If the group that's trying to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal has its way, the struggling Tampa Bay Rays would call Montreal its part-time home.
La Presse is reporting the group headed by Stephen Bronfman is looking to become shareholders in the Rays franchise, and if that happens, the likely scenario would see the Rays would play their midsummer home games in Montreal, while it would continue to play in St. Petersburg during the spring and late summer.
There's no time frame for when that would actually happen, and the plan would need the approval of Major League Baseball.
There is a precedent, of course, for an MLB team calling two places home — in 2003 and 2004, the Expos played a handful of their home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Going back further, to the mid-1950s, the old Brooklyn Dodgers played some of their home games away from Ebbets Field, in Jersey City, while owner Walter O'Malley tried negotiating with the City of New York for a new stadium in Brooklyn.
Both teams eventually relocated for lack of a new park — the Expos to Washington and the Dodgers to Los Angeles.
The Rays' plans for a new ballpark in Tampa to replace the domed Tropicana Field fell through late last year.
The Rays finished dead last in MLB attendance for six of the last seven seasons — in 2018, only the Miami Marlins drew fewer fans.