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Yeah, I saw those reports, and it's hard not to get pulled in and excited about the possibilities. I do know the Bronfman family (original Expos owners, based on money from their Seagram's ownership) and a couple of other local partners recently bought a parcel of land in Montreal targeted for future stadium development. So there has been movement behind the scenes, and word is that TB owner Stu Sternberg would bring in the Bronfmans and their partners (Mitch Garber being one) as minority owners IF this plan takes off. The folks in TB shot down a plan last year for a new ballpark in the Ybor City district, and attendance is now 29th in MLB despite having a winning team (again) which improbably looks to be in playoff contention again this season.
It feels like a leverage ploy by Sternberg and MLB. I wasn't too happy ("incensed" would be a more accurate description) when MLB and the Loria/Samson carpetbagging duo was sandbagging Les Expos, so I do want to be careful not to be a hypocrite here. If it's going to happen any time before 2028 - full-time or otherwise - someone is going to have to deal with the Rays' lease on Tropicana Field. But if Sternberg wants out, and the Bronfmans and their partners are motivated, buying out the lease shouldn't be a huge obstacle - certainly a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of building a new stade in Montreal, since MLB has been quite clear that they're not going to support a return to Montreal if the solution is Stade Olympique.
I did get a small tear in my eye today, though. It's been almost 15 years since I saw the finale of Les Expos at Le Stade. I've always hoped to live long enough to see the official return - not these annual Blue Jay final-exhibition-of-the-spring sideshows, which I've avoided to date.
Hope, as they say, springs eternal.
Yeah, I saw that a half-dozen times yesterday from various commentators. It will never become the official team nickname, but it's a pretty clever pun that will become very tiresome very quickly to folks in both impacted cities. It's just a snarky derisive term meant to belittle the franchise, and two cities that have struggled at times to support MLB to the level its true believers think they're entitled to.
Folks in baseball strongholds like New York, Boston, St. Loo and Philly can't conceive of how a great baseball city could ever lose a team ...