In 2016, businessman Stephen Bronfman declared that “it will not be a problem to find investors” to ensure the return of Major League Baseball to Montreal.
In 2017, a reporter asked him if he and his partners were willing to invest $ 1.5 billion to buy a team. “It’s a lot of money, but we’re going to do it,” he promised.
Here we are in 2021. It’s finally time to empty your pockets and count the pennies. And what do we discover? There is a lack of money. OK. We understand that an expansion club is overpriced. But a half-team, which would only play half of its home games here, should that be okay? No ? Well no. Even for that, there is a lack of money.
This is why the consortium led by Stephen Bronfman is now turning to the government of Quebec. The Montreal Baseball Group is asking for assistance that can reach “hundreds of millions”, revealed Tuesday my colleagues Tommy Chouinard and Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, in Press.
How many hundreds of millions?
There are several scenarios on the table. In one discussion, there was talk of $ 300 million. Quebec is considering a grant and a “forgivable loan” – a grant with conditions. An intentional walk, what.
It would be a lot of money.
Especially for a half-team.
I have written it often, I am for government investments in sport.
I am for the elite athlete grants. For the millions invested in the construction of new sports centers. For the emergency aid that saved the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during the pandemic.
I like the government to get involved in hosting international competitions. I also welcome the CF Montreal project, which wishes to collaborate with the City of Montreal to beautify the surroundings of the Saputo stadium.
I am for government investment in sport – to the limit of reasonableness.
What is unreasonable?
Over $ 300 million for three World Cup soccer games is unreasonable. Hundreds of millions to build a stadium for half a baseball team, that just seems unreasonable to me.
It is true, the government subsidizes many other industries. Think about aeronautics. To biopharmaceuticals. To the performing arts. At the mines. In the video games sector. However, baseball is not an industry like any other.
The average salary of players in the major leagues is US $ 4.17 million. Pitcher Max Scherzer signed a new contract with the New York Mets last week. The sum: 42 million US per season. That is the equivalent of 840,000 tickets sold for $ 50 each.
This is insane.
The height? Hours after Scherzer went to checkout, the team owners went into lockdown. “Baseball players are not subject to salary caps or time or money limits on their contracts. In fact, only major league baseball offers guaranteed contracts for 10 years and over $ 300 million. We didn’t offer anything [dans les négociations] who would change that, ”defended the commissioner of major baseball.
The problem ?
It is exactly there.
What sets baseball apart from other industries is its chronic inability to self-regulate to stem rising wages and operating costs. Who is billed to? To the supporters, of course. To broadcasters when renewing agreements. And a little, too, to governments.
Owners could pay players an average of $ 1 million or $ 2 million less per season. They would then have enough money to finance their stadium projects themselves. They don’t. Rather, they prefer to appeal to the State, sometimes for tax relief, sometimes for direct assistance. Let us agree: even without state aid, the owners would remain billionaires.
What is happening in Montreal is no exception. It is the rule.
Last month, the Tampa Bay Rays asked local governments to pay half for their new US $ 700 million stadium. Ten years ago, Florida’s other team – the Miami Marlins – got $ 500 million from the state to build their new home. After the stadium was finished, the owner sold the club for a huge profit.
How much ?
A billion more than he had paid.
Her name ?
Jeffrey Loria.
Subsidizing a team of millionaires, owned by billionaires unable to manage an inflationary spiral, will never be a popular decision.
Half a club?
Even less.
The Legault government is venturing into troubled waters. He is looking for supporting documents. He plans, for example, to link his financial assistance to the taxes collected by Quebec when the players will be passing here. OK. On a payroll of 75 million, that makes about 5 million per year. We are far from the mark, unless, of course, we repeat the formula over 25, 35 or 50 years.
Quebec is also evaluating the possibility of reinvesting in the club the tax revenues generated by the construction of the stadium. That is. But this is not convincing. If, rather than a stadium, condos were built on the same site, it would still generate tax revenue – this time for the government’s consolidated fund.
To make the project socially acceptable, the government is paddling alone against a strong headwind. It makes you wonder who wants this project the most: the government or Stephen Bronfman’s group?
It is high time for Mr. Bronfman and his partners to come out of their hiding place. It’s been eight years – eight years! – that we await their answers to questions which are frankly simple, and of great public interest.
How much will the stadium cost?
Who will pay for its construction?
Who will be its owner?
What will governments contribute?
Why does the state have to help an industry of millionaires?
At the same time, we are still trying to understand the concept of a shared custody team. Especially from a legal standpoint. What will happen if current Rays owner Stuart Sternberg sells his club? What will be the guarantees that once a new stadium is built, the club will stay in Montreal for the long term?
The silence of the promoters only amplifies the feeling that they are hiding things from us. And one morning, we will get up and we will have had the project shoved down our throats, without the issues having been discussed.
Do you want to make the project acceptable and reasonable?
Explain it.
Otherwise, it’s no.