If Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre gets his way, Montreal may soon become a Canadian baseball capital.
On the eve of the wildly popular Toronto Blue Jays exhibition game in Montreal Friday, Coderre announced a 10-year-action plan to invest $32.1 million in amateur baseball across Montreal. The move is considered a first step to supporting the possibility of a Major League Baseball team down the road.
“If we want to bring back the passion, you need the capacity to play,” Coderre, wearing a team Canada baseball cap, told reporters Friday.
Montreal lost its MLB team, the Montreal Expos, in 2004 after the team was relocated to the U.S.
The city will spend $32.1 million over the next decade to develop infrastructure for baseball and interest in the sport. The investment includes money to improve baseball access for children, spruce up local diamonds, highlight professional baseball players from Montreal and draw more baseball events to town.
The plan also mentions that acquiring a team could help foster baseball passion in Montreal.
But Coderre was clear that the investment isn’t simply a veiled bid for a new professional team, insisting that supporting young baseball fans is the best way to invest in the sport’s future.
"It's more than the return of the Expos – it's about developing players and passion for baseball in the city,"he said.“We will show that Montreal is a baseball town.”
In a gesture to strengthen this commitment, Coderre met with Toronto Mayor John Tory Saturday to sign a “historic cooperation agreement”between the two cities, which includes a clause calling on the cities to promote baseball.
The ultimate goal, according to the plan, would include Montreal regaining a professional team and and “re-establishing another great sports rivalry” between the two cities.
More than 100,000 fans were estimated to visit Montreal’s Olympic Stadium to watch the Toronto Blue Jays exhibition games over the weekend. On Friday, the Boston Red Sox beat the Jays 4-2 over 10 innings.
With a report from CTV Montreal
