Baseball: Montreal ahead of Las Vegas, according to USA Today

In the last few days, you may have seen the news that the Oakland A’s (in the MLB) are likely to move to Las Vegas. It’s not official yet, but let’s just say that the promise to buy land there speaks volumes. Obviously, this must remind us of what happened with the Expos some twenty years ago. Poor management at the top of the pyramid meant that Montrealers lost their club, and right now, the A’s are looking like the Expos of that era. The ball club, which is downright pathetic on the field, but also in its stadium and on the second floor, is therefore set to become the third team to leave Oakland in recent years, since the Warriors (San Francisco) and Raiders (Vegas) have also changed address.

What’s interesting is that Commissioner Rob Manfred has always hammered home the fact that he’ll only start thinking about expanding his framework (i.e., from 30 to 32 teams) when all 30 stadiums have a clear future. And since the Rays have a solution (in the Tampa Bay area) and the A’s do too, Mr. Manfred can start thinking seriously about an expansion process.

So what does this mean for Montreal? After all, since the end of the shared-custody project with the Rays, the plan to bring back the Expos has had some water in it,even though the Expos brand is still aliveand kicking.

In reality, with the Bassin Peel no longer necessarily destined for baseball, with Stephen Bronfman’s group taking a break from baseball for the past year, and with the lack of desire to publicly fund the project, it would appear that Montreal is not at the top of the list. And according to Jeremy Filosa, MLB may no longer consider Montreal a logical destination at this time.

In addition to Vegas and Montreal, cities such as Portland, Nashville, Charlotte and Salt Lake City are often mentioned as candidates for a team in the next few years, but Bob Nightengale (USA Today), a big name among Major League Baseball tipsters, sees Nashville and Montreal as good candidates for an expansion club.

He even adds that, in his eyes, “the two best choices are clear” right now. Nightengale, who is sometimes a bit controversial, won’t be challenged on his choice to insert Nashville since I think it’s pretty much inevitable at this point.

That said, given the current circumstances, I don’t know if he’s right about Montreal. But what’s interesting for someone who (obviously) believes strongly in the Montreal bid, is that he seems to think that baseball success in Montreal would be more obvious than in Vegas.

It will be a colossal failure on the Las Vegas side

. –

Bob Nightengale

In his eyes, even if the Golden Knights and Raiders are successful and the NBA will be too one day, he doesn’t see how people will want to lock themselves in a stadium on a hot summer’s day when they can lock themselves in a casino. It’strue that it’s hotter in summer than in autumn. Other sports don’t play in the middle of July.He doesn’t think tourists will want to go, and adds that the Arizona Diamondbacks are struggling to survive in the desert, even though Phoenix is a bigger city than Vegas. So that’s a big endorsement for Montreal… but will it be enough? Unfortunately, I don’t think so.

In gusto

– Yes.

– Speaking of baseball.

– Logical.

– He had a great career.

Justin Braun has officially announced his retirement from the @NHL after 13 seasons.

Justin first entered the league in 2010 after being drafted in the 7th round of the 2007 Entry Draft to the @SanJoseSharks. Braun spent 9 seasons with the Sharks before being traded to the… pic.twitter.com/LHYRQxVTkQ– NHL Alumni (@NHLAlumni) April 24, 2023