Time is right for Expos to return

As a sports fan, baseball is on my list of favourites, but certainly not in the top three — mainly because I was barely into my teens when our beloved Expos bid adieu in 2004.

Nevertheless, when it came time to choose a topic for my final research project for my master’s degree in sports management at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., I decided to investigate the viability of Montreal once again hosting a new or relocated Major League Baseball franchise.

The city should be a leading candidate to reacquire an MLB franchise, for several reasons. Market size: In order to sustain high attendance figures during the course of an 81-game home season, the size of the market is extremely important. At just more than 4 million people, Montreal is the largest city in Canada or the U.S. without an MLB team, and the 15th-largest metropolitan area in North America. Broadcast revenue: In recent years, broadcasting revenues have been increasing exponentially because of more competition from regional television networks bidding for the rights to broadcast MLB games. .

Concordia University marketing professor Robert Soroka noted TV advertisers covet live sports events because they are one of only two programming options (the other being nightly news) that viewers generally do not record with PVRs — so ads are not fast-forwarded. Revenue sharing: The value of the Canadian dollar has plummeted in the last year. However, MLB’s pooled revenues — split among the 30 teams — are paid in U.S. dollars, hedging against any Canadian dollar fluctuations.

The Montreal Baseball Project website posted the Ernst & Young feasibility study it commissioned to evaluate the environment for MLB in Montreal.

The study states since the Expos have relocated, certain MLB revenue streams have increased significantly. These revenues are worth approximately $66 million to $73 million US for a team that plays in a market the size of Montreal. Economics of Quebec: Why should the provincial government dish out hundreds of millions of dollars to help pay for a stadium that will probably cost upward of $500 million? Many reasons.

The Ernst & Young study forecasted incremental government revenues will be more than $50 million per year because of additional in-stadium QST revenues and income tax revenues. That means it will take less than 10 years for Quebec to cover its portion of the stadium cost. Stadium location: For Montreal to successfully host an MLB team for the long term, a centrally located baseball-specific stadium must be built.

Bruno Delorme, a sports marketing professor at Concordia University, said an area in proximity to downtown would be enticing to the corporate community and would have the capacity to create an entertainment district. A temporary venue: Until a new stadium is constructed, the Olympic Stadium is available, and certainly acceptable in the short term for starved baseball fans. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred stated what Montreal baseball fans already expressed: The Big O, as a permanent venue, is out of the question. However, as a bridge venue, the stadium has a capacity of 45,757 for baseball games.

MLB must take note other candidate cities do not have the luxury of having a stadium that is capable of holding MLB-size crowds. Using RFK Stadium in Washington as a temporary venue to host the Washington Nationals until Nationals Park was built was an important part of the city’s successful pitch to reacquire a franchise. Precedent: During the last century, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C., (on two occasions), among others, lost their MLB franchises. Interestingly, every city that lost its MLB franchise was able to reacquire one, with the only exception being Montreal.

It is time.