TORONTO – Aside from the sheer volume of fans in attendance, what stands out most about the Toronto Blue Jays’ first three exhibition series in Montreal might be the amount of emotion on display.
The crowds have been loud, filling Olympic Stadium with noise. Expos legends such as Pedro Martinez, Tim Raines and Vladimir Guerrero have responded to the fans every time. Even active players have felt the energy. As his father played the national anthems on the saxophone in 2015, Russell Martin fought back tears.
When moments like this emerge from otherwise meaningless spring training games, baseball fans wonder, what’s next? Doesn’t Major League Baseball see the potential for a thriving team in Montreal? A group of local investors does, according to an unnamed source who told the Canadian Press Wednesday that “we believe we have all the ingredients to be able to welcome a team, be it an expansion one or one that already exists.”
Noteworthy, to be sure, but for at least one more year memorable moments and eager investors may only mean so much. After all, MLB officials are running a $10 billion business with designs on getting bigger. They aren’t going to let something as fleeting as sentimentality drive their decision making.
Three years after baseball first returned to Montreal, the fans who fill Olympic Stadium still don’t know whether the Expos will ever return. There’s no less hope than before, but Montreal’s chances of getting a baseball team are inextricably tied to the ongoing stadium searches in the Oakland and Tampa areas.
Now, after years of apparent inactivity, both the Athletics and Rays expect answers this year (though many will believe it when they see it). Any kind of resolution would increase Montreal’s chances of landing a team. If the A’s and Rays get stadium deals, Montreal can bid for an expansion team. If the stadium deals fall through, Montreal becomes a top relocation candidate.
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It’s the state of limbo that’s the worst-case scenario for those hoping to see MLB return to Montreal. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred considers baseball a growth sport, so eventually expansion will be on the table. As far as scheduling, 32 teams is a ‘nice number for us,’ Manfred said in October. For cities like Mexico City, Charlotte, Portland, and Las Vegas that’s good news.
For now, though, they’ll have to be patient.
“There are two stadium situations, Tampa and Oakland, that need to be resolved before I believe the owners have any appetite for thinking about expansion,” Manfred said.
So even if a group of Montreal investors has support from two levels of government, as CP’s Frédéric Daigle reported Wednesday, there’s simply not an expansion team to be had right now. Whether MLB says as much or not, Montreal’s most useful now as a way of creating pressure in the Bay Area and Florida. The unspoken message: fail to support your team and we can always move to Montreal. If MLB were to expand before securing new stadiums for the A’s and Rays, those clubs would lose leverage locally.
Considering that Oakland just lost its other pro sports team—the Raiders are leaving the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum for Vegas—the A’s might now be positioned to get additional support locally. Manfred says he wants a team in Oakland, while the A’s issued a statement this week reaffirming their intent to stay.
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“We are focused on and excited about our efforts to build a new ballpark in Oakland and look forward to announcing a location this year,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the Rays also expect resolution on their stadium site search by the end of 2017 (though not by August, as initially hoped). They have permission to search for sites in nearby Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, creating some flexibility for club owner Stuart Sternberg.
“It’s highly likely there will be a workable site,” Sternberg told the Tampa Bay Times. “I’m confident.”
Sternberg financed a feasibility study for building a baseball stadium in Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood, independent journalist Pierre Trudel reported this fall. Depending on your perspective, such a study could be interpreted as due diligence, a scare tactic intended to create local pressure, or both.
Regardless, fans in Montreal have reason to cheer for resolution as much as anyone in Oakland or St. Petersburg. Another strong showing at Olympic Stadium would help reinforce the idea that Montreal can support a team, without a doubt. Maybe we’ll get another memorable moment or two.
But even then, until the Athletics and Rays know what’s next, it’s hard to see how Montreal can be a big-league city for more than a couple days a year.
