Montreal is in the race for an expansion team.
When we last saw Stephen Bronfman, he was left standing at the altar with no partner in the sister cities union of the Tampa Bay and Montréal markets and a parenting of the Rays’ baseball franchise. In 2022, MLB owners killed the marriage of the Tampa Bay Rays’ ownership and potential investors in Montréal as the owners ended the plan that would have seen the Tampa Bay Rays’ home games split between somewhere in the Tampa market and in Montréal. The Rays’ ownership stepped back and assessed and found a willing partner to build a stadium-village in St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch. Rays’ ownership and Welch are attempting to finalize the Rays’ stadium-village plan. Stephen Bronfman, who has money to own an MLB team, walked all away from trying to bring MLB back to Montréal. However he might be back if the right situation presents itself.
MLB is looking to expand with Nashville a favorite to land one of two franchises. Oakland, Las Vegas, Portland, Oregon, Raleigh are in play for the other slot. Bronfman has expressed an interest in getting a franchise back in Montréal . “So I think as expansion nears, I think there will definitely be consideration for Montreal. But we’re also in a situation where this deal will not be anything like the affordable deal of doing business with Tampa and Tampa would’ve been the majority partner. “ said Bronfman, “But I don’t have the resources to be the primary person. In today’s dollars, it’s just kind of crazy money. But to get involved in trying to pull the pieces back together, the goodwill that we’ve built with the province, the goodwill we’ve built with the league, just the family connections through 1969 in baseball, with the ownership groups, there’s definitely a role I would play.” MLB will charge billions of dollars for an expansion team.
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