Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “.
Last week, Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said a Florida-Montreal split in Major League Baseball starting in 2028, is the only option he can visualize at the moment.
This has been kicked around before; the Rays would play half their home games in Tampa Bay and the other half in a new stadium in Montreal, commencing in 2028 once the Ray’s lease at Tropicana Field expires in 2027.
Sternberg said there’s no ” Plan B “.
According to a Tampa Bay based report, Sternberg also says the Rays have made tremendous progress on the Montreal stadium front and dealings with a group led by Canadian businessman Stephen Bronfman.
OK……………………………….
I’m not buying it. Not today.
First, what stadium ?
Yes, I read that a Peel Basin development is progressing but the developer Devimco states a new Montreal ballpark isn’t part of the initial proposal.
They do say talks are ongoing to include a Major League Baseball facility, but talk is just that.
Second, when this popped up previously I outlined a handful of obstacles, the biggest in my mind being taxation; Florida is a tax free state. Montreal, Quebec, Canada most certainly are not.
And finally, if sports history tells us anything about Montreal and the province of Quebec, they are extremely possessive people and the notion of supporting and ” sharing ” a Major League franchise is far fetched to me.
I’m Fred Wallace