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Manfred: Montreal viable MLB market

Montreal ExposEchoing what we’ve heard from plenty of MLB folks recently: New Commissioner Rob Manfred views Montreal as a potential market for Major League Baseball — under the right circumstances.

Yes, we’ve been beating the drum for Montreal’s MLB dreams for some time now: Expos fans were screwed over by the Jeffrey Loria/Bud Selig shenanigans that led to the team moving to Washington (where, thankfully, the team is on solid footing due to some hard work from the Lerners), and with the passage of time, folks are remembering the good times at Olympic Stadium — where the Expos were a major draw — and ignoring the franchise’s final, dreadful days.

In the past several years, however, many smart, financially savvy folks have made the case for Montreal being capable of hosting Major League Baseball. We won’t go over all the studies — you can read them for yourself in the links found on the bottom of the page. The bottom line: they conclude that with the current financial health of Montreal as a world capital center, Major League Baseball could work with a new facility and deep-pocketed owners.

Olympic Stadium, Montreal

And Manfred agrees with the assessment. In an interview with The New York Times’ Tyler Kepner, Manfred is pretty upbeat about Montreal:

“Look, I think Montreal helped itself as a candidate for Major League Baseball with the Toronto games that they had up there last year. It’s hard to miss how many people showed up for those exhibition games. It was a strong showing. Montreal’s a great city. I think with the right set of circumstances and the right facility, it’s possible.”

Those are some major caveats, of course. But with two teams with serious unresolved facilities issues and one owner who has clearly considered the potential of Montreal as a new home for his team, the chances of Montreal landing a team in coming years is clearly on the rise. But remember: change in MLB tends to be measured by years and years, so don’t be heading down quite yet to the Big O with those season-ticket deposits.

Photo of Olympic Stadium by Michael Wu via flickr.com.

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