That's one problem with teams in Canada. They can't get a great TV deal because Canada is communistic and nationalized. Even the Blue Jays can't really get a good deal. They also have sole rights to broadcast in Canada. Same reason you never see the Raptors in the NBA on TV as a home team much except in the playoffs. Blue Jays work because they have wealthy owners and are the only game in town for MLB so to speak.
@@jonsnow943 That part is divided between all the teams. Its not 100 Mil per team its for the entire MLB that's the national deal. Each team has their own local deal and that's the problem for small market teams like the A's they get only slightly more then 50 Million from the TV Deal where teams like NY and LA get over 150 million per year double the amount some of the smaller teams.A's and other teams only get a piece of that huge NY deal when they play the Yankees'. That't the entire problem with MLB TV money is not split like it is with the NFL where everything is in one big pot. As far an Canada they have a nationalized TV network so the deals that the Blue Jays or a new team can get are limited by the government. It would be very hard sell for someone to make it in Canada with an expansion team unless the entire MLB economic system is fixed.
MLB needs Montreal more than Montreal needs MLB. That's the stumbling block that MLB can't get through their head. The NHL goes on bended knee into southern US markets and makes it work, despite zero interest from the cities involved. MLB expects Montreal to bow down and worship them after stealing a World Series from the Expos in 1994. Doesn't work that way. MLB has exhausted all of the US markets. Oakland is a flop. Tampa is a flop. Miami is a flop. Montreal (with a new stadium) would be a top 10 MLB franchise easily.
Hoping to soon have the opportunity to see the return of Major League Baseball to Montréal. A storied, losing franchise, with a lot of unique character and the best logo in MLB history. As a Torontonian, I've always had a soft spot for the Expos. Bring 'em back!
@@billboggs6641Is that why the Expos failed? I always heard that Montreal just was never a baseball city, I also heard that their attendance was always low and it only got worse after the 94 strike. The fact that they only made the playoffs once in their 35 year history (not counting what could’ve been in 94) is jarring
The real problem was the area the stadium is isn't really baseball based...the real fans are on the west part montreal !!a ballpark downtown would be the perfect spot ..the Canadians arenas there and always rolling @@RB01.10
As a Canadian, I would like to see another team here. The problem is Montreal is a Hockey first town. I know the seasons don't overlap much but hockey has always been the passion of the people and baseball was always secondary. I just don't know if there is enough support for a team to succeed there. I am old enough to remember Toronto was always the most popular team between the two. I think MLB is just adding another team to the mix to strengthen its position with other bidding groups.
@@daviejz6698Sadly that is true in most cities, many are football or basketball first. Unless it's St Louis, which used to have the Hawks for a few years before the moved to Atlanta. Now you only have the Cardinals and the soccer team
@@davidlafleche1142 its not happening. Dismantling the Big O would be the cost of building the new venue. If They build a new ballpark it will be downtown.
Canadian here. Montreal needs the right ownership. That's what is comes down to. Ownership needs to build a new downtown stadium with their own money and bring back the excitement the Expos brought. Looking at the attendance numbers from 20 yrs ago should not apply. There are tons of Expos fans still in Montreal. They just started routing for the Blue Jays. Most people didn't like the Olympic Stadium location and the team stunk near the end. Its still a viable market for MLB.
Exactly. It all comes down to ownership. Bronfman should be in. There is also Péladeau, athough he just got ownership of the Alouettes (CFL team) and is atill vying for ownership over any future Quebec City NHL team, so I doubt he would invest. Tom Brady maybe? As a minority owner?
@nassimpierreghannou9827 you'll be surprised what the city will do. It's like if Bettman call mayor of hamilton and said we want to move buffalo to hamilton. You think hamilton wouldn't get their shit together ?
Montreal only started having attendance issues when there was the threat of contraction or relocation. I remember going to the stadium in 93 and 94 and there were often 35,000 in the stands on weekdays and 50,000 on weekends. If the dumb owners at the time had kept the '94 team together, Montreal would still have a baseball team. Destroying the team in 3 days in 1995 by getting rid of Larry Walker, John Wettland, Marquis Grissom and Ken Hill really marked the beginning of the end of the Expos. In the early to mid 90s, they had pretty good attendance, and it was only getting better until the team was destroyed. The people in any American city would have reacted the same way. To see a team go from a potential 106 win season to 60 something wins the next season is ridiculous. Montreal just needs Bell or Videotron to step up and buy a new team and things have a really good chance of working out.
Montrealer here. The attendance numbers are from 20-25 years ago. The Baseball scenery in Quebec has changed a lot since then and there are great school programs throughout the Province for Baseball. Yes, every team needs great ownership and knowing the Bronfman family, they are awesome and I love the way that they don’t want to rush things. They’ve always said that if Baseball does happen again in MTL, then the whole stadium situation will be well-thought of and in accordance with the neighborhood it’ll be built in. If they do end up building the Stadium in the Peel Basin in Griffintown, it would probably make the MLB’s Stadium with one of the best views, and there’s already great Public Transit, Residential and Office areas very close-by, and let’s not forget mentionning the accessibility by Bike lanes that would be great. But in the end, anything that drives media today is Trends and in recent years, Nashville and SLC are trending. However, with the new NHL team in SLC, I don’t see MLB heading up to Mormon country anytime soon.
Can you do a video on the proposed Labatt Stadium in the 90s. If it went through, I am almost certain it would have been out of date by the early 2000s
I thinkthe issues with poor attendance were a symptom of a fanbase that was simply fed up of constantly being screwed over. Before the 1994 lockout that effectively killed the last great Expos team attendance was never really an issue. People also seem to forget that at one point in the early 1980's, the Expos were outdrawing the Yankees and Dodgers!!! What is treally needed is , yes local ownership with deep pockets, support from all levels of government, something that wasn't there before they relocated but seem to be there now, a new stadium close to the downtown core with easy access to mass transit ( a site has been identified..... in an area known as Peel Basin ), and support from the local business community, which only seemed to realize theirr mistakes after the club left and would now enthusiastically get behind this. Plus, now there are so many more revenue streams available that could only enhance the bottom line financially. So yes, it's entirely possible, but of course there's a lot of work to be done...........
The Nationals did unretire the player numbers that Montreal retired upon settling in DC (along with keeping "Youppi!" in Montreal, trading him to the Montreal Canadiens for cash), of which the Canadiens then "re-retired" the three numbers when they hung an Expos banner off of the rafters of the Bell Centre. But yes, in many ways, if the new Expos becomes a reality, it should be treated like the Cleveland Browns or the NBA's Charlotte Hornets (suspension of operations), with the Nationals, under direct MLB ownership at the time of relocation, being treated as an expansion team (much like the Baltimore Ravens and the New Orleans Pelicans).
@@rwboa22 I'm a Mets fan and even I have a tri-color Expos cap. Of course, I'm also old enough to remember when we traded Tim Foli, Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen to MTL for Rusty Staub - the reaction being, Wait, we actually got Le Grand Orange!
MLB is using Montreal was a negotiating tool, baseball would be a success in Montreal if the right ownership and the market is a lot different , the Expos were well supported until the Bronfmans decided they didn't want to own a team anymore then MLB did everything possible to kill baseball in Montreal, there were times that the stadium was near empty there was no one around to grab foul balls that went in the stands, knocking the stadium down would be expensive and difficult because there is a subway line underneath it along with other important structures
They had an official referendum on spending public money on a baseball stadium and it failed. The mayor is pledged to abide by the result of the referendum. No public money will be spent on a stadium in Montreal.
Then they'll never get a team. If the city ain't willing to spend min 700 mill they'll never get a team. If montreal is smart they'll go for Olympics so they'll get the money and have state of the art facility.
Not only that but I always heard the Expos’ attendance was never high, and it only got worse after 94. But the fact they only made the playoffs once in their 35 years is pretty sad
@@RB01.10 yeah olympic stadium was never really the ideal place, especially after 1990 when other teams started getting nee stadiums copying the Orioles the O was long overdue its shelf life
Montreal Royals had a long illustrious history as a dodger farm team, first Brooklyn then LA. Jackie Robinson, sandy Kofax , don Drysdale, peewee Reese, Duke Snider all played in Montreal.
