The study released last month on whether Montreal would embrace a new Major League Baseball franchise apparently forgot one major factor — the weak Canadian dollar.
That's the conclusion of three economists contacted by La Presse — Pierre Emmanuel Paradis, Yves St-Maurice and Philip Merrigan — who suggest that instead of Montreal ranking 18th out of 27 baseball markets in terms of median income, it ranks second-to-last, ahead of only Cleveland.
The median income figures in the original Montreal Group report, according to the economists, were basically calculated in U.S. currency.
The weak Canadian dollar during the Expos' tenure in Montreal was cited as a major factor in the team's departure for Washington, D.C. in 2004. The team took in, and would continue to take in, most of its revenues in Canadian dollars, while most of its expenses, particularly player salaries, were paid out in U.S. dollars.
The consulting firm Conventions, Sports and Leisure International, which produced the report, suggested the exchange rate was not taken into account, because they wanted to show "the relative purchasing power" of Montrealers in relation to other MLB cities.