Expos President & General Partner Claude Brochu said a
new open-air, 30,000-seat ballpark for the Expos "will
happen," according to columnist Jack Todd of the Montreal
GAZETTE. Brochu said "categorically" that the new downtown
stadium will be built, that he expects the financing to be
in place "by next June if not before," that ground will be
broken and construction will begin next summer and that the
new ballpark will be ready for the 2001 season. While he
"isn't ready" to make figures public, Brochu "indicated"
yesterday sales of seat licenses, from which he hopes to
raise C$75-80M toward construction of the new park, "are
substantially ahead of schedule." Brochu said figures would
be made public in October (Montreal GAZETTE, 8/21).
OPTIMISM AND CHANGE IN THE AIR: Brochu, on the Expos'
$18M payroll: "Believe me, we are not going to go on like
this. This is our last stand. None of us is willing to
keep living as we have. ... Our object is to take all the
additional revenue from this stadium and invest it in our
players. When we know if this thing (the stadium) is going
to fly, we can begin the process of investing in our
players" (Montreal GAZETTE, 8/21).
