Wow! This is shocking to me but awesome! Maybe Montreal getting a team is in the future?
Montreal's Jurassic Park to take over 2 downtown streets for Game 6
Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...173444?cmp=rss
'They have the support of an entire country,' says one of thousands of Montreal fans excited for the big game
Montreal is shutting down two downtown blocks tonight to allow people to cheer on a team from the city's traditional bête noire: Toronto.
The very notion would have seemed far-fetched, until Monday night.
That's when several thousand enthusiastic fans turned up for the impromptu "Jurassic Park'' on Peel Street to cheer on the Toronto Raptors in a losing effort against the Golden State Warriors.
"We were all Canadian that night and it was very emotional,'' said Alain Creton, head of the Peel Street Merchants' Association and owner of Chez Alexandre, a popular Parisienne brasserie.
Creton said he was astounded by the number of young people from all backgrounds who were crammed up against his terrace that night.
On Wednesday, Mayor Valérie Plante announced the city will do it again Thursday night — this time on both Peel and Crescent streets — as the Raptors attempt to eliminate the Warriors in California and capture their first NBA championship. Tip off is at 9 p.m.
For one of the key figures championing an expansion NBA franchise for Montreal, the gatherings — and the Raptors' exhilarating run — have only served to help his own long-term goal.
"It certainly validates our findings that basketball is indeed very popular in Montreal,'' former senator Michael Fortier told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.
"This run ... has demonstrated to people that don't live in Canada that our interest in basketball isn't just concentrated in the GTA.''