Potential relocation for: Oakland, Tampa Bay Cities vying for MLB teams include: Montreal, Charlotte, North Carolina, San Antonio, Portland, Oregon, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, northern New Jersey, Mexico City or Monterrey, Mexico Is 30 not enough?
No, Commish states he'd like to see further league expansion, including those 2 teams getting new stadium deals in their existing areas. I know Oakland has looked at San Jose for example.
I know Montreal's past MLB history is sketchy at first, much like Denver's. Both Cities hosted Minor Lg Teams in the 40s-50s, with numerous greats coming out of both city/teams....... http://fansided.com/2015/05/28/montreal-takes-case-for-mlb-team-to-mlb-commissioner/ There were a dozen or more reasons why the Expos were bought by MLB, and moved to DC, which pale in comparison to The Fans not supporting the team. article below cut from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Expos#Social_impact_of_the_Expos Final decade At this point, the consortium's lack of capital investment became a critical issue. Not only did the Expos suffer from the minority partners' refusal to make further investments, but they also had to contend with reduced television revenue from not being able to air their games in southern Ontario. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that while the Expos reported their revenues in Canadian dollars, they had to pay their players in U.S. dollars. Just days after district court judge Sonia Sotomayor scuttled the owners' plans to use replacement players during the 1995 regular season, Brochu instructed general manager Kevin Malone to conduct a fire sale and cut ties with the team's major stars. In a series of transactions that took place between April 5-8, the club severed ties with four of the stars of the 1994 team.[11] Larry Walker left as a free agent, and as the Expos had not offered him salary arbitration, they did not receive any compensation for Walker's departure. John Wetteland was traded to the New York Yankees, Ken Hill to the St. Louis Cardinals, and Marquis Grissom to the Atlanta Braves.[3] Years later, Brochu said that he didn't want to unload Walker, Wetteland, Hill and Grissom, but the minority partners were not willing to invest any further money. Regardless, the fans were outraged. The Expos' attendance flatlined after the fire sale, dropping 26 percent from 1994.[11] Their average attendance would never top more than 20,000 per game during their last 10 seasons in Montreal. Kevin Malone resigned as general manager in October 1995, saying "I'm in the building business, not in the dismantling business."[39] Moisés Alou and Mel Rojas left as free agents after the 1996 season,[40] and Pedro Martínez was traded after the 1997 season, shortly after winning the Cy Young Award.[41] In 1997, Brochu announced plans for a new $250 million, 35,000-seat park in downtown Montreal to be named Labatt Park. It would have been a retro-classic park on the model of Camden Yards in Baltimore, with a brick facade reminiscent of historic Bonaventure Station. The club sought $150 million from the provincial government to finance construction. Brochu let it be known that the Expos could not stay in Montreal unless Olympic Stadium was replaced. Quebec's finance minister, Bernard Landry, appeared receptive to the proposal. However Premier Lucien Bouchard balked, saying he couldn't in good conscience authorize public funding for a stadium when the province was being forced to close hospitals. Additionally, Olympic Stadium still had not been paid for (the debt was not fully retired until 2006).[11] Purchase by Jeffrey Loria On December 9, 1999, American art dealer Jeffrey Loria became the Expos' managing general partner, chairman and CEO, purchasing Claude Brochu's ownership stake, and naming his stepson, David Samson, executive vice-president.[4][5] Loria made his initial splash by signing Graeme Lloyd for $3,000,000,[45] and acquiring Hideki Irabu's $4,125,000 contract[46] and Lee Stevens's $3,500,000 contract[47] in trades.[4] The total sum of these contracts was nearly 50% of the 1999 payroll.[48] Before the 2000 season, Loria tried to renegotiate the team's radio and television deals. At the time, the Expos were getting the lowest broadcasting revenue in the majors. However, The Sports Network, the team's cable partner since 1985, was only willing to offer $5,000 per game—a pittance compared to the $200,000 received by the Blue Jays. Loria decided to cut ties with CIQC (formerly CFCF), the team's English flagship for all but two years of their existence, but was unable to find a suitable replacement. CJAD, the flagship in 1989 and 1990, only offered a brokerage deal similar to its deals with the Alouettes and Canadiens, where the Expos would pay CJAD for the airtime. CKGM, who had carried the Expos in their inaugural season, made a similar offer, requiring a $1,000 per game fee. While the Expos renewed their French-language radio broadcast deal with the Telemedia network—whose flagship, CKAC, had carried Expos games since 1973—the only English-language broadcast available during the 2000 season was via Internet audiocasts; no television coverage was available in either language. Dave Van Horne, the team's English-language play-by-play announcer since the team's inception, left for the Florida Marlins after the season.[11] Loria shared Brochu's dissatisfaction with Olympic Stadium, saying soon after he bought the team, "We cannot stay here."[49] Like Brochu, he was very committed to building Labatt Park. Before he formally closed on the purchase, Loria significantly altered the plans for the proposed downtown ballpark, changing it to a more modern design with curved contours and glass. During the 2000 season, Loria requested additional public funding, but Bouchard reaffirmed the Quebec government's previous refusal, given its other budgetary cuts to essential services. Without government funding, the plans for the proposed downtown ballpark were cancelled.[11]
Canadiens, invented the Boxing Match, while playing Hockey on Ice.....is this why moving to Montreal is not some people's idea of a Baseball Town? After all no one in Montreal's History, ever took a baseball bat to the head of another, that was a Dominican......
Aye, you hit Ricks head on the nail Tom.........Little Rock....? The Clinton Mob must of paid out a ton of Payola funds to the State of 10, 000 dueling banjos, hog callers, and woods porkers........ did Rick put ya' up to this???????
OK, as far as North Jersey.... That would be stupid unless the Mets are relocating... Northern NJ already has allegiances to the Yankees & Mets... Montreal.... Been there, done that... Portland would cripple the Mariners... Charlotte I don't think would have much success not to mention their loyalty to the Braves Las Vegas is too damn hot & with the water shortage, I can't see this happening... San Antonio would fight the market with the Rangers & Astros... See North Jersey... Oklahoma City, Mexico City, or Monterey are possibilities...
My daughter & grandson live there now & she misses not having any pro sports teams there. She got spoiled living in Colorado all those years.
