The proposed plan of having Major League Baseball return to Montreal via the Tampa Bay Rays by 2024 maybe dead in the water according St. Petersburg, Florida Mayor Rick Kriseman; however, according to the Montreal Baseball Group and its spokesman Peter Bronfman, it’s more like never say die.
Is Tampa Bay-Montreal shared baseball season concept dead
“We remain steadfastly committed to the sister city concept with the Tampa Bay Rays and its realization in as timely a fashion as possible. Our group continues to be excited by the proposed innovative concept. We will have no further comment at this time,” according to a statement that was issued by Mr. Bronfman this past Thursday.
The statement was a response to a memo that Mayor Kriseman wrote to city council, in which he said that both parties agreed to continue with an existing use agreement when it came to the immediate future of the Rays’ existence, with the idea of shared seasons between Tampa Bay and Montreal can still be looked into … but only starting with the 2028 season and beyond.
MLB in Montreal?
My door is open if the Rays want to discuss a new stadium in St. Pete. But we are not a part-time city. We are not a part-time region. We are a Major League community. No one can doubt St. Pete and Tampa Bay’s trajectory, adamantly wrote Kriseman in a December 4 tweet.
The concept of shared seasons between the two cities first came about this past summer, when Major League Baseball announced that it would like to explore the notion of having the Rays split their home game schedule with Montreal, in which they would be played equally in new open air stadiums that would be built in each city. Rays principal owner Stu Steinberg hoped to have the plan off the ground in time for the 2024 season; however, the team is contracted to play their home games at Tropicana Field until the 2027 season, and can seriously initiate the shared season plan only with the permission from St. Petersburg civic leaders.
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