I always heard that their attendance was almost always poor, and it only got worse after 94. Add to the fact they only made the playoffs once in 81 which was a strike shortened season
@@dreamcage1801 You know what, after looking at their records in the 80’s they weren’t overall bad. Half of them were winning season. Especially in 81. But why did they keep failing to reach the playoffs despite their winning records? Hard division, Wild Card not existing yet etc?
Pretty much every target site for a new ballpark / team outside of Montreal already has a AAA affiliate present. So that in of itself comes with its own hurdles. I hope Montreal gets a team, and while there's not doubt that an expansion is challenging, I really hope we see 2 new MLB teams by 2030.
As someone who remembers going to Jarry Park and The Big-O to watch the Expos play it would be nice to see the team back. But let's be real there are many reasons the Expos left starting with a bad ownership group and a 0.67 cent vs USD exchange rate let alone looking to build a new stadium. I don't think Montreal will get a new MLB team soon. Rumors say that we in Montreal would have to wait some 10-20 years before an expansion team returns to Montreal and I can't see any possible ownership group willing to wait that long. Then there is the stadium problem in which most of the prime real estate downtown that could be used for a new stadium has already been allocated for other projects.
I remember reading a lot about Montreal's return, not that long ago. They spoke of a a Tampa - Montreal split. The commissioner actually approved it but told Tampa that they must seek permission from Toronto, then it fell apart. I later learned that the Montreal territory was given to Toronto, so Fat Chance.
I'm sure the MLB can come up with a fair deal for the Blue Jays...if the MLB and the city of Montreal actually want a team there. It would be a win, at least culturally, since Quebec is primarily francophone, and Toronto mostly anglophone. Don't underestimate the draw of a common language to unite people around a cause. However at the end of the day, Montreal is going to have to WANT another team. If the response is tepid, then there is no way the MLB will attempt to break up the market.
It would be cool if the Expos were to get an expansion team and I still believe that if the team were to have a new ballpark downtown and strong ownership, it would be a success!⚾
Any new stadium in Montreal MUST have a retractable roof. One of the main reason for failing to attract quality players was the refusal of some wanting to relocate to a cold weather climate that is also a predominantly French market.
@@LeCommieBoi Most professional baseball players are American or Latino hated playing early and late season games in Montreal due to the cold weather. Their families also found it difficult to integrate into Quebec because of the pervasive anti-English bigotry and lack of services they could access. That fact, plus the high cost of living in Quebec, lack of linguistic freedom, corruption, high taxes and lower contract value because of being contracted to a small budget team, meant a revolving door of promising rookies leaving as soon as they finished their rookie contract and could demand a trade. A covered stadium would offer a more comfortable spectating experience and a good quality playing field on par with other venues with no more rain/snow outs or delays.
I don't see the Atlanta Braves giving up their market in North and South Carolina for a Charlotte team. They would lose at least a 1/4 of their current market if not more.
Since it is out of state Braves can't claim North or South Carolina, just like the Dodgers can't claim Las Vegas. In order to be within the Braves rights they have to have a local broadcast in that area, have a presence in the area, market in the area and cultivate the area. Giants got San Jose because they have a local broadcast of their games within Nor Cal meaning up and through Sacramento. Braves can't claim any part of North or South Carolina just because it is within a region. Great case to go follow is City of San Jose v. MLB if you really want to lean about territorial rights.
The Braves draw fans from a wide area far beyond the Atlanta area because they are the only MLB team in the region. Fans have been driving from The Carolinas and Tennessee to Atlanta since Ted Turner owned the team and broadcast most of the games on WTCG(now TBS). A Charlotte or Nashville team would cut into that extended fan base.
There isn't a high percentage of people from North Carolina and South Carolina, or any other state other than Georgia going to Braves games. I know this because I have gone to many and if you look at the license plates, well over 90% are Georgia plates. You're talking maybe 8% max on the weekend, even less during the week, at a typical game are from out of state, and those are people from nearby East Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, some North Carolina, some Florida, and a few from Mississippi. I've also seen a few Virginia plates at the parking lots over the years. People in the Carolinas will still support the Braves, but they will also support their own team. North Carolina alone has almost 11 million people, and South Carolina is approaching 6 million. Between both of them there are about 17 million people. It is absurd that the South has so few MLB teams when it is the most populated region in the country, at 37% of the nation's population, yet only five teams, but only one in the southeast outside of Florida. That's crazy. I think that the Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Guardians, Reds, Tigers, Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, and Red Sox represent a huge mesh of relatively close teams. There's simply too many throughout the northeast and Midwest. Give the South its fair due.
@depressedginger, did you see there are only 19,700 fans at the Rays playoff opener? Still think a new stadium solves the Rays’ problems? The stadium is in a horrible location and building a new one next door will work out like it’s worked out for the Marlins after building a new stadium.
Montreal loved the Expos. But that Lockout in 94 changed everything. Not to mention, the ownership just kept trading off their stars. Montreal is a big city, and they love their sports.
Salt Lake City has already decided to tear down its triple A park in large part to our resident billionaire sporting family(Utah Jazz) decision to sell the team and vo after MLB. SLC is getting a team. This is the families dream going back almost 50 years. Gail Miller will get her team
Why do we keep talking about a city that at the end wasn't even going to the games and when they needed a Stadium no can do I as a Cincinnati reds fan say if they put it there it will fail again and then MLB will have egg on their face once again but they have to find out 4 them selves
Exactly Many blame the 94 strike for killing the Expos, and while yes it was unfortunate the way that season ended the team was already struggling with attendance and it did in fact only get worse for their final seasons. Let’s also not forget they only made the playoffs once in 81, which was a strike shortened season
I think it makes more sense for the Rays to move to Montreal rather than add a new team. No garuntee a new ownership group will have any idea how to run a good bball org Rays would be a good team that knows how to work with a small budget, that would be really great odds to do well with a move
The Expos struggled at the Gate because the owners started to tank. This is no different than the people not showing up in Miami or Oakland If you went to Olympic Stadium, you would know that coupled with the ownership made it hard to survive. Give them a decent stadium and a decent owner they would draw better than many teams
Add to the fact their attendance was abysmal especially after 94 Their lack of playoff berths was damning too albeit the absence of Wild Card until 95 I’m sure didn’t help either
If it has the old expos logo it’s a fake. The logo and name went with the Expos to DC. The Expos then rebranded but never gave back the Expos name or logos so they own them still.
@@BrainHealth-md8wx No not really.. They own the rights to that logo and name. If a new franchise wanted it they would have to buy it back from the Nationals who own all the designs and logos. MLB can't force them to do anything. When MLB sold the Nationals they also sold all the rights as well to everything that the Nationals owned, which included all the old trademarks. Nobody gives anything away in business.
actually you are wrong. the nationals do not own the rights to the expos colours or logo. its mlb that owns those, the nationals might own the team records
You've never been to Olympic Stadium. Go there before you comment on it. The stadium is fine, except for being a dome which isn't in fashion anymore. I took a tour of the place in 2018, the whole joint is spotless. Went to the Blue Jays-Cardinals games there. They were solid games. Super cool crowd, clean, solid concessions. Two public transit hubs close by. Could easily still host top level baseball.
@@LeCommieBoi Winter average lows for coldest months: Montreal -14c Minneapolis -13.6c Summer average high for the hottest month: With humidity- Montreal 26c 56% Minneapolis 28c 64% Extreme cold and hot temps annually: Hot/Cold- Montreal 34c/ -27c Minneapolis 36c/ -26c The difference is negligible.
@@LeCommieBoi Couldn't care less about March, since they generally don't play in March. But over the last decade, the Minnesota average April snowfall has soared to 7.1 inches, Montreal averages 7.6 inches. The point of this is to say, both are very cold and have long winters and have similar climates. And if one can play without a retractable roof, so can the other.
There won't be enough paying fans in Montreal to make a team work. 81 home games year after year at MLB prices.....won't work. Sadly the same reason the Quebec Nordiques will not get an NHL team. Not enough people or businesses to support 41 games a year at NHL prices.
