Montreal valérie plante major league baseball city

Valérie Plante: “Montreal is a baseball city. This is only a postponement!”

The Mayor addressed sports fans’ disappointment following news that the plan to share the Tampa Bay Rays with Montreal has been cancelled by the MLB.

Following today’s announcement that the plan to share the Tampa Bay Rays with Montreal in a split-season, sister-city arrangement has been nixed by Major League Baseball, Mayor Valérie Plante made a statement suggesting that this is just a postponement of baseball’s return to the city. She also commented on the development of the Peel Basin area, which was (and perhaps still is) the intended site of a new baseball stadium.

“Montreal is a baseball city and the return of the Expos would have been exciting. I salute the efforts of the Montreal Baseball Group and Stephen Bronfman’s passion for his city. This is only a postponement!

“Rest assured that we will continue the strategic planning of the Peel Basin with the Government of Canada and our partners to develop mixed living environments that take into account the needs of the population.”

—Valérie Plante

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says that the return of the Expos would have been exciting.”

According to Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, who held a press conference this afternoon, Bronfman and the Montreal contingent that has been working on this project (some of them for over two years) were “devastated” by today’s news.


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