Do I think that it will happen? No. Sadly, no.
And the Habs would have to give Youppi back! (Speaking of the Habs, what about Carey Price setting the record last night for most wins in the regular season? Pretty stinkin' awesome!)
I think baseball definitely has roots and a history in Montreal and Quebec (going back to Jackie Robinson and the Royals) but the grassroots are much shallower than anywhere else in Canada-USA. The whole Field of Dreams, Casey at the Bat, John Fogarty's "Centerfield" etc cultural narrative, in addition to the spillover American sports media attention to MLB, doesn't really have much of an impact here.
So sure, that weekend with the Jays and Reds, and Russell Martin, etc. was nice.
But I am unsure that there is really the required base that would bring out an average of 20-25,000 people for 81 games a year, in good times and bad, to see the Expos 2.0 in Montreal.
And that's really what you need in order for an MLB team to be viable.
I wonder what would have happened if the MLB strike never happened. That Expos team had a very good chance at winning a World Series. Imagine if they went on to win and retain the core of that team? I highly doubt a team that well built for perennial contention would have issues drawing a crowd and support.
I wonder what would have happened if the MLB strike never happened. That Expos team had a very good chance at winning a World Series. Imagine if they went on to win and retain the core of that team? I highly doubt a team that well built for perennial contention would have issues drawing a crowd and support.
Attendance was good before the strike, if it hadn't happened I'm absolutely sure the Expos would still be in Montreal.
The economics of MLB have not changed since the Expos left. Unless the team gets a significant local TV contract, they will never be able to compete. Attendance is not the major source of revenue. When I lived in New York, $3 per month of my cable bill went to pay for EACH of the YES Network (owned by the Yankees) and SNY (owned by the Mets), whether I watched them or not. There are 35 million people that live in Metro New York City. How do you compete with that? Most major market teams have such a deal.
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