January 25, 2022

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The Project.

That's what William Jegher called it.

The Project. Simple as that.

Jegher said it started as a pro-bono initiative, then it became a feasibility study in 2012 around the time former Expos player Warren Cromartie began beating the drums to get baseball returned to Montreal.

Then it led to a private initiative and then it became a project "that essentially took a very traditional business model and completely disrupted it.''

What Jegher was referring to was the radically odd scenario where Montreal would share regular-season games with the Tampa Bay Rays, beginning in 2028.

Jegher was a key component and real-estate specialist for the Montreal Baseball Group's push for the split-agreement with Tampa Bay. He worked diligently in the background with prospective owners Stephen Bronfman, Mitch Garber and other parties.

Then it all came crashing down on Jan. 20 when MLB's executive council did an about-face from several years ago by reversing its initial okay for the sister plan, the time-share agreement.

"The Project died,'' Jegher said in a LinkedIn post. "It didn't die because of an error, or because of any mistakes made by the Project team. It died because sometimes, innovation and disruption are scary, and sometimes, maybe perhaps the world just isn't ready for your idea. The Project challenged the status quo, and maybe not everyone liked that.’’

Essentially, the folks at MLB got cold feet and didn’t want to be the first pro sports organization to get involved in an experiment of a team splitting its games with another city. The MLB’s old-school crew just didn’t think it was such a wonderful idea after all.

When Bronfman held a Zoom news conference shortly after MLB’s reverse decision, he wasn’t in any mood to discuss an expansion bid or a full relocation of another franchise, such as the Rays or the Marlins, both of whom only draw flies.

One can only surmise that the idea of having a full team consistent with an expansion team or a relocated team would cost several billion dollars, whereby a half-season entity would cost so much less money. You could see why Bronfman and his group were excited about a split-city scenario.

“I don't know if The Project will ever live again in some iteration. It's too early to tell,’’ Jegher wrote.

Until this bad news came along, Jegher was excited about what could have happened. He said the idea of a time-share agreement was “magical’’ in theory for the MBG, saying the “disruption was innovation.’’

Jegher said the idea of split games was “exactly what a modern-sharing economy needed. It would have been a huge ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) win, too.’’

In his LinkedIn address, Jegher added, “Over the last 2.5 years, we faced all the challenges we had on this Project, and one by one, we tackled them head on. And we worked them, and we worked them hard. Late nights, into the weekends, on my vacations. It didn't matter. My family understood. It was for The Project. And it was worth it.’’

Did the MLB brass think the twin-city idea lacked credibility and sensibility? Did the MLB people think it wasn’t right that Rays majority owner Stuart Sternberg should get money from games played not only in Tampa Bay but also Montreal?

Montreal fans, don’t despair. A lot can happen in a few years. Expansion? Relocation of a team? What remains to be seen is if Bronfman and his group will want to pursue a full team rather than half a team.

What also remains to be seen is if the proposed Peel Basin property for a new Montreal stadium will be purchased by another entity not related to the “Project’’?