Montreal FC in 2009??

[François]

Just got up and pick-up La presse newspaper and Beckham made front page...
Why you ask, well it seems that George Gillett and Joey Saputo are teaming up and will make the jump to MLS in 2009.
Saputo Stadium will have a 20,000 seat capacity for 2009.
Page A2 and A3 are devoted to that story from Jean-François Bégin, a well respected reporter at La Presse.

We'll keep you posted!

[rdroze]

Maybe. But I just saw this quote from Garber at Goff's page:

"We are thinking about what should we be doing with teams 17 and 18 and what we do with teams 19 and 20 and what impact that has on our TV contracts, how does it fit with our player pool and our continued discussions with U.S. Soccer on the player limitations. There are so many different things now that are convincing us that we should take a step back and create a strategic plan before we announce 17 and 18. We do have offers for 17 and 18, two different markets, but we put those deals on hold until we have had a better chance to create our plan."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/socce...mls_notes.html

[Gian-Luca]

Someone posted a translation of the La Presse article the usector board:

"The owner of the Montreal Canadiens, George Gillett, and the President of the Montreal Impact, Joey Saputo, have united their efforts to gain for Montreal a franchise for 2009 in the MLS, so most prestigious league of the "round ball" in North America.

According to information obtained by La Presse, the new team, should it come into existance, will be called Montreal FC and will develop at the Saputo Stadium, in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium's tower. The cost of the franchise is estimated to be US$30 million, half of which will be put up by the two partners.

In order to meet league standards, the capacity of Saputo Stadium, which will be opened May 19th, will increase from 13,000 to 20,000 seats, thanks to an investment of US$12 million by Gillett and Saputo.

In a letter written to the MLS directors, dated March 12, 2008, Mr. Saputo and the President of the Canadiens and Groupe Spectacles Gillett, Pierre Boivin, stated that "Montreal already has the solid foundations" which assure the success of an MLS franchise."

I wonder if they have gotten MLSE to waive the one-year left on the exclusivity deal (that would be needed for Montreal to start in 2009).

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by rdroze

Maybe. But I just saw this quote from Garber at Goff's page:

"We are thinking about what should we be doing with teams 17 and 18 and what we do with teams 19 and 20 and what impact that has on our TV contracts, how does it fit with our player pool and our continued discussions with U.S. Soccer on the player limitations. There are so many different things now that are convincing us that we should take a step back and create a strategic plan before we announce 17 and 18. We do have offers for 17 and 18, two different markets, but we put those deals on hold until we have had a better chance to create our plan."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/socce...mls_notes.html

Thing is, they should be having discussions with Canada soccer on player limitations when it comes to a team in Montreal.

[Trax]

It seems they are hoping to have the stadium upgraded to 20 000, to be able to get into MLS by 2012.
It will apparently cost 12 million to upgrade the currently Saputo Stadium to it's larger capacity and is expecting to be part of MLS as Montreal FC by 2012.
Gillet is proposing to pay for the expansion of the stadium.

This is the link of LA presse
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20...E&template=une

This is the link of the french article
http://cf.news.yahoo.com/s/26032008/...o-gillett.html

This is a first, Soccer on a French Paper front page not so far away from the hockey playoff's.

[Gian-Luca]

Here's a (presumably translated quote) from the article from Paul Beirne:

«Nous sommes à 100% derrière Montréal. Je parle souvent à Joey Saputo et j'ai vraiment hâte de voir une rivalité s'installer sur le terrain. Nous soutenons déjà activement la candidature de Montréal.»

I believe that first line translates into "We are 100% behind Montreal"

[Raven]

I'm trying not to get to excited about this.....I'm not going to get any work done today......

[An Observer]

It seems to me that they will push for 2009 but 2010 or 11 is more realistic. That being said, with Gillete on board with Saputo, a stadium ready with a commitment to upgrade to 20k; a team already on the pitch who probably only needs a few players to make it competitive in the MLS, and a strong history of support, they have all the ingredients they want. Also, I wonder whether the "how does it fit with our player pool and our continued discussions with U.S. Soccer on the player limitations" is a statement designed to open the door to further Canadian expansion. If you add a team in Montreal, and make Americans and Canadians domestics for all MLS sides...arguably you can make the case in the US that further expansion is not diluting the player pool as you are adding Canadians to that pool. Obviously, the weakness in that scenario is TFC's past behaviour but I think Montreal would be different as they start from a stronger base of Canadian players with the Impact than TFC who started from scratch.

[Martyr]

Gillette must be looking for an investment for the money he's going to be making from selling his half of Liverpool.

Here is a BBC Blog entry from March 8th with the most up to date info on the status of this transaction. Basically if/when he sells he'll have about $CA120 million to play with.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereport...r_saga_ru.html

[Oldtimer]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Here's a (presumably translated quote) from the article from Paul Beirne:

«Nous sommes à 100% derrière Montréal. Je parle souvent à Joey Saputo et j'ai vraiment hâte de voir une rivalité s'installer sur le terrain. Nous soutenons déjà activement la candidature de Montréal.»

I believe that first line translates into "We are 100% behind Montreal"

"We are 100% behind Montreal. I speak often with Joey Saputo and I can't wait to see a rivalry set up on the ground. We are already actively supporting Montreal's bid."