I wonder if any expansion would work. The price tag for a new team is 2 billion. You now need wealth. Need a new stadium. Cities are starting to balk at paying for this. Plus you need a strong management team. Not sure how a small market could make it work.
man this would be awesome! obviously not that stadium or completely renewed. basically leave the tower and rebuild everything else. attendance sucked because the stadium and experience sucked.
I live in Montreal and would love to have a team but it would never work. The money doesnt make sense even with revenue sharing. Montreal is just being used to up the value for a city looking for a franchise. Taxes and exchange rate doesnt help. No stadium.
@@LeCommieBoi I'm kind of joking. I don't mean to come off harsh. As a Braves fan I just remembered how much our team hated playing there. They always got injured because it was "like playing baseball on a tennis court" is what they said. But yeah. I 100% get your point to.
@@matthew01234 Wait... Which stadium are you talking aboout here? BC the Big O is still in use for a few sporting events each years. Its just that we just paid it off. Imagine You just payed off your house and then the HOA comes : "Hey good job! Now we'll just take that house of yours down thank you!". Yes people don't like endlessly paying for it, but there is a part of history in the venue. In the end, the stadium suffers of the insane corruption in place at the time of construction that likely quadrupled the cost and construction time as well as used the cheapest possible materials (outside of asbestos thank god) for construction. Its a sad story really.
Biggest issue with any expansion is the NL west. Any expansion = 4 team divisions. Literally no other teams in NL west could realistically change divisions. Any way you try to slice it, you wind up back with a conflict. Exapansion will have to mean some teams swapping their league
It's simple. Montreal has just under 5 million . Plus doesn't get more international then montreal and still has strong appetite for baseball. Montreal will build a new facility just needs assurances from mlb as building over a billion is no joke. Only way mlb returns is winter or summer Olympics comeback to montreal so they have excuse to build a new facility. Funny you bring up attendance but you've seen how bad Oakland/ Tampa Bay attendance have been not to mention multiple cities are struggling. Montreal is still more attractive to mlb then any other city including cities that have a mlb team the only reason they ain't back in the show is Olympic stadium is too old and out of date. Montreal builds a stadium they'll have a team it's that simple.
One advantage Montreal has is that two eastern expansion teams keeps from making a mess of the teams in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. AL West - SEA, LV, LAA, AZ AL South - TX, KC, NSH, TB AL North - MN, CHW, DET, CLE AL East - TOR, NYY, BAL, BOS NL West - SF, SD, LAD, CO NL South - HOU, ATL, MIA, STL NL North - CHC, CIN, PIT, MIL NL East - WAS, NYM, PHI, MTL
If they’re trying to expand to 32 teams, then bring back the Expos and put them in the NL, and add a team in Nashville and put them in the AL. 16 teams per league, and to divide them into divisions: AL North: - Seattle Mariners - Minnesota Twins - Detroit Tigers - Toronto Blue Jays AL South: - Tampa Bay Rays - Houston Astros - Texas Rangers - LA Angels AL East: - Boston Red Sox - NY Yankees - Baltimore Orioles - Cleveland Guardians AL West: - Oakland Athletics - Chicago White Sox - Kansas City Royals - Nashville Team NL North: - Montreal Expos - Milwaukee Brewers - New York Mets - Chicago Cubs NL South: - Miami Marlins - Atlanta Braves - Arizona Diamondbacks - San Diego Padres NL East: - Pittsburgh Pirates - Philadelphia Phillies - Cincinnati Reds - Washington Nationals NL West: - St. Louis Cardinals - Colorado Rockies - LA Dodgers - San Francisco Giants At least that’s how I’d do it. *DISCLAIMER* I did this by geographical locations
Why wouldn't you want the Expos to be in the same division as the Blue Jays for rivalry purposes? It seems like that would be a major draw to help get the Expos started.
Expos need to be in AL East for rivalry purposes with the Yankees, Jays, and Sox...Put Nashville in the NL Central and move Pittsburgh to the NL East. problem solved
@@adamjohnson6715 Wouldn't it cause a problem with TV contracts if they were both in the same league? The reason we in Florida get both Marlins and Rays games on TV is because they are in different leagues.
Was the fall of the Montreal Expos have to do with the the stadium, poor ownership (Jeffrey Loria), the value of the Canadian dollar, or all of the above? If MLB is going to expand to Canada and Montreal doesnt work, the next larger market should be Vancouver.
It was 100% the ownership when they dismantled a possible world series team the fans realized the current owners would never keep a good team together and stopped going to games. The stadium did need replacement yes but I have attended games in both Rogers Centre in Toronto(before recent renovations) and the Big O in Montreal and found the Big O a far better fan experience to catch a game. Loria would go on to prove how cheap and useless he really was as an owner even after that.
They got to be kidding! They didn't support the last team they had! Canada is a hockey country...not baseball. The Expos went thru the same thing the A's are experiencing now.
While we're on the subject of MLB expansion, I'd like to mention the possibility of Brooklyn getting an expansion team in the future. I don't know if it's feasible given the Yankees' and Mets' territorial rights, but if it was somehow, then any future expansion should consider giving an NL team to Brooklyn, if only as balm to older Brooklynites who are still bitter about losing the Dodgers all those years ago. They could call it the Brooklyn Robins (both after Jackie Robinson and one of the nicknames the Dodgers previously went by in Brooklyn) and give them a home field also named after Jackie Robinson. But again, I don't know if such a scenario is realistic, so it's really more a thought experiment than anything else.
@@fantasticvoyage262 Indeed. Like I said, I don't know if it's realistic, but if not, then the current arrangement (Brooklyn having a minor league team affiliated with the Mets) is sufficient.
Montreal does not need an MLB team. They had issues keeping the team that they had who eventually left. Why would baseball put itself in a situation to relocate it in another 25 years
My thoughts exactly From what I heard (I wasn’t born yet) the Expos’ attendance was mostly always poor. Let’s also not forget they only made the playoffs once (81) in their 35 years
I think Salt Lake City and Nashville will get teams. I think the issue with Portland isn't the crime it's the proximity to Seattle. Same with Austin and Orlando.
Portland definitely has a crime problem let's not ignore that. the problem is in fact political and they are likely going demand the ownership group invest in all kind of ridiculous "community" nonsense that have nothing to do with building a baseball stadium and or plaza. Like anywhere they'll always be protests against a new stadium But in Portland it will be on another level. You'll definitely have a group of woke lunatics standing outside the construction project Protesting against capitalism And all kind of other BS especially if tax funded.
Honestly the proximity to Seattle works for Portland. The sounders and Timbers have no problems with attendance because of proximity and honestly the proximity would be better for the Mariners because they would have a close rival. The Mariners are the MLB equivalent to middle of nowhere.
That's what I would hope. 40 teams means 5 teams of 4 divisions in AL and NL. 20 teams each league. More teams, more cities and more fans, more money for MLB.
MLB is not going back to Montreal my friend. I'm out west in Vancouver and am told via CREDIBLE sources it isn't going to happen. MLB is put off at the french language laws as well as Olympic Stadium needs a $500-600 million dollar upgrade and no one in Montreal wants to pay that $$ to repair it. As well there are serious rumblings here in Vancouver that we are getting a team. All of you reading google search Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to relocate to Vancouver, stay tuned.
Is this a real person? Droning, unlistenable voice, talking like it's being generated by Chat GPT. Also ignoring a couple of the major issues that caused the Expos' problems. A, they had HORRIBLE ownership over the last decade; Jeffrey Loria simply tanked the team. Sold off all of the best players, traded others for nothing in return (remember Hideki Irabu?). Refused to market the team at all, to the point where there were no local TV or radio broadcasts, period. B, the Canadian dollar; I'm old enough to remember when it was worth more than an American dollar. But in the 90s, it hit an all time low around 65 cents against the USD; ticket revenue has to be 50% higher just to be on par with US teams, you're going to be in the back of the pack. These days, with revenue sharing and national TV contracts, they would have a little more breathing room. The strike in 94 was a major blow to the Expos; that was the best team in MLB that year, at 74-40 when play was stopped in August. That soured a lot of people on baseball, and in a town where hockey is #1 and everything else a distant second.... Back when MLB was talking about contraction, dissolving the Expos and Twins, the Expos had a better record, and were drawing more fans, than the Brewers - who happened to be owned by Bud Selig. Montreal can work, with the right ownership, and a better ballpark.
