Rays Owner Says Major League Baseball Will Return To Montreal

Getty ImagesTampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg was asked about the feasibility of putting another MLB team in Montreal and his answer suggested that the city's next baseball team is just a matter of time.

In a Q&A with Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com, Sternberg was asked if Major League Baseball could work again in Montreal.

"Yes," said Sternberg. "I know it can."

Sternberg was then asked if Montreal will ever get another team. The former Goldman Sachs partner said it won't happen in the next five years, but "in the next 20 [years], yes."

The Montreal Expos existed from 1969 through the 2004 season, when they relocated to Washington D.C. and became the Nationals. So it might seem like an odd move if MLB's next team's relocation were to move to Montreal.

While Montreal enjoyed strong attendance earlier in their existence, they drew less than 1.0 million fans in six of their last seven seasons north of the border. And in 2001, they averaged less than 8,000 fans per game.

Some have suggested that the owners sabotaged attendance in order to move the team. If true, they were very good at it.

But as Strernberg mentioned, the most recent crop of stadiums will need to be replaced in the next 20 years. And as long as there is strong corporate support in Montreal, he believes a team could look north for a new stadium.