Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by wave46

So, we have an expensive stadium that already sits unused and needs fixing. The solution is to build another that will sit unused until it needs fixing.

The MLB isn't coming back to Montreal.

Fact - MLB needs to expand by 2 teams. The current 15 teams per league format is a scheduling nightmare.

Fact - Montreal is the best baseball market without an MLB team (and likely better than many that do). Other options don't look so great e.g. Portland, Charlotte, Mexico City, Nashville, LV, San Juan (now I'm just pulling names out of a hat), etc. Actually, Vancouver could be a viable MLB target but I'm not sure that city has shown any desire to throw their hat into the ring.

Given the momentum and growing corporate support for baseball in Montreal, it seems likely this will take place in the near future.

[Hybrid247]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Yes, put them in the AL East and Vancouver in the AL West.

They'd have to shift an AL team over to NL if they did

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

Fact - MLB needs to expand by 2 teams. The current 15 teams per league format is a scheduling nightmare.

Fact - Montreal is the best baseball market without an MLB team (and likely better than many that do). Other options don't look so great e.g. Portland, Charlotte, Mexico City, Nashville, LV, San Juan (now I'm just pulling names out of a hat), etc. Actually, Vancouver could be a viable MLB target but I'm not sure that city has shown any desire to throw their hat into the ring.

Given the momentum and growing corporate support for baseball in Montreal, it seems likely this will take place in the near future.

Fact: The Expos were drawing an average of less than 15,000 fans per game from 1998 on.

Fact: New baseball fields are running $300M+ US per. Coincidentally, Olympic Stadium apparently requires that much in repairs.

I don't think the corporate support will privately finance such a venue. The Expos aren't the Habs. That means 'government partnership', i.e. making taxpayers foot the bill. I'm not sure how much appetite exists in that city for such a venture, especially since the last one sits as a monument to how things can go wrong.

MLB has been a 30 team league since 1998. They seem to have made it work. As much as they'd like to have 32 teams, I think they'll stick with 30, as you have noted, the potential markets look pretty weak (IMO including Montreal). Owners have more 'leverage' with government if they can threaten to move (see: the NFL and Los Angeles area until recently), as opposed to a league that is thinking about contracting (as MLB was in 2001).

[Acajack]

Baseball in Montreal currently has a much lower visibility, level of interest and grassroots than any potential American city and even arguably than San Juan PR. Than Vancouver too.

This doesn't mean that the Expos 2.0 couldn't make a go of it. I think they might be able to pull it off but the big deal-breaker is the stadium.

I don't see how anyone (private or public) would sink in that much cash for a baseball-specific stadium for a venture whose success is fairly uncertain.

[J.OT13]

What's wrong with Olympic Stadium? Why does Montreal have to build a new stadium to host an MLB team?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

What's wrong with Olympic Stadium? Why does Montreal have to build a new stadium to host an MLB team?

Rightly or wrongly, the Big O is blamed for the demise and departure of the Expos.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

What's wrong with Olympic Stadium? Why does Montreal have to build a new stadium to host an MLB team?

Olympic Stadium was kind of iffy as a baseball venue, mostly due to its construction as a multipurpose venue.

I'd also imagine that MLB would require a proper baseball stadium be built as a condition of an expansion team. It is almost de rigeur these days - I think only Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay), Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and Rogers Centre are multipurpose facilities.

Two of those have teams currently agitating for a new venue, to boot.

Then again, if the city of Montreal is going to be spending a chunk of money on the place anyways, might as well have a tenant.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Hybrid247

They'd have to shift an AL team over to NL if they did

Not if an AL team moves to either Vancouver or Montreal. The Rays and Athletics are low hanging fruit.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This doesn't mean that the Expos 2.0 couldn't make a go of it. I think they might be able to pull it off but the big deal-breaker is the stadium.

I don't see how anyone (private or public) would sink in that much cash for a baseball-specific stadium for a venture whose success is fairly uncertain.

Agree. It's a non-starter without an open air baseball specific stadium downtown. Besides the cultural, entertainment, and tourism advantages a team brings there's a certain cache about being a MLB city. Rightly or wrongly, many people associate having a major league baseball team with being a major league city.

Would be a terrific spot!

Courtesy of CBC

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by wave46

The MLB isn't coming back to Montreal.

The MLB is showing great interest in returning to Montreal. Montreal is at the top of that list, along with Las Vegas, Charlotte, San Antonio, Portland and — as a very long shot — Vancouver.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

The MLB is showing great interest in returning to Montreal. Montreal is at the top of that list, along with Las Vegas, Charlotte, San Antonio, Portland and — as a very long shot — Vancouver.

Major League Baseball can want what it wants - finding someone to pony up for the expansion team and the stadium will be the trick.

[king10]

Originally Posted by wave46

Major League Baseball can want what it wants - finding someone to pony up for the expansion team and the stadium will be the trick.

http://www.bellmedia.ca/about-bellmedia/

[FFX-ME]

Originally Posted by king10

http://www.bellmedia.ca/about-bellmedia/

What is the relevance here? That link does not even mention the MLB for baseball.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by wave46

Major League Baseball can want what it wants - finding someone to pony up for the expansion team and the stadium will be the trick.