😂Bro you have clearly never been to SLC. Small type vibe? Salt Lake City is slightly smaller and Charlotte and slightly larger than Nashville. It's roughly 2.7 million people sandwiched between mountains and lakes. It's actually more urbanized than both of those cities in many ways. Further because of its isolation it serves nearby smaller areas such as Boise for stuff like this. You would think that people wouldn't drive 300 miles to watch baseball but then you have probably never been to Boise either. They drive down here just because they're bored. SLC is the only mature metro west of the rockies and North of Vegas until you get to the coast. Why are the Jazz consistently in the top half of the NBA in revenue? Its because you missed aomething the answer is starring you in the face.
The make-up of the Montreal population has changed considerably since the Expos left for DC. Montreal is bigger than Nashville and Charlotte combined. I really don't like your dissing of Canada in general when discussing sports. Maybe go there for yourself and become a little more knowledgeable.
Yea, attendance was low and really low in latter years for a few reasons 1)the stadium is terrible and in a terrible location, would need a new stadium in downtown Montreal area and attendance would be fine. 2) the team was not competitive in latter years because of bad ownership and poor management and selling of better players to keep payroll extremely low and 3) terrible weak ownership that led MLB to buy the Expos so Selig could ensure the Expos would fail to move the team to Washington so they deliberately sabotaged the Expos…it was really an awful coordinated effort by the corrupt Bud Selig. By the way, weather in Montreal in September is fine…it’s Montreal, not the fucking Artic Circle….do some research “depressed ginger” ffs….the weather in Montreal is no different then any North Eastern US City in April or September
You are right but a retractable dome would still be the best solution for a new stadium and like the Rogers Centre the roof would be open for most games but not all. Also it would allow the stadium owners winter use for concerts and other events as it could contain much bigger events than the Canadians arena.
Baseball didnt care about Montreal, and the fact that the ownership issues were a disaster. When the Expos were winning nobody cared about the stadium. It was built for the Olympics and modified for North American sports. Ive been to almost 200 games at the stadium (Alouettes Grey cups Expos NASL) Perhaps Im not part of the majority who criticize it (at times for good reasons), but I always enjoy seeing any sporting event au stade Olympique!
It's not going to happen. Baseball failed in Montreal because they were going to build a new ballpark for the Expos but that fell through. Olympic Stadium is not suitable for baseball.
A couple of years ago I saw that Vancouver’s mayor was pushing hard for a MLB team. They have a minor league single A team that is always sold out. It would be nice to see 1 or 2 more Canadian teams but I wonder if the Blue Jays will try and stop it
Could you please do a video of where these expansion teams minor league teams could go. I live in Colorado Springs where we have a metro around 750,000 and we have a Mexican minor league team, I was wondering if we would be viable for a triple A team for one of these new major league teams
MLB needs Montreal more than Montreal needs MLB. That's the stumbling block that MLB can't get through their head. MLB expects Montreal to bow down and worship them after stealing a Yankees vs. Expos World Series from the fans in 1994. Doesn't work that way. MLB has exhausted all of the US markets. Oakland is a flop. Tampa is a flop. Miami is a flop. Montreal (with a new stadium) would be a top 10 MLB franchise easily.
For the eastern expansion teams, I would say it’s between Nashville and Charlotte. For the west, it’s between Portland and Salt Lake City. I think it’s going to be Nashville and Portland for who gets the expansion teams.
Portland is a passionate sports market for both basketball and major league soccer as well as the state as a whole with the Ducks and Beavers. Portland will support a baseball team and already do the minor leagues. The city is cleaning up and the spot for the stadium in the Loyd district would be perfect for the team. Portland is a great place for baseball and the city needs something to bring life back into it. Portlanders have been waiting for a long time and the city doesn’t just want a team they need it. LET’S GO Portland!!!
Montreal has realized that all sports are fixed, especially baseball and know they are the bottom of the list. Soon they will dump whatever sports teams they have left
Baseball needs to switch to 1 2 3 4 5 strikes you're out at the old ball game. 5 innings with 5 outs. Sorry but as a sport it has a habit of being anti-climactic. Add outs to the innings ao that we have bases loaded more often. It reduces the total outs needed from 27 to 25 but with more opportunities in an inning and more batters lining up this would be worth it. It would make the game both more fun to play and watch
I think Montreal could work, but a new stadium and a good local TV deal is a must
That's one problem with teams in Canada. They can't get a great TV deal because Canada is communistic and nationalized. Even the Blue Jays can't really get a good deal. They also have sole rights to broadcast in Canada. Same reason you never see the Raptors in the NBA on TV as a home team much except in the playoffs. Blue Jays work because they have wealthy owners and are the only game in town for MLB so to speak.
TV is guaranteed 100M a year now with the MLB network
@@jonsnow943 That part is divided between all the teams. Its not 100 Mil per team its for the entire MLB that's the national deal. Each team has their own local deal and that's the problem for small market teams like the A's they get only slightly more then 50 Million from the TV Deal where teams like NY and LA get over 150 million per year double the amount some of the smaller teams.A's and other teams only get a piece of that huge NY deal when they play the Yankees'. That't the entire problem with MLB TV money is not split like it is with the NFL where everything is in one big pot. As far an Canada they have a nationalized TV network so the deals that the Blue Jays or a new team can get are limited by the government. It would be very hard sell for someone to make it in Canada with an expansion team unless the entire MLB economic system is fixed.
MLB needs Montreal more than Montreal needs MLB. That's the stumbling block that MLB can't get through their head.
The NHL goes on bended knee into southern US markets and makes it work, despite zero interest from the cities involved.
MLB expects Montreal to bow down and worship them after stealing a World Series from the Expos in 1994. Doesn't work that way.
MLB has exhausted all of the US markets. Oakland is a flop. Tampa is a flop. Miami is a flop. Montreal (with a new stadium) would be a top 10 MLB franchise easily.
It's a big enough city, to support a MLB team. 🇨🇦⚾
Why diss Montreal for not having a ballpark, every expansion site you noted also needs a stadium 🤷♂️🙄
So true.
Especially since Montreal has Olympic Stadium available for temporary use.
They also never had a team leave their city bc if the fans and poor attendance. Dissing is warranted. Cry harder
Because the Expos were unable to build a ballpark and things have not changed
@@daviejz6698Olympic stadium was a dump when that was built. Just as bad if not worse than slopacana field.
I always liked the Exbos uniforms plus they had some great players like Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson back in the day
Say, let's take a relaxed attitude toward work and watch the baseball match. The MTL Exbos are my favorite squadron.
Their logo was great too
Hoping to soon have the opportunity to see the return of Major League Baseball to Montréal. A storied, losing franchise, with a lot of unique character and the best logo in MLB history. As a Torontonian, I've always had a soft spot for the Expos. Bring 'em back!
Not worth it anymore. Language laws, signage, inevitable push by Quebecois government for francophone manager and coaches. The place is too political
@@billboggs6641Is that why the Expos failed?
I always heard that Montreal just was never a baseball city, I also heard that their attendance was always low and it only got worse after the 94 strike.
The fact that they only made the playoffs once in their 35 year history (not counting what could’ve been in 94) is jarring
The real problem was the area the stadium is isn't really baseball based...the real fans are on the west part montreal !!a ballpark downtown would be the perfect spot ..the Canadians arenas there and always rolling @@RB01.10
As a Canadian, I would like to see another team here. The problem is Montreal is a Hockey first town. I know the seasons don't overlap much but hockey has always been the passion of the people and baseball was always secondary. I just don't know if there is enough support for a team to succeed there. I am old enough to remember Toronto was always the most popular team between the two. I think MLB is just adding another team to the mix to strengthen its position with other bidding groups.
Olympic Stadium must be dismantled and replaced.
In most cities in the United States Baseball is a third rate sport. It being a 2nd rated sport in Montreal is a plus.
