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Okay, so I get that Montreal is a hockey city... They love their hockey up there, and quite frankly, so do I. HOWEVER, the reality of it is that the Canadiens are a far cry from ever being contenders again (as with all other Canadian teams. Is it time maybe to start putting less focus on the Canadiens, and start promoting other sports more heavily? The Impact have a cult following, but outside of that, does anyone even talk about them? Other than when they played that Mexican team last year? MLS is becoming the next big thing, and I feel that with the right kind of promotion, it could be HUGE in Montreal.
Since there is no NBA or MLB in Montreal (RIP Expos), there needs to be more than just hockey there. Even small dinky cities like Buffalo have more going on in terms of pro sports.
Montreal has NHL, MLS and CFL - which is pro even though it's not as big a deal as the NFL.
NBA and MLB are not coming to Montreal anytime soon IMO.
As for MLS, it's as big a deal in Montreal as any other city in the league except Seattle. There is lots of buzz around L'Impact and you would notice it if you were here.
They had 27,000 for their home opener on Sunday which is the third-highest in the league this season. And L'Impact have drawn 60,000 for some games at the Big O.
The Alouettes also draw a pro sports buzz around them.
Ultimately, we have to be realistic, and Montrealers and Quebecers don't seem to be nuts about professional team spectator sports like Americans (and even other Canadians).
Individual sports like tennis and Formula 1 auto racing are also very popular here and vie for attention.
The Grand Prix draws a couple hundred thousand people in a single weekend.
And the Rogers Cup (Canadian Open) tennis in Montreal outdraws the same tournament in Toronto every single year in spite of the fact that the two stadiums are the same size.
Some cities just attract more professional sports teams.
Boston has a metropolitan population of 4.7 million and has all the major league franchises.
Montreal has a metropolitan population of 4.2 million and has an NHL team.
Something I have always wondered is why Canadians do Soccer chants from Spain at hockey and baseball games? Ole ole ole oleeeee? How and when did this start? Its pretty damn annoying!
Canadians in general just aren't into team spectator sports like Americans are.
This is even truer in Montreal and even in Quebec in general.
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