Could baseball be ready to return to Montreal?

For a third straight year, the Toronto Blue Jays wrapped up spring training in front of sellout crowds in Montreal. Is this a sign that the Expos should come back?

The Toronto Blue Jays finished up their 2016 spring training schedule in front of over 50,000 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the former home of the Expos. This is the third year that the Jays have wrapped up the spring in Montreal in an effort to help prove that baseball is ready to return to Montreal.

Even before the Blue Jays were the reigning AL East Champions, the games played in Montreal sold out. A promising sign for the city being willing to support a MLB team if one were to return.

The Expos left in 2004 for Washington after years of declining attendance and revenue. Montreal, more than any other team, was never able to recover from the strike that shortened the 1994 season. The team entered that year as heavy favorites to win the World Series, and when the strike hit, the Expos had the best record in baseball.

But to save money, most of that roster did not return when baseball came back leading to a last place finish in the NL East. Fans already mad about their best chance at a World Series being cut short, and the bad team that was now on the field, never returned.

Not helping the Expos was the weak Canadian dollar that meant spending even more to match competitive American salaries. Yes, professional sports are always talked about in American dollars, but in Canada they still operate in Canadian dollars and convert to American. This means that when the dollar is weak, Canadian markets need to make even more to keep up with the teams south of the border.

So the Expos left, but the small number of fans remained loyal, and former players had only fond memories of the city. But things remained quiet on the return baseball to Montreal front until 2012.

Enter former Expo Warren Cromartie, who played for the team from 1974-1983. He founded the Montreal Baseball Project to convince the MLB that a team could be viable again in the city. The first step was to find a way to prove that the interest level from the fans would be there.

That is where this spring training deal with the Blue Jays becomes ever more important. For the first time since 1994, baseball games were selling out at Olympic Stadium, proving that baseball fans really exist in the city. On top of that, they were willing to pay for a game that didn’t matter, to see a team that wasn’t theirs, and until 2015, had very little recent success.

Those promising signs have led to even more interest in returning baseball to Montreal, this year coming from the Mayor’s offices of both Toronto and Montreal.

Prior to the second Blue Jays game this year, Toronto Mayor, John Tory, and Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre, signed a partnership that would help each other economically, and included a clause about Toronto helping Montreal getting a baseball team back.

"“The dream of a World Series involving the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos never came about. I think it’s time that we got back to making an opportunity for that,” Tory said. Via Global News"

Both Mayors were later involved in throwing out the first pitch at Saturday’s game, Tory in a Blue Jays jersey, and Coderre sporting an Expos jersey.

The biggest obstacle facing the return of baseball to Montreal is the stadium. Olympic Stadium is old, having been built for the city when Montreal hosted the Games back in 1976. The goal is to get funding from the government to build a new stadium closer to downtown town for the new team. This building would also be smaller so there would be the pressure of having to sell out a 50,000 plus seat venue for every home game.

Over a decade has passed since Montreal last watched a meaningful MLB game in its city. Hopefully, times are about to change.