@@daviejz6698Sadly that is true in most cities, many are football or basketball first. Unless it's St Louis, which used to have the Hawks for a few years before the moved to Atlanta. Now you only have the Cardinals and the soccer team
and the Blues in Hockey@@FigureFarter
@@davidlafleche1142 its not happening. Dismantling the Big O would be the cost of building the new venue. If They build a new ballpark it will be downtown.
Canadian here. Montreal needs the right ownership. That's what is comes down to. Ownership needs to build a new downtown stadium with their own money and bring back the excitement the Expos brought. Looking at the attendance numbers from 20 yrs ago should not apply. There are tons of Expos fans still in Montreal. They just started routing for the Blue Jays. Most people didn't like the Olympic Stadium location and the team stunk near the end. Its still a viable market for MLB.
Exactly. It all comes down to ownership. Bronfman should be in. There is also Péladeau, athough he just got ownership of the Alouettes (CFL team) and is atill vying for ownership over any future Quebec City NHL team, so I doubt he would invest.
Tom Brady maybe? As a minority owner?
No owner will use their own money. City and province and federal gov has to step up. No pro team pays for it ever
@@Geothotz The city won't, but I can see the province step up (or even the federal if they are desperate for votes enough)
@nassimpierreghannou9827 you'll be surprised what the city will do. It's like if Bettman call mayor of hamilton and said we want to move buffalo to hamilton. You think hamilton wouldn't get their shit together ?
Montreal only started having attendance issues when there was the threat of contraction or relocation. I remember going to the stadium in 93 and 94 and there were often 35,000 in the stands on weekdays and 50,000 on weekends. If the dumb owners at the time had kept the '94 team together, Montreal would still have a baseball team. Destroying the team in 3 days in 1995 by getting rid of Larry Walker, John Wettland, Marquis Grissom and Ken Hill really marked the beginning of the end of the Expos. In the early to mid 90s, they had pretty good attendance, and it was only getting better until the team was destroyed. The people in any American city would have reacted the same way. To see a team go from a potential 106 win season to 60 something wins the next season is ridiculous. Montreal just needs Bell or Videotron to step up and buy a new team and things have a really good chance of working out.
Expos logo is pretty sweet looking
Montrealer here. The attendance numbers are from 20-25 years ago. The Baseball scenery in Quebec has changed a lot since then and there are great school programs throughout the Province for Baseball. Yes, every team needs great ownership and knowing the Bronfman family, they are awesome and I love the way that they don’t want to rush things. They’ve always said that if Baseball does happen again in MTL, then the whole stadium situation will be well-thought of and in accordance with the neighborhood it’ll be built in.
If they do end up building the Stadium in the Peel Basin in Griffintown, it would probably make the MLB’s Stadium with one of the best views, and there’s already great Public Transit, Residential and Office areas very close-by, and let’s not forget mentionning the accessibility by Bike lanes that would be great.
But in the end, anything that drives media today is Trends and in recent years, Nashville and SLC are trending. However, with the new NHL team in SLC, I don’t see MLB heading up to Mormon country anytime soon.
As an lifelong expos fan baseball would work if done right which was never the case when we had the team
Can you do a video on the proposed Labatt Stadium in the 90s. If it went through, I am almost certain it would have been out of date by the early 2000s
It probably would have been outdated fast as a structure. But it would have had one of the best backdrops/skyline views of any park in baseball.
It probably would have been outdated fast as a structure. But it would have had one of the best backdrops/skyline views of any park in baseball.
I thinkthe issues with poor attendance were a symptom of a fanbase that was simply fed up of constantly being screwed over. Before the 1994 lockout that effectively killed the last great Expos team attendance was never really an issue. People also seem to forget that at one point in the early 1980's, the Expos were outdrawing the Yankees and Dodgers!!!
What is treally needed is , yes local ownership with deep pockets, support from all levels of government, something that wasn't there before they relocated but seem to be there now, a new stadium close to the downtown core with easy access to mass transit ( a site has been identified..... in an area known as Peel Basin ), and support from the local business community, which only seemed to realize theirr mistakes after the club left and would now enthusiastically get behind this. Plus, now there are so many more revenue streams available that could only enhance the bottom line financially.
So yes, it's entirely possible, but of course there's a lot of work to be done...........
If that happens they should get the name, logo and colors back. Not like the Nationals need them.
True.
If we don't we finna go down to washington again
The Nationals did unretire the player numbers that Montreal retired upon settling in DC (along with keeping "Youppi!" in Montreal, trading him to the Montreal Canadiens for cash), of which the Canadiens then "re-retired" the three numbers when they hung an Expos banner off of the rafters of the Bell Centre. But yes, in many ways, if the new Expos becomes a reality, it should be treated like the Cleveland Browns or the NBA's Charlotte Hornets (suspension of operations), with the Nationals, under direct MLB ownership at the time of relocation, being treated as an expansion team (much like the Baltimore Ravens and the New Orleans Pelicans).
@@rwboa22 I'm a Mets fan and even I have a tri-color Expos cap. Of course, I'm also old enough to remember when we traded Tim Foli, Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen to MTL for Rusty Staub - the reaction being, Wait, we actually got Le Grand Orange!
MLB is using Montreal was a negotiating tool, baseball would be a success in Montreal if the right ownership and the market is a lot different , the Expos were well supported until the Bronfmans decided they didn't want to own a team anymore then MLB did everything possible to kill baseball in Montreal, there were times that the stadium was near empty there was no one around to grab foul balls that went in the stands, knocking the stadium down would be expensive and difficult because there is a subway line underneath it along with other important structures
Not really there is almost no chance a team from the U.S. is going to move to Montreal. Nashville is the city being used to extort taxes.
They said the same thing about Washington.
They had an official referendum on spending public money on a baseball stadium and it failed. The mayor is pledged to abide by the result of the referendum. No public money will be spent on a stadium in Montreal.
The mayor mentioned that during her campaign. But there never was any vote or referendum
Then they'll never get a team. If the city ain't willing to spend min 700 mill they'll never get a team. If montreal is smart they'll go for Olympics so they'll get the money and have state of the art facility.
Montreal issues have always been mainly a stadium, the expos has good teams from time to time but stadium was a issue even jerry park
Not only that but I always heard the Expos’ attendance was never high, and it only got worse after 94.
But the fact they only made the playoffs once in their 35 years is pretty sad
@@RB01.10 yeah olympic stadium was never really the ideal place, especially after 1990 when other teams started getting nee stadiums copying the Orioles the O was long overdue its shelf life
Montreal Royals had a long illustrious history as a dodger farm team, first Brooklyn then LA. Jackie Robinson, sandy Kofax , don Drysdale, peewee Reese, Duke Snider all played in Montreal.
It was tragic devastation for the Expos to jet 🛩️ from Montreal but it’s never too late to rewrite the wrongs.
I always heard that their attendance was almost always poor, and it only got worse after 94.
Add to the fact they only made the playoffs once in 81 which was a strike shortened season
@@RB01.10 I thought that they had a good squad in the 80s
@@dreamcage1801 You know what, after looking at their records in the 80’s they weren’t overall bad. Half of them were winning season. Especially in 81.
But why did they keep failing to reach the playoffs despite their winning records?
Hard division, Wild Card not existing yet etc?
@@RB01.10 maybe hard ass conference too
Pretty much every target site for a new ballpark / team outside of Montreal already has a AAA affiliate present. So that in of itself comes with its own hurdles. I hope Montreal gets a team, and while there's not doubt that an expansion is challenging, I really hope we see 2 new MLB teams by 2030.
The last AAA farm club was the Ottawa Lynx and they could be revived again.
As someone who remembers going to Jarry Park and The Big-O to watch the Expos play it would be nice to see the team back. But let's be real there are many reasons the Expos left starting with a bad ownership group and a 0.67 cent vs USD exchange rate let alone looking to build a new stadium. I don't think Montreal will get a new MLB team soon. Rumors say that we in Montreal would have to wait some 10-20 years before an expansion team returns to Montreal and I can't see any possible ownership group willing to wait that long. Then there is the stadium problem in which most of the prime real estate downtown that could be used for a new stadium has already been allocated for other projects.
I remember reading a lot about Montreal's return, not that long ago. They spoke of a a Tampa - Montreal split. The commissioner actually approved it but told Tampa that they must seek permission from Toronto, then it fell apart. I later learned that the Montreal territory was given to Toronto, so Fat Chance.
