Who Killed the Montreal Expos? (2025) Movie Script
The greatest pitcher in Expos history,
Pedro Martinez!
Expos win 6-5! Yeah!
They came back to win the match.
The success of the Expos
made Montreal known across America.
It was crazy in Montreal.
So long!
So long, she's gone! What a beaut!
How's it going? It's going well, yeah.
We had something huge on our hands.
Ladies and gents, our Expos, our darlings!
A Montreal Expos jersey.
Play that tape of the Chicago Cubs
against our Expos.
We never would have thought
that one day we'd lose that team.
For Montrealers, it was always,
"Our Expos, our darlings."
The Expos played
their final Montreal game.
It's the Expos' farewell game
in Montreal tonight.
The team is moving to Washington.
The Expos' death
is a bit like a big game of Clue.
There are a lot of suspects and motives.
There's a long list.
Is it the owner, Claude Brochu?
It's Claude Brochu.
The president, Jeffrey Loria.
Major League strike.
David Samson.
Who stumped the Quebecers?
It's your fault. You ruined everything.
The tough actions I took
were not Machiavellian.
Simply betrayed.
We have a special show tonight
with a bit of nostalgic flavor.
But no matter what your memories are,
20 years after the Expos' final match,
we want to hear from you.
Who am I speaking to?
The lines are full, and I'm not surprised.
I have to say I'm very sad.
Montreal won't be the same
without the Expos.
Sports fans need their dignity back
here in Quebec.
Because we were humiliated.
We never saw that again in Montreal.
Even today, when we go to the U.S.
and we meet baseball fans, they say,
"Oh yeah, you're the guys that had a team,
and then they left."
People talk to me
about the Expos every day.
"Do you think the Expos will come back?"
I can't say, "They were stolen from us,
we sold them. We had a fire sale."
You were robbed?
Of course we were robbed.
For sure, we should've never let it go.
But the real reason
There's somebody, somewhere
who's responsible.
Baseball was everyday life.
Home run!
My dad would fix stuff in the garage.
The radio was on,
and the Expos were playing.
We weren't missing an inning.
In a few moments,
we'll witness an incredible game, Rodger.
It's awesome for Montrealers.
Think of the biggest party you've been to.
That was it.
It was amazing.
Quebecers love to sing, dance, have fun
We love to drink, eat
And baseball games had all of it.
He's got him. He's safe!
The players were very endearing.
We called them our darlings for a reason.
Gary Carter, Warren Cromartie,
Andr Dawson, Larry Parrish
We could feel that this team
had what it took to be good.
It was unique.
The new players always noticed it.
They'd see the stands and say,
"What's all this about?"
He faced 27 batters and got them all out!
I really loved it!
I was always committed to do a good job
because our fans
were always there cheering us on,
either in Spanish
or in their own language.
Their support encouraged me
to play at my best.
As soon as I came into the stadium,
I saw people's reactions.
Their faces lit up.
A child running towards you for a hug?
Indescribable. You have to live it.
GIVE US YOUR YOUPPI! IMPRESSION!
This summer, come and see us.
MY SUMMER, MY EXPOS!
You get attached to the team
and the players.
When you've done this all your life,
then it stops existing,
it's like someone in your family died.
Ladies and gents, the Expos are here!
Montreal was the first city
to welcome a Major League Baseball team
outside the U.S.
We were getting into the American pastime.
For us in Quebec, it was a big deal.
In the '80s, everything changed.
Baseball went from being a pastime
to a real entertainment business.
Salaries skyrocketed,
and TV contracts went insane.
It was also a time
when the economic situation was poor
because the Canadian dollar wasn't strong.
This morning,
the Canadian dollar hit an all-time low,
at 71 American cents.
The players' salaries were paid in U.S.,
but the revenue was in Canadian.
So it's like the Expos were taxed
on every transaction they made.
Which meant that in 1999,
the Expos were last
in nearly every possible category
for revenue in the Major League.
In fact, the Expos were losing money,
year after year.
They needed money to save the club.
No one in Montreal
was ready to invest those millions.
You have to understand,
in the U.S., there are family fortunes
that have been built up
over five, six, seven generations.
In Quebec,
there were no billion dollar fortunes.
After 15 years of financial issues,
the Expos are looking for a new owner
to take over from Charles Bronfman
and Claude Brochu.
