Baseball supporters dream of a return of the big league

CTV Montreal: Big push for return of baseball A group urging the return of MLB to Montreal tossed out some interesting numbers Thursday, Kevin Gallagher reports.

MONTREAL- Pitchers and catchers start the annual ritual of reporting to spring training in a mere 62 days. But for the ninth straight year, the hopes of spring do not bloom eternal for Montreal baseball fans, as the city's beloved Expos remain a mere memory.

But now former baseball players and business leaders are ramping up their search for investors to fund their field of dreams in Montreal and return major league baseball to the city.

Warren Cromartie, who played for the Expos is pitching the project, presenting a feasibility study that says major league baseball could return to Montreal and make a profit, given a few caveats.

The largest obstacle would be building a new stadium close to downtown Montreal, and the study by Cromartie's group identified five possible areas, including spots near the Bonaventure Expressway, in the Wellington basin, or the current location of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Each location does come with problems such as existing buildings.

The feasibility study also calls for public funding to cover two thirds of the $500 million it would cost to construct a new open-air stadium to seat 36,000.

"Needless to say I'm very please with the feasibility study and there's two things in baseball that never change... history and numbers," said Cromartie.

"Montreal, we have the history of baseball in this town, and number two we have the numbers and the numbers don't lie."

Those numbers also say an owner, or a consortium of owners, would have to come up with approximately $525 million to buy an existing baseball team from another city in North America and relocate it to Montreal.

Cromartie said there are several teams that could be for sale at the moment, and that his group has entered preliminary discussions with them.

The study estimates that sales taxes on baseball-related activities, along with taxes on players' salaries, would recoup the more than $300 million needed in public funding in eight years.

The Ernst and Young study estimated that the average cost of a ticket would be $29.57 and that an average of 27,600 would turn out for games at a new downtown stadium.

The study noted that as of 2014 teams eligible for revenue sharing will each receive $20 million per year, other streams of revenue include $15 million from merchandise and new media sales as well as between $35 to $40 million from overall TV rights and between $40 and $60 million in regional TV revenues.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is going to bat for the effort.

"I see this study favourably but I also think it's premature to talk of public funding. I think Montreal is a baseball town, a major league city, In the next few days I'll meet with and discuss this with business leaders because two-thirds of the investments have to come from the private sector," he said.

"I am pro-baseball and am in favour of a return of the Expos, so I'll watch this file with a lot of interest. The Mayor of Montreal will be involved," said Coderre.

The Expos played in Montreal from 1969 to 2004, first at Jarry Park and then at the Olympic Stadium.