Montreal a ‘frontrunner’ for expansion, MLB’s Manfred says
Montreal is considered a “frontrunner” for a Major League Baseball expansion franchise, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday night during the broadcast of the game between the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.
However, expansion appears to be a long way off for MLB, which has several other key issues to address first.
“Baseball’s a growth business and growth businesses tend to expand,” Manfred said. “For us, I think there are a couple of things we need to get through. We need a new labour deal and we have a couple of franchises — Tampa and Oakland — who need to get their stadium situations resolved before we move ahead.
Once those issues are resolved, Manfred said he would love to see MLB expand, especially internationally.
“I think there are international locations. My personal, sort of, front-runners would be either Montreal or Mexico City, where we could go plan on a sustained basis. I think it would be great for the growth of the game.
“I think Mexico City would be, in particular, new ground for us, obviously.”
The Expos left Montreal following the 2004 season, becoming the Washington Nationals. MLB baseball first came to Montreal in 1969.
During the last few years, there has been increasing support for a return of the Expos, with Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and businessmen making their interest known to Manfred.
The Toronto Blue Jays have also played exhibition games at the Olympic Stadium for the last three seasons and attracted 100,000plus fans for two dates this year.