MLB may be in an expansion mode
There was an article on the CHMP-FM, Montréal, website that suggested that Major League Baseball officials might be interested in placing an expansion team in the city, if MLB does decide to expand. MLB officials are not going to dissuade any group of potential owners from any open cities who might want to buy an expansion team. But the reason why Montréal doesn’t have an MLB team is that the city doesn’t have a suitable MLB stadium. In the 1990s, the Bronfman family sold its business, the Expos, to Montréal investors who could not get a new stadium built in the city and through a strange series of franchise swaps, the Montréal Expos ownership ended up buying the Florida Marlins franchise and MLB took over the Expos franchise. MLB moved the franchise to Washington after the 2004 season.
There is no Montréal baseball stadium plan. Television money was also an issue at the end of the Montréal Expos run. But that may have changed over the past 19 years and a baseball team in Montréal may get a sizable local English and French TV deal. There are some questions about corporate support. In 1969, Montréal was the financial capital of Canada when MLB expanded into the city. The Separatist movement began in earnest in the 1970s and big money people fled to Toronto. The National Hockey League’s Canadiens get Montréal’s corporate support, the Major League Soccer Montréal franchise gets a small piece of what is available. There was a plan in 2021 to split Tampa Bay Rays home games between Montréal and somewhere in the Tampa Bay market but that was shelved. MLB does occasionally return to Montréal for a pre-season game or two featuring the Toronto Blue Jays. MLB has not opened up the expansion process but that could be coming soon.
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