I'm sure the MLB can come up with a fair deal for the Blue Jays...if the MLB and the city of Montreal actually want a team there. It would be a win, at least culturally, since Quebec is primarily francophone, and Toronto mostly anglophone. Don't underestimate the draw of a common language to unite people around a cause. However at the end of the day, Montreal is going to have to WANT another team. If the response is tepid, then there is no way the MLB will attempt to break up the market.
The ownership is there IMO. All we really need is a ballpark
Who would own the team?
It would be cool if the Expos were to get an expansion team and I still believe that if the team were to have a new ballpark downtown and strong ownership, it would be a success!⚾
Any new stadium in Montreal MUST have a retractable roof. One of the main reason for failing to attract quality players was the refusal of some wanting to relocate to a cold weather climate that is also a predominantly French market.
French isn't a problem for Canadiens players. We are very tolerant when it comes to pro atheletes not speaking french
@@LeCommieBoi Most professional baseball players are American or Latino hated playing early and late season games in Montreal due to the cold weather. Their families also found it difficult to integrate into Quebec because of the pervasive anti-English bigotry and lack of services they could access. That fact, plus the high cost of living in Quebec, lack of linguistic freedom, corruption, high taxes and lower contract value because of being contracted to a small budget team, meant a revolving door of promising rookies leaving as soon as they finished their rookie contract and could demand a trade. A covered stadium would offer a more comfortable spectating experience and a good quality playing field on par with other venues with no more rain/snow outs or delays.
Since must baseball players are Hispanic the French language and culture is actually closer to their Spanish culture than English culture is.
I don't see the Atlanta Braves giving up their market in North and South Carolina for a Charlotte team. They would lose at least a 1/4 of their current market if not more.
Since it is out of state Braves can't claim North or South Carolina, just like the Dodgers can't claim Las Vegas. In order to be within the Braves rights they have to have a local broadcast in that area, have a presence in the area, market in the area and cultivate the area. Giants got San Jose because they have a local broadcast of their games within Nor Cal meaning up and through Sacramento. Braves can't claim any part of North or South Carolina just because it is within a region. Great case to go follow is City of San Jose v. MLB if you really want to lean about territorial rights.
The Braves draw fans from a wide area far beyond the Atlanta area because they are the only MLB team in the region. Fans have been driving from The Carolinas and Tennessee to Atlanta since Ted Turner owned the team and broadcast most of the games on WTCG(now TBS). A Charlotte or Nashville team would cut into that extended fan base.
There isn't a high percentage of people from North Carolina and South Carolina, or any other state other than Georgia going to Braves games. I know this because I have gone to many and if you look at the license plates, well over 90% are Georgia plates. You're talking maybe 8% max on the weekend, even less during the week, at a typical game are from out of state, and those are people from nearby East Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, some North Carolina, some Florida, and a few from Mississippi. I've also seen a few Virginia plates at the parking lots over the years.
People in the Carolinas will still support the Braves, but they will also support their own team. North Carolina alone has almost 11 million people, and South Carolina is approaching 6 million. Between both of them there are about 17 million people. It is absurd that the South has so few MLB teams when it is the most populated region in the country, at 37% of the nation's population, yet only five teams, but only one in the southeast outside of Florida. That's crazy.
I think that the Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Guardians, Reds, Tigers, Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, and Red Sox represent a huge mesh of relatively close teams. There's simply too many throughout the northeast and Midwest. Give the South its fair due.
Imagine a yankees expos game in Paris 😍
With a solid new stadium with a retractable roof, and a local tv deal, Montreal would be a thriving baseball market.
The Expo drew big crowds in Jarry Park. A new cozy park for a expansion team would do well in Montreal
Loved the Expos 80's look. Hope they bring that logo on the uniform back if they come back.
@depressedginger, did you see there are only 19,700 fans at the Rays playoff opener? Still think a new stadium solves the Rays’ problems? The stadium is in a horrible location and building a new one next door will work out like it’s worked out for the Marlins after building a new stadium.
Will never be a shovel in the ground for a new stadium in st. Pete
We already have 10 dying franchises with empty stadiums and not enough big league talent to go around. This is crap.
Exactly. Need to delete the Florida franchises first. The fans don’t support them.
Montreal loved the Expos. But that Lockout in 94 changed everything. Not to mention, the ownership just kept trading off their stars. Montreal is a big city, and they love their sports.
Salt Lake City has already decided to tear down its triple A park in large part to our resident billionaire sporting family(Utah Jazz) decision to sell the team and vo after MLB. SLC is getting a team. This is the families dream going back almost 50 years. Gail Miller will get her team
Why do we keep talking about a city that at the end wasn't even going to the games and when they needed a Stadium no can do I as a Cincinnati reds fan say if they put it there it will fail again and then MLB will have egg on their face once again but they have to find out 4 them selves
Exactly
Many blame the 94 strike for killing the Expos, and while yes it was unfortunate the way that season ended the team was already struggling with attendance and it did in fact only get worse for their final seasons.
Let’s also not forget they only made the playoffs once in 81, which was a strike shortened season
The rays might want to rethink about staying in Saint Pete. They only drew 19,000 for the wildcard game today.
Out of fla
Go to montreal
Labatt Field would've been a top 10 ballpark.
If the expos do come back will the mascot Youppi! Come back or will he stick with the Canadians hockey team?
I think it makes more sense for the Rays to move to Montreal rather than add a new team. No garuntee a new ownership group will have any idea how to run a good bball org
Rays would be a good team that knows how to work with a small budget, that would be really great odds to do well with a move
I think they'd put up with Olympic Stadium (or the Oakland Coliseum) for a year or two while a new ballpark is being built.
The Expos struggled at the Gate because the owners started to tank. This is no different than the people not showing up in Miami or Oakland
If you went to Olympic Stadium, you would know that coupled with the ownership made it hard to survive. Give them a decent stadium and a decent owner they would draw better than many teams
Really Montreal again, the Expos had issues with Olympic Stadium
Add to the fact their attendance was abysmal especially after 94
Their lack of playoff berths was damning too albeit the absence of Wild Card until 95 I’m sure didn’t help either
If it has the old expos logo it’s a fake. The logo and name went with the Expos to DC. The Expos then rebranded but never gave back the Expos name or logos so they own them still.
Yea, but the Nationals would give it back to the new franchise in Montreal…mlb would tell them to if need be
@@BrainHealth-md8wx No not really.. They own the rights to that logo and name. If a new franchise wanted it they would have to buy it back from the Nationals who own all the designs and logos. MLB can't force them to do anything. When MLB sold the Nationals they also sold all the rights as well to everything that the Nationals owned, which included all the old trademarks. Nobody gives anything away in business.
actually you are wrong. the nationals do not own the rights to the expos colours or logo. its mlb that owns those, the nationals might own the team records
You've never been to Olympic Stadium. Go there before you comment on it. The stadium is fine, except for being a dome which isn't in fashion anymore. I took a tour of the place in 2018, the whole joint is spotless. Went to the Blue Jays-Cardinals games there. They were solid games. Super cool crowd, clean, solid concessions. Two public transit hubs close by. Could easily still host top level baseball.
If Minnesota doesn't have a roof, Montreal wouldn't need one.
U are delusional. There is way more snow falling in Montreal than in Minnesota
@@LeCommieBoi
Winter average lows for coldest months:
Montreal -14c
Minneapolis -13.6c
Summer average high for the hottest month: With humidity-
Montreal 26c 56%
Minneapolis 28c 64%
Extreme cold and hot temps annually:
Hot/Cold-
Montreal 34c/ -27c
Minneapolis 36c/ -26c
The difference is negligible.
@@001spring ok now look up the average snowfall for march and april.
@@LeCommieBoi Couldn't care less about March, since they generally don't play in March. But over the last decade, the Minnesota average April snowfall has soared to 7.1 inches, Montreal averages 7.6 inches. The point of this is to say, both are very cold and have long winters and have similar climates. And if one can play without a retractable roof, so can the other.
@@001spring Always good to use Fahrenheit. Most Americans aren't good with the Celsius since we don't use it.
