MONTREAL - Montreal could build it, and they will come. Put otherwise, Montreal is a viable major league baseball market, according to a study released Friday by the Conference Board of Canada.
The study found that several factors were on the city's side.
Firstly, a city needs about 2.5 million residents to make a team work and Montreal's metropolitan area numbers 3.8 million.
The population is relatively wealthy. The typical Montreal income is eighth among Canadian cities – not ideal – but plenty of families could afford a night out at the ballpark.
The city's corporate presence is also adequate, as Montreal is home to 98 of the largest 800 Canadian companies, trailing only Toronto and Calgary for head offices.
The strong Canadian dollar has also wiped out a former hindrance that previously plagued professional sports clubs north of the border.
However the fact that Major League Baseball has shunned a salary-cap system could hurt a franchise in Montreal, said the study. Of all the North American leagues, pro baseball is the only one that has not given a chance to smaller teams to attract solid performers.
"The lack of a hard cap on player salaries and massive differences in revenue (including attendance, sale of broadcasting rights, merchandise and other income) among franchises make consistent winning very difficult for all but a handful of rich teams," said the study.
