Saputo, Gillett Team Up In Attempt To Acquire Montreal MLS Club
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Gillett Looking At Placing
MLS Franchise In Montreal |
USL Montreal Impact President Joey Saputo yesterday said that he is "joining forces" with NHL Canadiens Owner & EPL Liverpool co-Owner George Gillett "in an attempt to acquire a [MLS] team" for Montreal, according to Larry Millson of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. Saputo: "We're not going to hide the fact that we have been speaking to MLS and if the opportunity for Montreal to go to that league happens, then we'll be ready for it. ... If we could get the two families together, the Saputo family and the Gillett family, working in order to develop soccer in Canada and the province of Quebec, why not? They're excited about it, we're excited about it. The next step is to try to get MLS excited about it." The Impact's new Stade Saputo, to open in May near Olympic Stadium in Montreal, seats 13,000, but has been built so "capacity could be expanded to 20,000." Saputo and Gillett would "split the $30[M] MLS franchise fee, as well as the $12[M] it would cost to expand Stade Saputo to 20,000 seats" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/27). In Montreal, Randy Phillips reports Saputo and Gillett on March 12 informed MLS of their interest, and the new team "probably would be called Montreal FC, absorbing most -- if not all -- of the Impact." MLS Commissioner Don Garber: "Montreal is a market we are evaluating for a potential expansion team in [MLS]. We announced in November that we have had discussions with the Saputo family about expansion in Montreal and we have subsequently met with representatives of the Gillett Entertainment Group." However, Phillips notes with franchises in Seattle and Philadelphia set to join the league in '09 and 2010, respectively, the "earliest Montreal might realistically enter the league is 2011 or 2012." Montreal and Vancouver "have been listed as the front-runners by many observers for the 17th and 18th spots" in MLS (Montreal GAZETTE, 3/27).
VANCOUVER, TOO? The NATIONAL POST's Sean Fitz-Gerald reports the USL Vancouver Whitecaps also have "designs on making the jump." Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi: "Our situation is stadium-dependent. We've been trying to get a new stadium built for the last four years. We're still trying, and we're hoping there will be some conclusion to that. If there is, then I think that we would start looking again at MLS -- I think they have seen enough from the Vancouver market that they feel there's a pretty good opportunity there" (NATIONAL POST, 3/27).
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