Why Montreal Is Not a Baseball Risk — But One of MLB’s Greatest Untapped Opportunities

One important thing to understand about Montreal is that baseball here predates the Expos themselves by generations.

In 1926, Babe Ruth played an exhibition game in Montreal that drew enormous local interest, part of a long history of the city embracing baseball at both the amateur and professional levels.

Montreal was never “introduced” to baseball by MLB — the sport was already deeply embedded in the city’s culture.

Long before the Expos, the Montreal Royals were one of the crown jewels of minor league baseball. The Royals were internationally respected, drew strong attendance, and helped establish Montreal as one of the premier baseball cities outside the United States.

Most importantly, Montreal occupies a permanent place in baseball history because Jackie Robinson broke professional baseball’s color barrier here in 1946 with the Royals — one year before integrating Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson himself often spoke warmly about Montreal and the acceptance he experienced in the city relative to many American markets at the time.

When MLB awarded Montreal the Expos in 1969, they became:

the first Major League Baseball franchise outside the United States,
the first Canadian MLB team,
and effectively MLB’s first true international expansion.

That matters historically and strategically.

The Expos were not an experiment in a random market. Montreal was viewed as a globally important city capable of expanding baseball’s footprint internationally.

And for long stretches, the market validated that belief.

The Expos did not fail because Montreal “doesn’t like baseball.”

They failed because:

Olympic Stadium became economically obsolete,
ownership instability destroyed trust,
the 1994 strike killed a championship-caliber team,
MLB underinvested,
and no modern downtown ballpark was ever built.

Despite that:

Montreal still produced multi-million fan seasons,
elite TV ratings,
massive nostalgia,
and some of MLB’s most iconic players and moments.

From 1979–1983, the Expos consistently outdrew the National League average.

Year	Expos Attendance	NL Average
1979	2.10M	1.76M
1980	2.21M	1.76M
1981*	1.53M	1.03M
1982	2.32M	1.79M
1983	2.32M	1.79M

(*strike-shortened season)

During that stretch:

Montreal ranked roughly 3rd–4th in NL attendance,
Olympic Stadium regularly hosted crowds above 50,000,
and the Expos became one of baseball’s strongest young brands.

The 1994 strike was devastating.

At the time:

the Expos had the best record in baseball (74–40),
were legitimate World Series favorites,
and featured stars including Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, and Ken Hill.

Then:

the strike canceled the season,
ownership dismantled the roster,
and fan trust collapsed.

Many historians consider Montreal the franchise most damaged by the strike.

Importantly, even after MLB left, Montreal continued demonstrating major baseball demand.

The Blue Jays exhibition games at Olympic Stadium drew:

over 96,000 fans across two games in 2014,
followed by years of strong attendance afterward.

Those games proved:

nostalgia remained powerful,
corporate support still existed,
and baseball remained culturally relevant in Montreal.

Today, modern MLB economics are no longer just about ticket sales.

The real value lies in:

mixed-use real estate,
entertainment districts,
hospitality,
tourism,
media ecosystems,
year-round activation,
and destination experiences.

That is why Montreal is arguably MORE viable today than during the Olympic Stadium era.

A properly executed:

downtown or downtown-adjacent stadium,
mixed-use entertainment district,
hospitality ecosystem,
cultural programming strategy,
and 365-day campus model

would bear little resemblance to the old Expos business model.

And critically:
the emotional demand and brand equity still exist at an unusually high level for a dormant franchise.

On a personal note: after the Expos left in 2004, I like many in the city were devastated. I withdrew from baseball due to PTSD, and seeing baseball diamonds converted into soccer pitches was a sore spot. I myself believed the myth that perhaps baseball was an American sport, that the Quebecois did not care about the sport. When in December 2025 I took a serious look at helping bring back the Expos, I ran surveys and what blew me away was how entrenched the love of baseball and the nostalgia for the Expos was strong, and universal amongst the city and province. In fact, one of the most unifying forces amongst French, English and allophone Quebecois was the love of baseball. If it wasn’t for that, no way would I have charged so hard, and no way had we gained so much traction in so little time. For more on fan interest, read the results of our surveys in French and English here.

On a fundamental basis, Montreal is leaps and bounds a stronger market than any other one seeking a franchise.