Brochu: We may dream, but time has passed the Expos by

Where even the Montreal Brochure gets cut short…

MLB would have difficulty justifying the location of a franchise in a city that would require revenue sharing subsidies from the beginning. A new franchise would need to be a contributor to revenue-sharing, not a recipient. Given our levels of disposable income and wealth in Montreal, and the knowledge that the Toronto Blue Jays receive significant revenue-sharing support, the bar would be set very high for potential Montreal investors looking to bring a franchise to Montreal.

Major League Baseball did not succeed at Olympic Stadium; nor would it be successful at the Hippodrome, the former Blue Bonnets site. To attract the all-important corporate clientele, a new ballpark would need to be built in the downtown area. The real estate that was available in and around the Peel St. basin is no longer available.

...Every baseball fan in Montreal has an explanation for the loss of the Expos. Some go back to Blue Monday, others to the lost 1994 season, others the fire sale in the spring of 1995, still others to the explosion of player salaries and our inability to compete, the absence of political will municipally and in the premier’s office, and, oh yes, me.

All of these opinions are valid to a point. But baseball is a business and it needs to be successful as a business to prosper and survive. It is as a business that the Expos failed, not on the field. And that responsibility rests with the ownership at the time.

We can dream of recapturing what was; unfortunately, time has passed us by.