Return of the Expos? Montreal investors ready for baseball
CTV Montreal: Expos dream still promising
The Canadian Press March 29, 2017

MONTREAL - A group of investors that wants to bring professional baseball to Montreal said the only thing they are waiting for is a call from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

The Major League Baseball Commissioner had previously established requirements for returning a team to Montreal: a solid financial package, government support, a site and plans for a stadium.

All of these conditions have now been met by the group, a source told the Canadian Press.

Thus, the money is there, the support of two of the three levels of government is acquired, the group has a few sites and no fewer than five stadium plans will serve as the foundation for the project.

The group is so ready that this source says that if MLB should contact them in the coming days, weeks, or months for whatever reason, the project can be set in motion.

...

[elly63]

Originally Posted by FFX-ME

What is the relevance here? That link does not even mention the MLB for baseball.

Why the Montreal Expos could make a comeback
Many things have changed since they left in 2004, but there's still a stadium issue
Jamie Strashin CBC Sports Mar 31, 2017

...

"All the big U.S. markets have been sucked up long ago and that really leaves you with a bunch of mid-markets and small markets," Brown says.

A Major League Baseball team and its 162-game schedule could be attractive to media giant Bell, always hungry for content for its many platforms, including its cable sports network TSN.

Bell rival Rogers, which owns the Blue Jays, currently has a stranglehold on the baseball market in Canada.

'A whole new world'

But the economic pie extends far beyond television. As media rights fees have exploded and MLB has expanded its digital empire, there are millions of dollars available annually to all 30 MLB teams that simply didn't exist when the Expos left town.

With a more generous revenue-sharing plan now in place to help level the playing field, franchise values have skyrocketed. It's a long way from the talk of contraction and economic doom that accompanied the Expos' demise.

Today, even poorly run franchises are extremely valuable. Take the Miami Marlins, with their thin attendance and dismal local television deal. They have a sparkling new stadium and are valued at between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion US.

"It's a whole new world," says Brown.

It all makes a return of the Montreal Expos at least plausible.

Now about that stadium …

[WhipperSnapper]

MLB will not give an expansion franchise to a corporate owner. Bell it out. Pointless editorial.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

MLB will not give an expansion franchise to a corporate owner. Bell it out. Pointless editorial.

Am I missing something here (Rogers Communications), are you thinking of the NFL. Even then those guidelines are not like they used to be.

[asdda]

Originally Posted by wave46

MLB has been a 30 team league since 1998. They seem to have made it work. As much as they'd like to have 32 teams, I think they'll stick with 30, as you have noted, the potential markets look pretty weak (IMO including Montreal). Owners have more 'leverage' with government if they can threaten to move (see: the NFL and Los Angeles area until recently), as opposed to a league that is thinking about contracting (as MLB was in 2001).

This is not wholly correct. Yes they have had 30 teams since 1998 but for most of that time it was 14 AL and 16 NL.

Ever since the Astros were moved to the AL West in 2013 everyone in baseball knows 2 new expansion teams are coming.

Having an odd number of teams in each league has really screwed up the schedule and forced all year round interleague which no one really wants.

The only reason they haven't put out the call yet is because they want the threat of relocation to help the A's and Rays to get their stadium situations sorted out.

[blueandgoldguy]

Quebec City received $200 million for their new arena from the province. Montreal will receive substantial funding from the province for a new stadium contingent upon the return of the Expos. The City will also contribute. Combined I wouldn't be surprised if the government gave at least $200 million or more. Have a ticket tax to pay off another portion over 20-25 years of course with a loan from the province. Then you the owners fronting another $150 million or so. There's your $500 million.

Bell of course will be involved looking for desperately needed content to compliment their CFL games on TSN. 162 games of baseball fills in evening/afternoon slots quite nicely in the spring/summer/fall.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by wave46

Fact: The Expos were drawing an average of less than 15,000 fans per game from 1998 on.

Fact: New baseball fields are running $300M+ US per. Coincidentally, Olympic Stadium apparently requires that much in repairs.

I don't think the corporate support will privately finance such a venue. The Expos aren't the Habs. That means 'government partnership', i.e. making taxpayers foot the bill. I'm not sure how much appetite exists in that city for such a venture, especially since the last one sits as a monument to how things can go wrong.

MLB has been a 30 team league since 1998. They seem to have made it work. As much as they'd like to have 32 teams, I think they'll stick with 30, as you have noted, the potential markets look pretty weak (IMO including Montreal). Owners have more 'leverage' with government if they can threaten to move (see: the NFL and Los Angeles area until recently), as opposed to a league that is thinking about contracting (as MLB was in 2001).

It's pretty clear you're not at all interested in this topic based on your creativity with facts and numbers. If you really want to know about what's happening, just do a Google search.