MLB has a new expansion baseball team in Las Vegas!⚾⚾⚾⚾⚾⚾
Lol
The A’s won’t be there for many years, even if construction on the new stadium begins in the next year
There won't be enough paying fans in Montreal to make a team work. 81 home games year after year at MLB prices.....won't work. Sadly the same reason the Quebec Nordiques will not get an NHL team. Not enough people or businesses to support 41 games a year at NHL prices.
Anyone judging the Expos attendance post-1994 is off the mark
If it doesn't work the first time them try again hoping for a different result.
It worked in Washington DC.
I wonder if any expansion would work. The price tag for a new team is 2 billion. You now need wealth. Need a new stadium. Cities are starting to balk at paying for this. Plus you need a strong management team. Not sure how a small market could make it work.
man this would be awesome! obviously not that stadium or completely renewed. basically leave the tower and rebuild everything else. attendance sucked because the stadium and experience sucked.
I live in Montreal and would love to have a team but it would never work. The money doesnt make sense even with revenue sharing. Montreal is just being used to up the value for a city looking for a franchise. Taxes and exchange rate doesnt help. No stadium.
Didn't the roof and all the roof replacements for the Montreal Stadium actually cost significantly more that the stadium itself?
yes... Im 19 and im sure ill be 60 and still paying for it... But I mean It does look good... Its kinda our Astrodome.
@@LeCommieBoi but the Astrodome was torn down decades ago because it was was so terrible.
@@LeCommieBoi I'm kind of joking. I don't mean to come off harsh. As a Braves fan I just remembered how much our team hated playing there. They always got injured because it was "like playing baseball on a tennis court" is what they said. But yeah. I 100% get your point to.
@@matthew01234 The Astrodome still sits abandonned in Houston...
@@matthew01234 Wait... Which stadium are you talking aboout here? BC the Big O is still in use for a few sporting events each years. Its just that we just paid it off. Imagine You just payed off your house and then the HOA comes : "Hey good job! Now we'll just take that house of yours down thank you!". Yes people don't like endlessly paying for it, but there is a part of history in the venue. In the end, the stadium suffers of the insane corruption in place at the time of construction that likely quadrupled the cost and construction time as well as used the cheapest possible materials (outside of asbestos thank god) for construction. Its a sad story really.
Biggest issue with any expansion is the NL west. Any expansion = 4 team divisions. Literally no other teams in NL west could realistically change divisions. Any way you try to slice it, you wind up back with a conflict. Exapansion will have to mean some teams swapping their league
Why have divisions at all? Just have two 16-team tables. Top 6 in each league qualify for the postseason.
@@seand1011MLB isn’t MLS!!!!
It's simple. Montreal has just under 5 million . Plus doesn't get more international then montreal and still has strong appetite for baseball.
Montreal will build a new facility just needs assurances from mlb as building over a billion is no joke. Only way mlb returns is winter or summer Olympics comeback to montreal so they have excuse to build a new facility.
Funny you bring up attendance but you've seen how bad Oakland/ Tampa Bay attendance have been not to mention multiple cities are struggling. Montreal is still more attractive to mlb then any other city including cities that have a mlb team the only reason they ain't back in the show is Olympic stadium is too old and out of date. Montreal builds a stadium they'll have a team it's that simple.
This is potentially really good news for the Expos' 904 fans that would show up to games.
Why does everyone outside of Montreal think we want a baseball team? There are more people here who watch F1 than baseball.
Exactly
One advantage Montreal has is that two eastern expansion teams keeps from making a mess of the teams in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.
AL West - SEA, LV, LAA, AZ
AL South - TX, KC, NSH, TB
AL North - MN, CHW, DET, CLE
AL East - TOR, NYY, BAL, BOS
NL West - SF, SD, LAD, CO
NL South - HOU, ATL, MIA, STL
NL North - CHC, CIN, PIT, MIL
NL East - WAS, NYM, PHI, MTL
If they’re trying to expand to 32 teams, then bring back the Expos and put them in the NL, and add a team in Nashville and put them in the AL. 16 teams per league, and to divide them into divisions:
AL North:
- Seattle Mariners
- Minnesota Twins
- Detroit Tigers
- Toronto Blue Jays
AL South:
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Houston Astros
- Texas Rangers
- LA Angels
AL East:
- Boston Red Sox
- NY Yankees
- Baltimore Orioles
- Cleveland Guardians
AL West:
- Oakland Athletics
- Chicago White Sox
- Kansas City Royals
- Nashville Team
NL North:
- Montreal Expos
- Milwaukee Brewers
- New York Mets
- Chicago Cubs
NL South:
- Miami Marlins
- Atlanta Braves
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- San Diego Padres
NL East:
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Cincinnati Reds
- Washington Nationals
NL West:
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Colorado Rockies
- LA Dodgers
- San Francisco Giants
At least that’s how I’d do it.
*DISCLAIMER* I did this by geographical locations
Why wouldn't you want the Expos to be in the same division as the Blue Jays for rivalry purposes? It seems like that would be a major draw to help get the Expos started.
Expos would need to be in the same division as the Red Sox Yankees and Blue Jays for it to make sense.
The Expos were part of the National League when they were around
Expos need to be in AL East for rivalry purposes with the Yankees, Jays, and Sox...Put Nashville in the NL Central and move Pittsburgh to the NL East. problem solved
@@adamjohnson6715 Wouldn't it cause a problem with TV contracts if they were both in the same league? The reason we in Florida get both Marlins and Rays games on TV is because they are in different leagues.
Would love to see the expos return!
A big Canadien market, second biggest. If they want two expansion after LV gets A's (new market), I can see Nashville and Montreal being up at top.
I have a hard time believing this guy knows what he’s talking about
Olympic stadium was hefty at $770m but it wasn't a billion
Was the fall of the Montreal Expos have to do with the the stadium, poor ownership (Jeffrey Loria), the value of the Canadian dollar, or all of the above? If MLB is going to expand to Canada and Montreal doesnt work, the next larger market should be Vancouver.
It was 100% the ownership when they dismantled a possible world series team the fans realized the current owners would never keep a good team together and stopped going to games. The stadium did need replacement yes but I have attended games in both Rogers Centre in Toronto(before recent renovations) and the Big O in Montreal and found the Big O a far better fan experience to catch a game.
Loria would go on to prove how cheap and useless he really was as an owner even after that.
Didn't Loria remove the Expos from TV?
The expos had some of the best uniforms ever montreal should have a team
I hope this is true.
Oakland/ San Jose expansion on the west and Montreal on the east but I don’t think A’s are moving so Las Vegas and Montreal
The Montreal fans were heart broken when they had the best record in Baseball and the players went on strike in 1994
Just move the Rays there.
But MLB does need 2: more teams so there isn't interleague play every day of the season
meh, why not. Its not like they're getting their Nordiques anytime soon so maybe this venture can work for them?
They got to be kidding! They didn't support the last team they had! Canada is a hockey country...not baseball. The Expos went thru the same thing the A's are experiencing now.
While we're on the subject of MLB expansion, I'd like to mention the possibility of Brooklyn getting an expansion team in the future. I don't know if it's feasible given the Yankees' and Mets' territorial rights, but if it was somehow, then any future expansion should consider giving an NL team to Brooklyn, if only as balm to older Brooklynites who are still bitter about losing the Dodgers all those years ago. They could call it the Brooklyn Robins (both after Jackie Robinson and one of the nicknames the Dodgers previously went by in Brooklyn) and give them a home field also named after Jackie Robinson. But again, I don't know if such a scenario is realistic, so it's really more a thought experiment than anything else.
I would be completely shocked of that ever happened. There's already 2 teams in that market.
@@fantasticvoyage262 Indeed. Like I said, I don't know if it's realistic, but if not, then the current arrangement (Brooklyn having a minor league team affiliated with the Mets) is sufficient.
Attendance from the states can always be cut once they bring back the shots.
Montreal does not need an MLB team. They had issues keeping the team that they had who eventually left. Why would baseball put itself in a situation to relocate it in another 25 years
My thoughts exactly
From what I heard (I wasn’t born yet) the Expos’ attendance was mostly always poor.
Let’s also not forget they only made the playoffs once (81) in their 35 years
The same reason Washington DC got another team.
