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Bronfman left to mull next steps for Montreal after MLB nixes Rays’ plan – Sportsnet.ca

Published

3 years ago

January 20, 2022

TORONTO — There’s little room for feelings or sentiment when doing business with the lords of the realm, which is why Stephen Bronfman refused to go the pity-party route after Major League Baseball abruptly gutted Montreal’s sister-city aspirations with the Tampa Bay Rays.

“Hustlers go out there. You don’t go, you don’t get,” the CEO of Claridge Inc. said Thursday of the dashed attempt at restoring his city’s lost club. “Sometimes, you don’t get.”

Cold truth, just as icy as the league’s executive council’s rejection of the innovative-but-polarizing team-share plan hatched by Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and Bronfman, who became so invested in the concept that he said there was “No Plan B” for securing a club.

“I was all in,” he added during a Zoom call with media in which he alternated between frustration, disappointment, understanding and pride in re-establishing Montreal as a possibility for the game’s power brokers. At the same time, he also sounded spent after getting the project within sight of the finish line only “to get this wall.”

Expansion is now likely the city’s primary pathway and Bronfman, at least in the moment, didn’t seem keen on leading the charge. He spoke of “taking a break” to let the dust settle and “see what happens,” while mentioning that relevant parties know how to reach him.

And, after zeroing in on a business plan for half-a-season of baseball, Bronfman wasn’t ready to proclaim that Montreal was ready and able to support 81 games, either.

“It’s an interesting question,” said Bronfman. “I’ve grown up here. I’ve been through the ups and downs of baseball. I’ve thrown myself 100 per cent into the sister-city concept. I’d have to review it. There’s an expression in French, ‘Ce n’est pas évident, mais c’est possible.’ It’s not something that we studied to the core. We got the data on what we were planning to do. But Montreal is a major-league city. Listen, there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’m hopeful that one day maybe we’ll have baseball back in Montreal. I don’t know which way, in which form. But I know there’s an appetite.”

Reasonable to question at this point is how willing Major League Baseball is to satisfy that desire, especially given how both Bronfman and Sternberg, during a separate availability, sounded blindsided by the decision.

While initially the idea for the Rays to split their seasons between Tampa Bay and Montreal was read by some as a leverage play to end the Rays’ longstanding stadium saga, as time passed even skeptics began to believe that the pursuit was genuine. Commissioner Rob Manfred, during a February 2020 conversation with Sportsnet and the Tampa Bay Times, seemed to offer acceptance when he said, “I don’t think this is a crazy idea,” and added “it is a really legitimate effort to preserve baseball in Florida for benefit of the Rays fans.”

Solving the stadium problem in Tampa while also expanding the game’s international footprint, long one of Manfred’s stated goals, offered “a 2-for-1” that “would be a good thing all the way around.”

For the endeavour to die the way it did, especially after so much work on both the Tampa Bay and Montreal ends of the matter, suggests that Sternberg’s fellow owners, at minimum, viewed the sister-city plan as no more than a bluff and were forced to pull back as Montreal approached a point of no-return.

The plan called for open-air stadiums in both the Bay area and Montreal, and Bronfman’s team was working on a field tied to a larger property development that was gaining traction. But the province has been down this road before — Quebec City is still seeking an NHL team for the already built Colisée Pepsi and just last week was told the league didn’t have any current opportunities — so better to get the rejection now than once shovels are in the ground.

But given the ongoing frustrations both in Tampa Bay and Oakland, what does it say about Montreal’s long-term chances when there’s a real stadium plan and MLB walks away? No league that intends to expand eventually — Manfred has said resolving the issues for the Rays and A’s must come first — would do this to a prospective owner who checks all the boxes.

During that 2020 interview, when asked if Montreal could support a team on its own, Manfred said: “Montreal could be a standalone market. It could be. I think the judgment you have to make if you’re Montreal is, if and when we’re going to 32, and you have an opportunity to have some baseball here, it might be a good plan. They have to make that judgment.”

Bronfman played for the bird in hand and still came up empty.

“There are only two hypotheses that I have, it’s just sort of me spinning with my thoughts and with the guys that I was working with,” Bronfman said of why MLB pulled the plug. “Maybe they just thought at the beginning well, Stuart is just using this concept to put pressure on the Tampa market and maybe wants to renegotiate his deal and maybe it’s not that serious. And when they started to see that it was really serious, they took a step back and said, ‘wow, this is a really outward thinking project. We understand it, but I don’t know if we want to be the first league or guys out there to start something like this.’”

Factor in that the league also has locked out its players amid tire-spinning collective bargaining agreement negotiations, and perhaps the other owners simply felt the project was too risky at this time. A more worrying possibility for Montreal’s boosters is that as the players’ union is calling the league’s revenue sharing a systemic problem because of how it subsidizes low-spending clubs, MLB may very well wonder why not simply wait for the Rays to move to a bigger, surer market like say, Nashville.

There’s not much point in recreating Tampa Bay’s issues in Montreal, with the added trouble of currency discrepancy, for good measure. Such a move could lead to both the sister-city team and the Toronto Blue Jays seeking some equalization relief, and you can bet that’s a complication the other owners want no part of.

Either way, Sternberg and Bronfman are back at the drawing board, the Rays trying yet again to find a new home in Tampa Bay before a move becomes the only option, Montreal to recover from this latest MLB dagger.

“At this point, I kind of put my hands up in the air,” said Bronfman. “I was really sold on the project we were working on. I really, really was. That’s not happening. I haven’t given much thought to anything else. Would I love to see Montreal have a baseball team? Of course I would. How it’s going to happen? I don’t know. Is (a full-time team) viable? I think so. I don’t know. We’re a major-league city. People have my email, have my phone number. I’m happy to help and to discuss. But not today. We need to sort of just sit back. I’ve got a business. I got a family to get to get back to, all that stuff I love to do, which this project was as well.”

Bronfman and his team deserved better. Sternberg and the Rays, too. Montreal deserves a happier ending. But hustlers go and sometimes they don’t get.

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

5 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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