Maddon leaves Rays

Interesting note at the bottom of the NY Daily News' story, that the Rays owners may be in talks with moving the franchise to Montreal:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/madden-rays-rocked-frustrated-joe-maddon-opts-walk-article-1.1986150

 

What really killed the Expos wasn't attendance, but getting shut out of Ontario TV markets (and nearly half of Canada's English-speaking residents) in the early 80s due to the Blue Jays' territorial rights.

 

There's a lot of revisionist history going on with the Expos. Attendance and corporate support sure did kill them.

 

Indeed, I was a kid who grew up an ardent Expos fan until 1977 when the Jays came along. Jays did a good job building a fan base through their radio network and TV games through western Canada too.

 

Montreal sounds like MLB's attempt to manufacture an L.A.-style extortionist threat for a new stadium.

Not gonna work, though.

 

Totally agree with that.

 

In its 36-year existence, the Expos outdrew the league average only six times, and not once from 1984 to their final season in 2004.

 

Derp. Wrong thread.

 

Just for giggles, if the Rays went to Montreal, where do they play? What is the state of Olympic Stadium?

 

The Blue Jays and Mets played a couple pre-season games there at the end of March, so at least we know it hasn't been condemned yet. I wasn't at the games and don't know what the place was like. But I do know it was a horrible place to watch a game even before the Expos left 10 years ago.

I'm pretty sure that would be their only option now, too. Unless, I suppose, they played a part of their schedule in San Juan again.

 

Hard to believe that Sternberg would move team to Montreal without getting
a new stadium commitment prior. He clearly would not want to end up in same
situation that he is in now.

 

I don't know what market is out there that can sustain a baseball team. You just need so many ticket buyers and corporate sponsors.

When the A's started making noise this year about leaving immediately, the two choices seemed to be San Antonio and Montreal. I don't see how either of those is better than Oakland or Tampa-St. Pete.