By Patrick Desnoyers
While the Toronto Blue Jays celebrate their 20th anniversary of their World Championship title with a “new and refreshed” team, by signing some prominent players this winter, the Montreal and Quebec baseball fans are asking themselves if a return of a Major league franchise in Montreal is feasible.
The fans are not alone I believe. Recently, LaPresse reported that the lawyer Guy Bertrand has reconduct the registration of a group called “Consortium GB” to the Quebec Registry of Lobbyists. Their declaration is ambitious but it has a few worth mentioning quotes. In the first mandate it says that they want to build a stadium with a retractable roof and an Olympic sport city in order to receive some Olympics games. All of this would be done on a beautiful site with “private funds”.
And that’s not all, in the second mandate of the group which the identity of the funds provider is kept secret, the declaration says:
Consortium GB entend aussi prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires pour que Montréal obtienne une franchise de la Ligue nationale ou de la Ligue américaine de Baseball. Les représentations de Consortium GB visent à faire connaitre aux autorités gouvernementales compétentes l’orientation globale de leur projet et éventuellement à obtenir leur soutien moral pour l’obtention de cette franchise.
And Furthermore, in a some recent debate at the national assembly in Quebec, the minister Jean-François Lisée was asked some questions on a group that want to bring back a montreal major league baseball franchise. The response was positive but that the government had not been approached yet by said group. Are they talking about “Consortium GB”, probably? Is it the same group that Rodger Brulotte mentioned a while ago ? Let’s hope so.
With all that in mind, it seems there is hope for the fans. Soyons Expositifs!