And since no Canadian investors
were interested,
the team had no other choice
but to turn to a potential American buyer.
In 1999, I was hired at La Presse,
and they said,
"Do you want to cover baseball?"
It's a bit ironic.
I joined as a baseball journalist
to cover the game.
In fact,
I wrote very little about the games.
But I wrote over 500
articles about Jeffrey Loria.
Major League Baseball
has approved Jeffrey Loria's candidacy,
a New York art dealer
who is prepared
to invest 75 million dollars himself
and become the chairman
of the board of directors.
He was a mysterious man.
When he came to Montreal, he hid.
He did everything in the shadows,
He was incognito.
People knew very little about him.
We were very hopeful
when Jeffrey Loria came to the Expos.
He was reported to have a lot of money.
A lot of clout.
I clearly recall
that he was called a "savior."
This is the Expos' savior.
Jeffrey Loria, 58 years old,
rich enough to invest
75 million dollars in a baseball team.
Like it or not, he comes from New York.
Americans know how things work.
I was excited. Everyone in the office was.
It's what we always wanted.
Like an angel coming down from heaven.
We didn't like
that he was American, it's true.
Listen, some guy, a Francophile,
shows up
with millions of dollars and says
Montreal will no longer be
Major League Baseball's farm team.
It was a strong statement
that made us hopeful.
During that press conference,
we learned about
the new vice president of the team.
You didn't know him. Tell me about him.
You mean David Samson?
David Samson arrived with a certain style.
David Samson was one of a kind.
He carried a mirror everywhere he went
so he could see himself.
Arrogant, self-satisfied,
he looked at you as if you were crap.
I've yet to meet someone who likes him.
I've never seen someone so despicable.
Jeffrey Loria's right-hand man
is his son, David Samson.
He'll be responsible
for the team's daily operations.
Expos, hello.
that I can speak French
with some of them.
I'm a Quebecker.
The Expos were my dream team.
I was always proud to wear the uniform.
Pierre Arsenault,
you know this place well. The bullpen.
I spend most games here,
warming up the players.
I had no reason not to believe
what Jeffrey Loria said,
and what David Samson added.
They said all the right things,
things we wanted to hear.
The second someone says,
"We'll open our wallet
and buy more players,"
Woah, we're not used to hearing that.
We're used to the opposite.
How much was it
to build the Montreal Expos team?
It was a very large sum,
but Major League Baseball is huge deal.
It's like they say, a big business.
The original owner
of the Expos is called Charles Bronfman.
He was a wealthy businessman
who loved baseball.
I played in teams
where I never met the owner.
Mr. Bronfman took the Expos to heart.
It was his team,
and we players were like his children.
He was like a father.
Mr. Bronfman had a big heart.
Forget money. He had heart.
Attention buyers, the Expos are for sale
for 100 million dollars, a pretty penny.
At first,
I didn't think that Mr. Bronfman
would actually sell the team.
It was his life. He loved it.
He said to me, "Baseball changes a lot."
The industry isn't profitable.
The surge in wages
was enough to shake up many owners.
He said, "I can lose 2-3 million a year,
I can soak it up."
"But now, we're heading to a future
where it could be losses
of 25-30 million a year."
He said,
"I don't have the means for that."
He put me in charge
of organizing the sale of the club.
The rules for a change in ownership
are handled by Major League Baseball.
What they want, first of all,
is a local owner.
Secondly, they will accept
an owner from elsewhere
who'll keep the franchise in Montreal.
It's only in third place
that they'll allow an owner
who'll move the franchise elsewhere.
Mr. Bronfman's hope was
for the club to stay in Montreal.
Between 1900 and 1940,
it was the most popular sport in Quebec.
Quebec welcomed many Black players
in the 40s, during segregation.
For 150 years, baseball
has been part of our social fabric.
It's true.
- One!
- Out!
Baseball and pro sports
bring people together.
People say, "It's just sports."
Yeah, it's just sports,
but it becomes part of our lives.
That ball is outta here!
A home run for Rick Monday
and the Dodgers' bench clears!
It's emotional, it's gripping.
You get so into it.
It was a family for us.
We were like a family.
It's a family.
The Expos belonged to Quebec,
but reality eventually caught up with me.
Quebec's wealth
was more institutional than private.
