With the Toronto Blue Jays advancing to the World Series for the first time in over 30 years, fans all over Canada are gearing up and getting behind their only baseball representation.
Canadian teams have been around for decades: The Montreal Expos were the first MLB team in Canada, becoming an expansion team in 1969. Montreal is in Québec, a unique place from the rest of Canada. It is largely influenced by early French roots and speaks its own version of the language, Québécois French.
The Expos meant a lot more to the city of Montreal than just baseball. They were the first team in Canada, and on top of that, Quebec already possesses a lot of national pride for the province.
While the Expos didn’t have a lot of success in their 35 years of playing in Montreal, there was a season that was shortened by a players strike in 1981, where the Expos managed to reach the NLCS. A lockout would later kill the last hope the Expos had at winning a World Series in 1994.
That 1994 roster was stacked with talent up and down with five All-Stars, including three players that were in the top 12 of MVP voting. When players went on strike in response to an owners proposal of a salary cap, this was to give small market teams the ability to keep competing, like themselves.
Little did the team know that these discussions were an attempt to keep small market teams relevant, which killed the Expos, and this was just the beginning of the end for Montreal. The Expos, unable to retain their star players, were forced to sell their stars to other prospective teams — all in the span of three days.
After gutting the franchise, fan attendance started to drop at the Canadian Olympic Stadium, and that’s when the team was sold to New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria. The team’s misfortune only went from bad to worse.
When Loria was unable to convince the local government to help fund a new stadium in Montreal, he grew disinterested with the team and turned his sights to Florida in an attempt to buy the then-Florida Marlins. He was able to acquire them after reaching a deal with the original owner John Henry, who then was able to strike a deal to buy the Boston Red Sox.
When Loria acquired the Marlins, the MLB and 29 previous owners bought the Expos from him. This only came before Loria could take almost everyone on the coaching staff, front office, even computers and Expos scouting reports.
With the MLB not investing any money into the team and the fans becoming disinterested, the team was no longer able to compete in the way it used to. It became evident that things weren’t going to last much longer in Montreal. On Sept. 29, 2004, the Expos played their last game in Montreal, ironically against Loria’s Marlins, and then packed up to make their way down to Washington, D.C., to become the Washington Nationals.
While the MLB might have killed the Expos and forced the move to Washington, D.C., they now have the unique chance to once again bring fans from around Canada to watch their beloved Expos once again.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about league realignment during the Little League World Series, explaining that he wanted to change homebase, and for it to be picked out by 2029.
There is no location better suited once again for baseball than Montreal.
Montreal is now the 19th largest city in North America with a metropolitan population of roughly 4.6 million people. Outside of cities in Mexico, this is the only city with a population of this size without an MLB franchise.
The population of Montreal seems to be excited at the idea of the Expos returning to Montreal. In a study done by Ernst & Young (EY) in 2013, nearly 70% of citizens were in favor of a return.
All of this data was compiled by William Jegher, a managing partner at the accounting firm for a now expired bid for an expansion team. The data shows the ability to mobilize quickly — that study also has locations that can be used for the new ballpark as well as the potential real estate they can buy up and start the work on the new stadium.
For a point of comparison, the Tampa Bay Rays’ owner, Stuart Sternberg, was frustrated about a stadium deal stalling. Sternberg was unable to get enough sponsors to support the team. He proposed the idea of splitting the home games between the Rays home in Florida and rest in Montreal.
While this idea ended up being axed by the MLB, it shows that there is still plenty of interest to place Montreal on the MLB map again. Even though this was a proposal, there are still plenty of issues that could still go wrong when it comes to baseball expanding to Montreal.
When Jegher’s split city plan fell flat in 2022, one of the group’s lead investors, Mitch Garber, indicated that Jegher was no longer interested in bringing baseball back to Montreal in a full season. Still, other groups continue to come out of the wood work for an opportunity to play in Montreal.
Montreal will have to find the money it will take to build the Expos a new stadium. In the 36 years they were in Canada, the Expos were never given a stadium built specifically for them.
Even with this, there is an estimated $2 billion it will cost in just expansion fees to even have a right to buy into MLB.
It is no secret that Montreal is considered in the upcoming expansion talks. While fans wait patiently, they will continue to hope they can pack a brand new ballpark to celebrate Opening Day once again with the Canadian flag flying high overhead.
