Nov 22 2008
Montreal Ends Pursuit of MLS Expansion Team
Soccer by Ives is reporting that Montreal has exited the Major League Soccer expansion race. Joey Saputo, co-owner of the USL-1 Montreal Impact, tabled the bid yesterday, citing concerns over getting Saputo Stadium re-financed to get the necessary cash for the expansion bid.
That seems pretty likely. The Canadian dollar, which was equal to the U.S. dollar not too long ago, has been losing a fair amount of value lately, and that affects how much Saputo and George Gillett, the Montreal Canadiens owner who’s having his own financial troubles at Liverpool, will end up spending on the expansion fee.
I wonder, though, if something else is afoot here. After all, the Impact beat Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps to win the Voyagers Cup, and they made it through to the knockout stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. Perhaps Saputo decided that this was slightly more awesome than spending almost CAD$51 million (as of today) to join a league that would cap its salary and force it to care less about the continental championship. Why not be free to spend as much as you make on players that can beat TFC every year?
Either way, this is a win for USL, as this move will keep one of its best clubs in the fold. That leaves Atlanta, Miami, Ottowa, Portland, St. Louis and Vancouver up for two MLS expansion franchises in 2011. What I want to know is this — if Portland or Vancouver make the cut, but not both, does that doom the USL franchise that doesn’t move to MLS? The Timbers seem like they could sell enough tickets to afford the travel and survive the relative isolation they have from other USL-1 clubs, but what about the Whitecaps?
UPDATE: This report emerged today:
Following MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s statements regarding Montreal’s bid, the Montreal partnership group would like to bring one important rectification: Montreal did not withdraw its bid from Major League Soccer but was informed that the league did not retain its bid.
Out of respect for the Grey Cup festivities, the partnership group will not make any additional statements over the weekend.
The Montreal Alouettes face the Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup Final tomorrow in Montreal. So it looks like we’ll have to wait until next week before this story gets really fun…
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[...] They couldn’t get financing to expand their stadium, one which was completed just this year for just $14.1 million CDN. So that leaves six cities pursuing two expansion franchises. I would love to see the MLS here, but only in an existing PGE Park. If that can’t be done, then they need to look elsewhere. Share and Enjoy: [...]
Dave it’s no good being “free” to spend as much as you like on players if the league you are playing in, the USL, is notoriously unstable, with teams dropping in, and out, every year. That’s not a good long term situation to be in.
I highly doubt any of the USL bidders will get into MLS this time around, though. Miami is a shoe-in and St. Louis is also a very strong bid given that they have been through the bidding process enough times now to get it right this time.
USL is unstable, yes, but unless you have information that I don’t, it’s not exactly on the verge of imminent collapse, and even if it that happened, the existing clubs would find a way to get through it. (Might I remind you that this is the situation your Rowdies are freely entering in 2010?)
Until TFC gets it shit together, Montreal is in a pretty good position to bolster its bottom line with this Champions League for many years to come. Even with the crappy exchange rate, the potential for international experience has to make the Impact appealing to a lot of good players who are either struggling to make an MLS roster or see an opportunity to make a few more bucks (and get more playing time) than they might in MLS. That counts for something.
So this was TOTAL bullshit.
The Saputos (wonderful family who vouched for Bonnano the mobster when he came to Canada in the 60s) did NOT make that statement.
That was the NFL guy who runs MSL.
He was also the guy who said earlier that canadian expansion would actually hurt the MLS for some asinine reason.
As someone who lives in Montreal, I will take Saputo’s word over some yankee douche any time. Sure, their food empire was built with ahem,,, help, but they have done all the right things and made this a first class organization for the past 10-15 years.
They built their own stadium in the Olympic park with NO govt handout while the lazy bastards Alouettes have been using the decrepit McGill University stadium for a decade and are still looking for handouts to fix the dump and whining about it.
Tickets in the endzone to Impact games are 10$ adults and 5$ for kids which makes it very affordable for family.
I asked everyone this week at our weekly practice if they would rather have a MLS team if it means that the tickets would climb.
EVERYONE said no. The difference in quality is minimal while the entertainment is NOT better.
So you can keep your MLS and stick it up your arse Garber.
Everyone who watched the MLS final said the same thing.
As a Liverpool fan, I am also happy that this didnt go through because the other partner in this adventure would have been the hockey team owner, Gillett, who owns Liverpool too. And if I could take a dump on that Gillett douchey carpetbagger, I would. Ask him how safe it is for him and his retarded sons to walk through the streets.
Toronto paid 10 million to join 2 years ago and now its 40 million?
Are you kidding me?
Why?
As for Philly, let me laugh out loud.
On teh positive side, when the NASL was around, the Fury played in Philly for two miserable years and when they left, they moved to …. Montreal, where the Manic was a succesful franchise averaging 25-35,000 people and hitting 50,000+ in the playoffs. So I say, wait two years for the relocation caroussel.
But NOT if it means knocking the budget out of whack.
Not for the quality the MLS presents.
I agree with the previous post. I actually think this may be a blessing in disguise because at the moment the MLS is gradually becoming a higher quality league but with all this expansion I think the quality will remain sub par on average because the league is thinning with the expansion. So all in all let the MLS add a few more teams realize they made a mistake and join the league in 3-4 years when things will be a bit more settled (league structure, etc..)
Ciao
- impact fan /montrealer