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Post by wolfmannick on May 28, 2015 17:47:33 GMT -6
Montreal mayor wants MLB games in 2016
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is open to Montreal hosting three or four regular-season games in 2016, the city's mayor said Thursday after a 45-minute meeting he described as "extremely positive." The goal of the encounter was to show Manfred that Montreal is "serious about baseball," said Denis Coderre, who explained the city's strategy toward acquiring a team either through expansion or the relocation of an existing franchise. Coderre wouldn't give details about that strategy but said demonstrating to the league that Montreal can fill the Olympic Stadium for games in June or July is the "next step" in bringing a team back to the city. He said Manfred was impressed by the fact the four pre-season MLB games the city has hosted in the past two years — two in 2014 and two this year — were near sellouts and he "didn't close the door at all" to his request for several regular-season games next year. "He's open to it," Coderre said. "I showed (Manfred) that we have a clear strategy and that the fans are there. We can fill the (Olympic Stadium); now the next step is to get regular-season games here. If we can fill the stadium in April, imagine in June or July." He added that six or seven teams have expressed interest in playing games in the city next year. Coderre called Manfred a "family man and a man of great vision" who is not only concerned about MLB but also in developing a stronger grassroots interest in the game across North America. Montreal's recent $11-million investment in baseball diamonds is proof the city is also concerned about increasing interest in the game among young people, Coderre said. "The future Russell Martins of this world need to have the capacity to play the game and the opportunity to see if he loves the game," he added, referring to the Blue Jays' Toronto-born catcher. Coderre acknowledged that many steps lie ahead before Montreal gets a team back after losing the Expos in 2004. "(Myself and Manfred) will work closely together so I think (our meeting) was mission accomplished," he said. Manfred said recently the interest shown by Montreal meant the city had successfully passed the first test toward a return of baseball but that it would have to meet several other criteria, including a proper baseball stadium.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 18:55:48 GMT -6
They were the favorites and most talented team but no one can say what would have happened for sure. All we or anyone can offer is our OPINIONS on what would have happened or what we wished to happen. Bottom line is the games were never played so we don't know what could have happened. Thus we can't award division winners, AL/NL champs or world series champs. The track record on the best team with the most talent winning in baseball is god AWFUL. Maybe the Expos peaked too soon or would have had a rash of injuries. For all the Yankees talent and spending how many world series have they won the last 10 years? If we give the Expos "special" credit it opens a can of worms. Do we award Tony Gwinn a .400 batting average for that year? He finished at .394 and was on a hot streak when the strike came? The other problem is without the strike there could have been more trades of prospects for veterans for contending teams so we don't know what the rosters would have looked like without the threat of a strike and actual strike. There's a saying in sports whenever an upset occurs. THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAMES!!!! Bottom line is the games we not played. Montreal needs to get over unproductive crap like this. They weren't the only ones screwed. Padre fans lost the chance to see Tony Gwynn hit .400. Giant fans lost our on Matt Williams home run quest to break the record. The White Sox had a loaded team. They could have won. At the time they hadn't won the series since 1917. The Indians were loaded and were only one game behind chicago. The Indians hadn't won and still haven't won a series since 1948. They Yankees only won 4 less games than the Expos. If they won I'm not sure they get their new park anyway. Lucien Brouchard(sp) was dead set against funding since the province was closing hospitals. The team still would have been broken up. There was no local sports stations at the time that would have paid a proper local tv deal. There was no revenue sharing in baseball like today. Plus the Canadian dollar was totally in the crapper at that time. If Brouchard didn't want the stadium all he would have had to do was wait until the team was broken up and fan anger rose and said see I'm right the financials of baseball are all screwed up(which they were at that time). Why should we spend money on this crap? They broke the team up. Montreal fans need to look forward and stop living in the past. What is done is done. Instead of figuring out if they would have won in 94 and who is to blame for them leaving they should focus on getting a new park DOWNTOWN and demand that no more mega millions be spent on Olympic Stadium roofs and have that money be put towards a new park either now or for in the future. The Expos not gtting a chance to win the World Series, than have their team dismantled the following season, is the greatest tragedy in sports history. It needs to be corrected.
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Post by mikecubs on May 28, 2015 21:04:15 GMT -6
It's up there but I can think of one worst.
Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls won 6 titles in 8 years(91,92,93,96,97,98). They were iconic. They were like the Beatles of pro sports. The entire roster was broken up after the 1998 season after they won title number 6. They were an older team but could have won 2 more titles. The owner Jerry Reinsdorf was too cheap to keep them together and the general manager Jerry Krause hated Michael Jordan since he didn't draft him and wanted to build his own team so he could receive credit for the winning. He also hated the head coach Phil Jackson and told him before the season "I don't care if you go 82 and bleeping 0 you are out of here after the season." Phil Jackson was the only coach Michael Jordan would play for. He stated this MANY times. Jordan retired when Jackson left. The next 5 years the bulls were deep into the lottery and never recovered. Every free agent rejected them because of how poorly they treated the dynasty. GM Jerry Krause hired was his fishing buddy Tim Floyd(a losing college coach) when Jackson left. He finished with the worst winning % in NBA history.
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Post by mikecubs on May 28, 2015 21:06:33 GMT -6
As far as the Expos not getting the chance to finish 94 and leaving the one good thing about it was it did give Washington DC a team. I was always VERY pro-Washington and was very glad when they got a team.