There wasn't anyone
strong enough in Montreal
to take over from Mr. Bronfman.
If Quebec investors don't speak up soon,
Mr. Bronfman will turn to the U.S.
where there have been some firm offers.
I was interested in becoming the owner,
but wow! You need money for that.
A lot of money.
So I started to think
about putting together
a group of investors to buy the club.
If we could get
around 15 Montreal companies involved,
it would belong to the people here,
and the club would stay.
Brochu had been successful
in management roles before.
Charles Bronfman really trusted him.
He had to find the money.
100 million to save the Expos.
That was his mission.
Not a day goes by
where I don't meet
potential new investors.
It's ongoing.
It's taking up a lot of my time.
They knocked on 235 doors
trying to find shareholders.
It was in small amounts.
One, two, or five million.
It was difficult at times
because the potential partners
weren't interested
in getting involved in something
that could cost them extra.
So I said to them, "I'm committed
to managing this very tightly."
It was an extremely complex
financial set up,
almost unprecedented. I mean, in sports.
It wasn't easy.
The survival
of the Montreal Expos is guaranteed.
The Expos will have new owners,
and they are from Quebec.
Not one American is investing.
It's thanks to an all-Quebecois board
guided by the firm hand
of the president, Claude Brochu,
that the sale was organized.
I was told that the best day of our lives
was when we became the owners
of a Major League Baseball club.
I couldn't believe
we'd managed to keep our club
in Montreal and not lose it.
The classic structure in baseball
is one strong owner.
That's how baseball worked
for its first 100 professional years.
But in the consortium,
there were all kinds of investors.
There were business people
who invested their own money,
but also the City of Montreal,
a bank, and even a trade union.
They were all business owners,
so the partners saw themselves
playing a decision-making role
where they would have a say in things.
But the Major League didn't agree.
They wanted one person
to have all the responsibility.
So baseball decided
to move forward on one condition.
There had to be one guarantor,
which was Claude Brochu.
Thanks.
You make decisions about the club,
and they don't have a say?
They don't have a say. Exactly.
For fans like me at the time,
we didn't care
what was happening upstairs.
All we wanted was our team,
and for it to be competitive.
We had crowds,
and there was a great atmosphere.
But with salaries increasing,
we had to find more people
and fill more seats.
The club had some good years.
We were always there,
but we were never first.
I knew that that would safeguard
the club's long-term future.
For the first time in a long time,
fans believe in the championship again.
They're back at the Olympic Stadium.
The team is even talking about profit.
At the heart of this rebirth
is new management,
and also a new leader
who has become a real treasure of Quebec.
A chess player in baseball.
Every move was calculated.
He'd done it all.
He'd managed in the minors and coached.
He arrived at the right time.
Everyone loved Felipe Alou.
He's a really great guy, very endearing,
very involved in the community.
Lived in Laval, married a Quebecker,
his children spoke French.
Is your dad good?
Yeah, really good.
- Really good?
- Yes.
- Why?
- He's not a player.
But he's the boss of all the players.
He's like my dad. In 1997,
even though I suffered many injuries,
he didn't send me to the minor leagues
but he kept me in the Major Leagues.
We saw good young players,
but we weren't ready
for a championship race.
Something was created
with the young players.
Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker.
Pedro Martinez.
Tim Scott, Mel Rojas and John Wetteland.
We should monitor this closely.
They could have a great future.
I didn't see this team as special
when in training camp.
I saw great potential.
But as the months went on,
we started to see "Oh!"
There's thousands today
at the Olympic Stadium.
This year the Expos have
what it takes to please their fans.
We are in the running
for the championship.
This team came out of nowhere.
They were so fast,
they were 1-0 up
during the national anthems.
Never ever in the history of the Expos
has the team performed so well.
Walker runs, dives and makes the catch!
Two out of three against the Braves.
They're one and a half
games away from the lead.
He's out!
In '94, we had a dream team.
People came to the stadium.
It was euphoric.
They were the best in Expo history.
I remember on August 3,
when I gave birth to my son at 4:09 p.m.
I had to have a TV in my room.
There was an Expos game at 7:00 p.m.,
and I couldn't miss it.
That desire to see Montreal,
perhaps the smallest Major League team,
in the World Series,
was something that drove us.
The chance of winning doesn't come often.