😮 gonna take public funding
They should consider Vancouver too. But sadly, it's not going to happen.
I think Salt Lake City and Nashville will get teams. I think the issue with Portland isn't the crime it's the proximity to Seattle. Same with Austin and Orlando.
Portland definitely has a crime problem let's not ignore that. the problem is in fact political and they are likely going demand the ownership group invest in all kind of ridiculous "community" nonsense that have nothing to do with building a baseball stadium and or plaza. Like anywhere they'll always be protests against a new stadium But in Portland it will be on another level. You'll definitely have a group of woke lunatics standing outside the construction project Protesting against capitalism And all kind of other BS especially if tax funded.
You don't put a team in Austin but you do in very nearby San Antonio to draw fans from both.
Honestly the proximity to Seattle works for Portland. The sounders and Timbers have no problems with attendance because of proximity and honestly the proximity would be better for the Mariners because they would have a close rival. The Mariners are the MLB equivalent to middle of nowhere.
Where are they gonna play ? And that shuts down this whole conversation
At this point expand to 36 in all sports.
That's what I would hope. 40 teams means 5 teams of 4 divisions in AL and NL. 20 teams each league. More teams, more cities and more fans, more money for MLB.
You build a 35 to 40 thousand seat open air stadium with cheap beer and dogs it will be full every game and build it down town .
MLB is not going back to Montreal my friend. I'm out west in Vancouver and am told via CREDIBLE sources it isn't going to happen. MLB is put off at the french language laws as well as Olympic Stadium needs a $500-600 million dollar upgrade and no one in Montreal wants to pay that $$ to repair it. As well there are serious rumblings here in Vancouver that we are getting a team. All of you reading google search Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to relocate to Vancouver, stay tuned.
Getting their arena renovated@@anthonys3631
I think there are 2 Montreal ownership groups. Maybe they should merge.
Is this a real person? Droning, unlistenable voice, talking like it's being generated by Chat GPT. Also ignoring a couple of the major issues that caused the Expos' problems.
A, they had HORRIBLE ownership over the last decade; Jeffrey Loria simply tanked the team. Sold off all of the best players, traded others for nothing in return (remember Hideki Irabu?). Refused to market the team at all, to the point where there were no local TV or radio broadcasts, period.
B, the Canadian dollar; I'm old enough to remember when it was worth more than an American dollar. But in the 90s, it hit an all time low around 65 cents against the USD; ticket revenue has to be 50% higher just to be on par with US teams, you're going to be in the back of the pack. These days, with revenue sharing and national TV contracts, they would have a little more breathing room.
The strike in 94 was a major blow to the Expos; that was the best team in MLB that year, at 74-40 when play was stopped in August. That soured a lot of people on baseball, and in a town where hockey is #1 and everything else a distant second.... Back when MLB was talking about contraction, dissolving the Expos and Twins, the Expos had a better record, and were drawing more fans, than the Brewers - who happened to be owned by Bud Selig. Montreal can work, with the right ownership, and a better ballpark.
😂Bro you have clearly never been to SLC. Small type vibe? Salt Lake City is slightly smaller and Charlotte and slightly larger than Nashville. It's roughly 2.7 million people sandwiched between mountains and lakes. It's actually more urbanized than both of those cities in many ways. Further because of its isolation it serves nearby smaller areas such as Boise for stuff like this. You would think that people wouldn't drive 300 miles to watch baseball but then you have probably never been to Boise either. They drive down here just because they're bored. SLC is the only mature metro west of the rockies and North of Vegas until you get to the coast. Why are the Jazz consistently in the top half of the NBA in revenue?
Its because you missed aomething the answer is starring you in the face.
The make-up of the Montreal population has changed considerably since the Expos left for DC. Montreal is bigger than Nashville and Charlotte combined. I really don't like your dissing of Canada in general when discussing sports. Maybe go there for yourself and become a little more knowledgeable.
Yea, attendance was low and really low in latter years for a few reasons 1)the stadium is terrible and in a terrible location, would need a new stadium in downtown Montreal area and attendance would be fine. 2) the team was not competitive in latter years because of bad ownership and poor management and selling of better players to keep payroll extremely low and 3) terrible weak ownership that led MLB to buy the Expos so Selig could ensure the Expos would fail to move the team to Washington so they deliberately sabotaged the Expos…it was really an awful coordinated effort by the corrupt Bud Selig.
By the way, weather in Montreal in September is fine…it’s Montreal, not the fucking Artic Circle….do some research “depressed ginger” ffs….the weather in Montreal is no different then any North Eastern US City in April or September
You are right but a retractable dome would still be the best solution for a new stadium and like the Rogers Centre the roof would be open for most games but not all. Also it would allow the stadium owners winter use for concerts and other events as it could contain much bigger events than the Canadians arena.
Baseball didnt care about Montreal, and the fact that the ownership issues were a disaster. When the Expos were winning nobody cared about the stadium. It was built for the Olympics and modified for North American sports. Ive been to almost 200 games at the stadium (Alouettes Grey cups Expos NASL) Perhaps Im not part of the majority who criticize it (at times for good reasons), but I always enjoy seeing any sporting event au stade Olympique!
Ungrateful fans
It's not going to happen. Baseball failed in Montreal because they were going to build a new ballpark for the Expos but that fell through. Olympic Stadium is not suitable for baseball.
A couple of years ago I saw that Vancouver’s mayor was pushing hard for a MLB team. They have a minor league single A team that is always sold out. It would be nice to see 1 or 2 more Canadian teams but I wonder if the Blue Jays will try and stop it
Toronto isn't blocking someone in another province from getting a team.
@@fantasticvoyage262 I heard they would pushback hard to allow another Canadian team in.
@@lovesgucci1 Who said that? The Blue Jays are only one team. They don't have that much power over the other 29 teams.
Could you please do a video of where these expansion teams minor league teams could go. I live in Colorado Springs where we have a metro around 750,000 and we have a Mexican minor league team, I was wondering if we would be viable for a triple A team for one of these new major league teams
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has stated interest in being involved in bringing baseball to the Raleigh area
Olympic stadium is getting their ballpark renovated and it'll be done in 2028
MLB needs Montreal more than Montreal needs MLB. That's the stumbling block that MLB can't get through their head.
MLB expects Montreal to bow down and worship them after stealing a Yankees vs. Expos World Series from the fans in 1994. Doesn't work that way.
MLB has exhausted all of the US markets. Oakland is a flop. Tampa is a flop. Miami is a flop. Montreal (with a new stadium) would be a top 10 MLB franchise easily.
The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL are thinking about a new stadium
Montreal would be great imo.
Salt Lake City and Nashville sound like the best bets.
For the eastern expansion teams, I would say it’s between Nashville and Charlotte. For the west, it’s between Portland and Salt Lake City. I think it’s going to be Nashville and Portland for who gets the expansion teams.
Portland is losing their Walmart and Target stores and you think they will support a MLB team?
Portland is a passionate sports market for both basketball and major league soccer as well as the state as a whole with the Ducks and Beavers. Portland will support a baseball team and already do the minor leagues. The city is cleaning up and the spot for the stadium in the Loyd district would be perfect for the team. Portland is a great place for baseball and the city needs something to bring life back into it. Portlanders have been waiting for a long time and the city doesn’t just want a team they need it. LET’S GO Portland!!!
@@noaho8457 Portlanders are passionate about rioting and looting, not baseball.
things would be completely different today with expanded playoffs montreal would draw until the end of season
Montreal was a good baseball city until the players' strike and then Loria.
Montreal has realized that all sports are fixed, especially baseball and know they are the bottom of the list. Soon they will dump whatever sports teams they have left
Baseball needs to switch to 1 2 3 4 5 strikes you're out at the old ball game. 5 innings with 5 outs. Sorry but as a sport it has a habit of being anti-climactic. Add outs to the innings ao that we have bases loaded more often. It reduces the total outs needed from 27 to 25 but with more opportunities in an inning and more batters lining up this would be worth it. It would make the game both more fun to play and watch
Research man ! Lots of info out there on this topic from Rob Monford etc
Poor attendance was the result of the horrible venue. Simple.