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Post by Bruinsfan on May 30, 2015 13:02:29 GMT -6
As far as the Expos not getting the chance to finish 94 and leaving the one good thing about it was it did give Washington DC a team. I was always VERY pro-Washington and was very glad when they got a team. I was pro washington too, I dont like that they didnt use the name senators, i know its a cursed name but they were a team for a long time
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Post by Bruinsfan on May 30, 2015 13:04:56 GMT -6
I also think Grays would have been a great name, considering there were many great players that never got the chance to play (Page and Gibson were greats that never got a chance)
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Post by mikecubs on May 30, 2015 18:50:15 GMT -6
As far as the Expos not getting the chance to finish 94 and leaving the one good thing about it was it did give Washington DC a team. I was always VERY pro-Washington and was very glad when they got a team. I was pro washington too, I dont like that they didnt use the name senators, i know its a cursed name but they were a team for a long time I wish they would have went with Senators too! There were 2 versions of the Senators and overall Washington did have them a long time.(It's always bothered me when people called Washington a failed market) I wasn't a fan of Grays. I wish when the Expos moved to DC they kept the history in Montreal. If the Expos come back the Nationals should give it back. Also the Twins and Rangers should give the Senators 1.0 and 2.0 back to the Nationals.
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Post by wolfmannick on Oct 3, 2015 16:13:46 GMT -6
I remember hearing them talking about expansion on Blue Jays Central a couple of weeks ago. They were just speculating at this point but Montreal and Mexico City were the cities mentioned being considered for expansion.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 3, 2015 20:39:31 GMT -6
LOL Mexico City isn't happening even though Manfred mentioned it. The players union would never go for it(kidnappings). The peso is worth 60c. ESPN interviewed latin players a while ago and they said it wouldn't work in their countries. There isn't the economic base. Mexico/Latin America are 3rd world countries. The reason he mentions Mexico City is because they want to make it seem like there is a second place to expand so Montreal remains hept up. If he told the truth and said Charlotte just opened a minor league park and the mayor said demographically it would be 20 years before Charlotte was ready, San Antonio just approved a minor league park and probably needs at least 20 more years of growth, Portland doesn't have enough corporate support, won't approve a park, would have to give Seattle a massive payout and has the problem if they ever got big enough the NHL would come because of the Winter hawk history and ready made building that won't cost a thing. These are the best 3 options.
If it becomes obvious that Montreal is the only candidate then they need either Oakland or Tampa to fail. The NFL is probably going to do something VERY stupid and pick the Raiders over the Rams. The bay area is too big and rich. It's hard to make a case to move the A's to Montreal. Tampa has a lease until 2027. If Expos fans took this into account they wouldn't be hept up for something that won't happen for at least 15-20 years in the right case scenario for Montreal. There goes MLB's leverage then. Montreal also has the problem of the low dollar and no park. Remember Cromartie thought the Expos 2.0 would operate as a small market team when the dollar was at par. I won't say the Expos would never come back but it's a long way off. Right now they are leverage for Oakland/Tampa and a tool to get a great gate for 2 games a year for the Blue Jays.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 4, 2015 10:55:03 GMT -6
the only place i could see getting a look owould be in 20 years if puerto ric becomes a us state and has 20 years of the federal government cleaning it up down there.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 4, 2015 13:12:11 GMT -6
Puerto Rico failed to support the Expos last time after year 1. Remember the last 2 years of the expos time in Montreal they played 22 then 21 home games in Puerto Rico in an old 18,000 seat park. Year one they averaged 14,222. The second year they averaged only 10,334.
If you could make San Juan/Puerto Rico into a normal US city economically there is still a big problem. As of 2013 the combined statistical area of San Juan was 2,591,734. In 2010 it was 2,664,889. San Juan would be the 4th smallest market in MLB combined statistical area if they had a team today. Realistically the 3 smaller places Milwaukee(No Madison), Cincinnati(no Dayton) and Kansas City(no Topeka) are bigger. The other thing is Puerto Rico's fertility rate is bad. It's only 1.64 which means every generation they lose 21.9% of their population NOT counting people leaving for the US.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 4, 2015 17:48:45 GMT -6
Puerto Rico failed to support the Expos last time after year 1. Remember the last 2 years of the expos time in Montreal they played 22 then 21 home games in Puerto Rico in an old 18,000 seat park. Year one they averaged 14,222. The second year they averaged only 10,334. If you could make San Juan/Puerto Rico into a normal US city economically there is still a big problem. As of 2013 the combined statistical area of San Juan was 2,591,734. In 2010 it was 2,664,889. San Juan would be the 4th smallest market in MLB combined statistical area if they had a team today. Realistically the 3 smaller places Milwaukee(No Madison), Cincinnati(no Dayton) and Kansas City(no Topeka) are bigger. The other thing is Puerto Rico's fertility rate is bad. It's only 1.64 which means every generation they lose 21.9% of their population NOT counting people leaving for the US. thats why i said in 20 years only if under a us economy
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 5, 2015 0:51:19 GMT -6
My point was even in 20 years under a US economy San Juan won't have enough people for an MLB team given that it's realistically the smallest market and is shrinking. Good economy doesn't mean birth rates will improve. See Japan, South Korea and Europe.
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Post by Bruinsfan on Oct 6, 2015 16:35:36 GMT -6
My point was even in 20 years under a US economy San Juan won't have enough people for an MLB team given that it's realistically the smallest market and is shrinking. Good economy doesn't mean birth rates will improve. See Japan, South Korea and Europe. I think you will get less emigration though, and more americans will feel more comfortable to move there. Hell i could see a good portion of latin americans moving there to buy property and live in a spanish speaking state
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 6, 2015 16:50:50 GMT -6
Ya you'll get less emigration. Don't know about Americans moving there. Most Hispanics who want a Spanish speaking state have already moved to California.
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