I was proud, I was enthusiastic,
but I knew, in the back of my mind,
bad news was coming.
We were heading for a big problem.
Strike in the MLB.
Everyone hoped there wouldn't be a strike,
because they'd discussed it for months.
I was so sure then.
There'll be a strike for ten days,
then it'll be sorted.
But it wasn't.
And we lost everything.
We'd not seen that since 1904,
90 years ago,
a season of baseball canceled,
including the World Series.
It was like a shovel to the face.
It was like
a sledgehammer.
Imagine the revenue they would have made.
It would have been phenomenal.
Ticket sales, games broadcasted on TV,
everything that comes with it.
Millionaires fighting each other.
And who is in the middle of it all?
You and me.
I still think today that that strike
pushed the Expos closer to the edge.
We looked for solutions, for sure.
But we found none.
I knew we wouldn't have TV revenue.
And our fans were so furious
that season tickets
wouldn't be renewed for the next year.
The Expos will lose
over 20 million dollars this year.
Wow, we're in deep shit.
I knew that I would be criticized.
But I didn't have a choice.
I was thinking about the club's survival
and about avoiding bankruptcy.
I had named players we needed to trade.
Ones who would be
earning high salaries next season.
At 11:10 a.m.,
the first transaction was completed.
Wetteland has been transferred
to the New York Yankees.
At 2:00 p.m., Malone is back on offense.
This time, he gave Ken Hill
to the St-Louis Cards.
We thought they'd let one or two go.
Not four.
You can't have a good explanation
for axing four of your best players
when you had the best team.
After just over five seasons
with the Expos and two Golden Gloves,
Marquis Grissom is returning
to his hometown of Atlanta.
He went back to Atlanta with the Braves.
The Braves?
You're not supposed to give
your best players to your sworn enemy.
That's not sports.
Larry Walker packed his bags for Colorado.
Even us in the Major League
often didn't know the players we had.
We realized that
not only did we not have the same team,
but we wouldn't be competitive.
Money spoke once again.
We talked more about cash than baseball.
Brochu is someone
who inherited a Mercedes,
but couldn't even afford to buy gas.
Lots of people said
that the '94 strike killed the Expos.
But the fire sale was harmful too,
because the fire sale killed hope.
When you kill hope, you kill the fans.
It was tough to lose players. I know that.
It was a tough blow.
But the shareholders
didn't want to put money in.
I wasn't able to put money in,
nor were they.
So where does that leave us?
To keep our club here in the long term,
we needed more revenue.
It seemed to me that if we had
a new stadium, it would all be fine.
The rain poured for two hours last night
onto the Montreal Olympic Stadium.
The Olympic Stadium
was literally falling to pieces.
This beam collapsed
just before 8:00 a.m. this morning.
It's an outdated stadium from the '70s.
No team will want to play there anymore.
Bad weather is wreaking havoc
on the stadium roof.
Oh boy.
On the other side of this door,
a dividing wall has collapsed.
After the roof was torn by snow,
it's now letting the rain in.
I think that, in our hands,
we have the finest project
in Quebec in the coming years.
We'll have TV cameras
from Atlanta, Chicago, New York
projecting images of Montreal
towards downtown, all lit up.
And elsewhere in North America,
teams in small markets
who were struggling
were building baseball stadiums.
They could generate revenue
to compete against top clubs.
How were we going to fund that?
Impossible.
I was a believer. I loved the plans.
It was extraordinary.
But it needed government support.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Lucien Bouchard!
Almost everywhere in the U.S.,
the new stadiums are funded by the state.
That's what we want in Quebec.
But during that era,
in Quebec specifically
Budget cuts of 1,169 million.
Quebec has no more money.
It's unprecedented.
At that time, they needed money
to keep hospitals and schools going.
We had a long way to go,
but Bouchard negotiated.
I worked with his head of cabinet.
We started to tie it all together.
It took time. It was a long-term plan,
but it progressed very well.
But he also said,
"Let's keep this between us."
"All your partners are gossips."
Many of them had loose tongues.
They said things they shouldn't have.
Often, it went to the media,
then we'd have to clean it up.
The more people there are in a room,
the greater the risk of a conflict.
It's hard to understand
the exact reasons for disputes
among Expos shareholders.
Friction quickly set in
among the shareholders.
The local shareholders didn't like
that Brochu made the decisions.
