A meeting last week in N.Y. between MLB legal counsel
Robert DuPuy and Expos execs, including team Chair Jacques
Menard and potential investors Jeffrey Loria and Stephen
Bronfman, "might be a step toward a pre-all-star break
announcement" regarding the team's future in Montreal,
according to Stephanie Myles of the Montreal GAZETTE. But
whether the decision will be "good news or bad is still up
in the air." Bronfman, son of former Expos Owner Charles
Bronfman, has had his name "circulated about the ownership
group for weeks," but only in terms of a minor investment in
the range of C$5M. However, Quebecor "decided against
investing" in the Expos at a Board of Directors meeting
Friday, saying it isn't their "role to involve itself in
professional sport." Myles also wrote that French-language
Radio-Canada "might end its association with the team"
regardless of what happens (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/20). In
Montreal, Jack Todd writes that reports of Loria "getting
cold feet may have some truth to them." Loria concluded he
would have to invest US$75-100M in the team, rather than the
US$50M he first envisioned (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/21).
SUITORS LINE UP: A SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL front-page
feature by Bill King profiles possible suitors for the
Expos, including Northern VA, Charlotte and Portland. While
the Orioles are against a team in Northern VA, team COO Joe
Foss dismissed the potential impact of a relocated Expos
team: "Quite frankly, I think that in the long run, we'd
still be OK. One of the questions I would have is, after we
lose 500,000 or so fans to them, where are the other 2
million fans going to come from to support another team in
this market?" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/21).
