Spring training is over and now people have set their focus towards Major League Baseball’s opening week. Now that the baseball weekend is over in Montreal, the people of that city will watch their favorite ball teams play and of course prepare for the Canadiens’ playoff run. The question for now is what does this past weekend mean for the future of Major League Baseball in Montreal?
Baseball Weekend a Positive Sign for Baseball in Montreal
Montreal hosted two pre-season games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cincinnati Reds. Two large crowds came out for these two teams, on Friday 46,314 fans went to the Olympic Stadium; while on Saturday 50,231 fans packed the stadium to see the Jays win 9-1. In total 96,545 fans ended up in Montreal’s East end, and it must be noted paying regular season prices to see a Toronto team play. If that isn’t impressive, some perspective is needed, Toronto is a long-time rival of Montreal in many means and the Big O is in a location that is not the easiest to get to, so these large crowds are very impressive.
Last year when the Blue Jays played the Mets in Montreal the games drew 96,350, which means the novelty clearly did not wear off. MLB officials were very impressed with another showing like this, especially since it was Easter weekend and MLB officials thought that people might not invest their time in these games, they were happily wrong about that.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has said that we would like to see a team back in Montreal, provided a new stadium is built and when talking to the Montreal Gazette’s, John McHale, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if Montreal was host to some regular season games in the future. These are good signs for a possible permanent return of a Major League Baseball team in Montreal.
The thirst for baseball is coming back to life again in Montreal. The Mayor, Dennis Corderre, is also pushing for a team to call Montreal home and former Expo, Warren Cromartie, continues to do his behind the scenes work with the Montreal baseball project by bringing back the MLB. Now all they need is a potential owner, or owners who are willing to invest in a team and a new stadium. If that can happen then Montreal will once again have a team to call its own and maybe, just maybe it will be the Expos once more.
However until people with a lot of money step up all the people of Montreal can do is continue to show support of baseball by going to more baseball events like these weekend games, attending the Expos Gala, the many autograph sessions and other fun events that involved baseball and the Expos last week.
What matters is showing the world that they want their team back. Everything that has happened now has not hurt the push for a new team and the two games played at the Big O this past weekend show nothing, but positive signs. The after math of that week is very bright for the future of Montreal and major league baseball, stay tuned everyone.
Nick’s Stadium Note
There has been a lot of support from a lot of people when it comes to the potential return of baseball, but there are a lot of people out there who constantly like to point out the low attendance numbers the Montreal Expos had in their final years. Not only that, there are people who somehow believe that the Olympic Stadium is a good enough stadium for a baseball team and there should be no reason why a new one should be built.
First of all, for people who don’t know Montreal well they need to know a few things. Yes there is a larger population on and around the Island of Montreal, but the majority of the nightlife, events, stores, restaurants etc. are focused in the downtown core and old port. That area has two large metro lines and many things are within walking distance, but the Olympic Stadium is not there.
The Big O is in the East End of Montreal, it is not the easiest place to get to especially if you are from the West Island, Laval or the South Shore. These are very suburban locations and they are full of families, but it takes a long time to travel to the East End by car, or public transit. Leaving the Big O there aren’t many restaurants, or post game activities to do, unlike the Bell Center where the Canadiens play, there are tons of things to do when a game is over.
Location is one thing, another issue the stadium itself, it’s uncomfortable, it’s cavernous, it has an aging PA system, seats are pretty uncomfortable and frankly it’s a very dangerous stadium to rely on. The roof needs to be replaced once again and it has had many cracks, breaks and leaks. If you need more info check out the Wikipedia page about the stadium and all the accidents that happened in the stadium, long story short it is not an easy place to get to and it’s not a great place to watch a game.
These are just some of the reasons why a new stadium is needed and look at it this way, having a 35,000-40,000 seat stadium near, or in the downtown core would be easy to get to. After all, what looks better: having 30,000 fans in a stadium that still looks kind of empty, or in a stadium where it looks full?
There are more reasons why that stadium wouldn’t work for 81 games, but in the end the allure of having a downtown park with stable ownership, proper promotion and a good TV deal would make a huge difference. For those who still want to say the same thing about no one showing up, read a little more history on the team, stadium and ownership, before you make a quick judgement, because there are still a lot of people who care about baseball in and around Montreal.
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