They had invested one,
two, or five million dollars,
but didn't have a say
in the day-to-day decisions of the club.
They never understood the rules.
Even if they did,
they wanted to be included.
Eventually, it blew up.
If we interfere in others' business,
we can end up as part of the problem.
The daily soap opera of baseball
turned into a soap opera of business.
That's rare.
We saw the bickering. We saw the ego wars.
I'm not saying I don't like being here.
There was more drama
than at a high school prom!
More and more,
in the newspapers, you'd read stories
from others who were fed up with him.
Perhaps he should step aside
and let someone else promote the stadium.
Claude Brochu became a sort of piata
the shareholders hit with a baseball bat,
taking turns to hold the bat.
It's the ultimatum
the shareholders gave him.
Here. Your turn. Go!
He wasn't liked, wasn't a visionary,
was a bad manager
In Montreal,
people are talking badly about you.
They destroyed his reputation,
his leadership,
and his stadium project.
I can't work like this.
Who do we believe?
It never ended. It was the Expos saga.
That's all we cared about.
So much so
that the team's results came second.
It's not complicated. Deep down,
I just want baseball to stay here.
There was so much talk in the media.
So many rumors.
Emotionally, it's difficult.
You want it to happen,
you want a new stadium.
It's out of your hands.
You don't control anything.
The government will decide.
I saw that it was serious.
I said, "We gotta do something."
He's such a big Expos fan
that his phone number
include the word "Expo."
Mr. Jeremy Filosa.
I encouraged Claude Brochu.
In my head, he had a good project.
Culturally, the Expos
are essential to the city of Montreal.
The fact that he put all this in motion,
I thought,
"Okay, this won't stop.
It won't die here."
I said, "I'll organize a gathering
on the site where
we want to build the stadium."
"I want people to come,
so the government
realizes that there are fans."
"They have the Expos at heart
and don't want it to end."
I didn't know what to expect. But I went.
I just hoped people would show up.
I saw the crowd coming down the street.
SAVE OUR EXPOS
THINK ABOUT THE JOBS
MY STADIUM MY VOTE
Hundreds of Expos fans have come together
to support construction
of a new stadium in the city center.
I wanna be there.
I love baseball.
I can't live without my Expos.
I want to
encourage them to stay in Montreal.
Before it's too late.
We gotta do something. Wake up.
MY STADIUM, MY VOTE
I got emotional, because I'm thinking,
"Yes, sir, it worked!"
I'm starting to It's the emotion.
Thanks to those who came to support us.
We had around 10,000 people
over the whole day.
What did you think about the new stadium?
I agreed with the new stadium being built.
It was a big toy.
They had the means
to have a baseball team.
Let's do it.
Let's take the plunge once and for all.
But don't just wait
for the government to do everything.
If it doesn't work, we won't survive.
A decision will have to be made.
We had funding for the stadium.
We knew how to do it.
We were close to succeeding.
We're aware of Quebec's financial state,
the priorities, etc.
If hospitals are closing,
we can't open stadiums.
IT'S A NO!
- It must have been disappointing.
- Yes, very.
Very disappointing.
What went through your head?
We were wondering what to do.
We need this to survive.
If we can't get it, we can't stay here.
Claude Brochu assumed
that the government would pay
for most of the stadium
because that's how it was in the U.S.
The government never let on publically
that they would support them.
We will not ask workers
to pay more taxes
so that baseball players can keep
making millions of American dollars.
He's the Premier, and it's his decision.
Claude Brochu couldn't stay.
Even publically,
the shareholders weren't shy
about wanting Claude Brochu out.
We're not doing a witch hunt today,
but we have to say
we didn't get the cooperation we hoped.
Brochu must resign. We can't move forward.
It's a time-out, it's clear.
We can't move forward
if Brochu is still here.
They blamed me. "It's your fault."
"You ruined it all." Absolutely not.
Lucien Bouchard played a part
in the Expos' downfall.
But it was them that killed the Expos.
They managed to embarrass me,
but by being so negative
about the franchise,
they damaged the brand.
I was sure that the damage
that had been done to the franchise
was irreparable.
I'm very happy to announce
that late last night
we came to an agreement,
which, I think, meets everyone's needs.
The shareholders' smear campaign worked,
because in the end,
Claude Brochu agreed to sell his shares.
