The Expos' pitch to the Montreal business community for
help in financing a new ballpark for the team "has pulled in
less" than C$40M, "far short" of the C$100M for which the
team was hoping, according to Don MacDonald of the Montreal
GAZETTE. Andre Leroux, CEO of Leroux Steel and head of the
PSL sales effort in the industrial sector, said the
solicitation process is "not easy." Leroux: "There are
businesses that say: 'If we lose the team, we lose the
team.' They're fatalistic." MacDonald reported that only
4,000 of 18,000 PSLs have been sold. Expos sales rep Gary
Connelly: "We still have a lot of large companies that
haven't responded." But "there have been some bright
spots," with 40 of 62 corporate boxes already leased,
compared with just 10 boxes leased at Olympic Stadium. And
"some companies that have never supported" the team before,
such as Bombardier, "are on board" (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/13).
Expos VP Bill Stoneman told the BOSTON GLOBE's Peter Gammons
that the team can survive in a new downtown park: "The fan
base here is very young, and while we haven't recovered from
the strike, it is here" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/14).
