Baseball in Canada is booming right now, mostly thanks to the resurgence of the Toronto Blue Jays. Couple that with the extraordinary grass-roots movement to re-establish Major League Baseball in Montreal and the largest market sans baseball in the US and Canada is ripe to be filled.
Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said “I’d be interested in another team in Canada,” while Montreal’s Mayor Denis Coderre recently penned a letter to all 30 MLB teams along with Stephen Bronfman, a former minority owner of the Expos from 1999 to 2004, whose father Charles owned the team from its founding in 1969 to 1999, to “prove we’re serious to all these people.” A likely location for a new stadium has been identified, while the Mayor, a key pro-baseball ally, currently enjoys a 72% approval rating. That won’t last forever, and if he ever is jettisoned, efforts to bring baseball back to la belle province could be halted.
MLB wants growth and Montreal is a key component: that’s why MLB should award the franchise right now, with a caveat: the movement must prove they can have owners and a new stadium in place by a deadline decided by its 30 current owners. If it happens, MLB can open up a competition for another city (itself a challenge: no other city is as ready as Montreal), bringing the circuit up to 32 teams, eliminating the need for Interleague play every single day. The timing is right to do it now...plus the Montreal-born ex-Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos suddenly needs a job.
