Gallagher: Embrace Tampa-Montreal concept because MLB expansion call not a lock
The attendance at Toronto Blue Jays spring exhibition games at Olympic Stadium in recent years has shown that there is definitely an appetite for Major League Baseball to return to Montreal.
September 24, 2019
By Danny Gallagher
Canadian Baseball Network
When Jeremy Jacobs decided to hand over the reins of the Boston Bruins ownership group to his children recently, I immediately thought of his comments some 18 months ago about a prospective return of an NHL team to Quebec City.
What he had to say wasn't very encouraging for Quebec's chances to make a return to big-league hockey, even with the relatively new Videotron Place. We all hope baseball owners don't feel the same way about Montreal if it ever comes to expansion.
“Quebec is challenged, OK, I’m going to put it nicely. They’re challenged,” Jacobs said to reporters way back when. “Look at the income base and the population base and there probably isn’t a smaller market, so they’re going to really have to distinguish themselves in some other way, I would think.”
Of course, we know that Montreal is a much larger city and enjoyed Major League Baseball for 36 seasons before the Expos were transferred to Washington following the 2004 season.
As of 2016, Quebec City had an estimated population of 705,103, which would make it the eighth-largest Canadian city just behind Winnipeg. The Nordiques left Quebec City in 1995, one year before the Jets left Winnipeg for Arizona.
The NHL also added another reason for not wanting to give Quebec City a franchise.
“The decision to defer was based on elements over which Quebec City, the Quebec City group, had no control whatsoever,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in 2016 when Vegas was confirmed as the 31st franchise. “Significantly, the fluctuation of the Canadian dollar throughout the process, including its decline to a low of 68 cents earlier this year, was a factor.
"In considering both applications for expansion, it was a priority of the board to create conditions that would place an incoming club or clubs in the best position to exceed on an expedited basis. Unfortunately, the state and volatility of the Canadian dollar undermined the achievement of that objective relative to the Quebec City bid.”
Even though some people might think Montreal would be a slam-dunk for any expansion, it would be far from realistic. Sure the Canadian dollar is now worth a still-puny 75 cents U.S. That's why we must embrace the idea, how ever weird it sounds, of Montreal hosting a number of regular-season games involving the Tampa Bay Rays down the road.
Baseball's 11-man executive council gave its blessing a few months ago to the Tampa ownership to explore playing a large number of games in Montreal, beginning in 2024, which seems like an eternity away. If some of us had our druthers, Rays majority owner Stuart Sternberg will sell his team to the Stephen Bronfman ownership group which will relocate the team to Montreal long before 2024. But who are we to say as we sit on the backburner looking at these affairs from afar?
When it comes to expansion and you get 30 owners in a room, don't necessarily bet on Montreal being one of the choices. Portland, Ore. is getting a lot of play as is Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., maybe even another city in Texas. Wanna bet that some of those owners see some reports of hardliners in Quebec wanting that province to separate from the rest of Canada?
So you can't assume these owners will pick Montreal as an expansion site. Expansion is a crap shoot. The U.S. owners might just want to stay with U.S. cities.
That's why embracing the Tampa Bay-Montreal concept is important for everyone involved. For Montreal, it's a foot in the door to getting a permanent team because expansion is far from a lock. An established franchise like the Rays sounds a lot better, too, than a rookie expansion franchise.