I sincerely believe
that it is worth giving
the new owners a chance.
Do you think Brochu
was a victim of injustice?
Claude Brochu was not a victim.
He had a mandate.
Find funding to build the stadium.
He didn't do it.
- Mr. Loria, how are you?
- Very well.
- Do you trust David?
- Very much so.
We want to tell fans
that there will be great baseball
at the Montreal Olympic Stadium this year.
I knew him. I interviewed him
in the '90s to be part of the franchise
when I was looking for a partner.
He wanted to control the club,
so I let him go.
He's got an iron fist in a velvet glove.
He's tough.
I didn't trust him.
Are more good things coming
in the next few weeks?
It's possible.
Jeffrey appoints David Samson
as his second-in-command.
He knows the codes of business well,
but American business.
In Quebec, we like to reach a consensus.
He's clearly not someone
who tries to reach a consensus.
Treat us like a Major League team.
He's like a bull in a china shop,
and then
When you go to a new city,
you try your best to make friends.
They made enemies everywhere.
You had someone we didn't know
telling us what to do.
Quebecers don't like
being told what to do.
We became strangers in our own home.
When Jeffrey Loria arrived,
he held a big press conference.
I'm happy to be here again
to tell you about another important step
in the story of our team,
the Montreal Expos.
There must have been over 100 journalists.
You could feel the ambition.
It was really spectacular.
As we have done since the beginning,
we will spare no effort
in overcoming our challenges.
He started the press conference
by presenting a new stadium project.
Club president Jeffrey Loria
revealed a model
of the future stadium today.
Jeffrey Loria has another plan.
Claude Brochu's stadium plan
didn't exist anymore.
It was a glass stadium
that would cost
at least 50 million dollars.
That was already surprising.
The new Expos stadium
is designed specifically for baseball,
and for the people of Montreal and Quebec.
He undid everything
to create their own model,
their own project.
It wasn't amazing, but I didn't care.
I wanted a stadium.
He then said,
"The agreement we just signed
with Labatt Brewery"
Labatt is a big brewery
that had sponsored the Expos for years.
Claude Brochu had negotiated this deal.
Labatt agreed
to spend 100 million over 20 years.
"We signed it last year.
We're going to rip it up."
The deal with Labatt fell through.
The name is the "Expos Downtown Stadium"
in the city center.
Loria didn't think
it was lucrative enough.
There'll be another name.
But for now, it's not the Labatt Park.
Jeffrey Loria has just met with the press.
What did he have to say?
We learned in the next few days
that the Expos games
wouldn't be broadcast in French.
Wait a minute. No matches on TV?
Baseball is a soap opera.
How will people keep up?
TV rights are your lifeline.
He thought he'd have
TV contracts like in the U.S.
Doesn't work like that.
They said radio is possible,
but not TV this season,
but I'll keep negotiating.
WHEN WILL BASEBALL BE ON TV?
We felt like we were
watching a live act of sabotage.
And all that happened
in the space of ten days.
We thought, "Okay, did he come to Montreal
to shut down the team and relocate?"
Is he here just to make money?
Is he here to flip the club
and resell it quickly,
like flipping a house?
What's the real plan?
Can we talk after the meeting?
Is that possible?
The rumor had been around for a while.
In fact, since the arrival
of the new owner, Jeffrey Loria.
Exactly. Since the first training camp
under Loria's leadership.
He invited Jeff Torborg,
a former bench coach for the Yankees,
to coach players during the training camp.
That's when it started.
It was kind of impossible
to fire Felipe Alou,
because he was the club's popular figure.
He was the guy.
They never kept their promises.
I don't have any comment.
We felt like
we had been cheated by those men.
There are people
who have never forgiven Samson and Loria.
I'm really having a hard time
with the whole ending
With the sale to Jeffrey Loria,
and how we got played.
People thought he was the savior,
but to me he's a crook.
The MLB's commissioner made it clear
that a downtown stadium
was crucial to the Expos' survival.
The whole Expos survival plan
hinges on a new stadium.
- The Expos saga.
- The Expos saga.
All is not well for the Expos.
Loria said there was no money to be made
keeping the Expos in Montreal.
The stadium would not be built
and they had to let the land go.
The club was
over 100 million dollars in debt.
There wasn't much of a future.
There was nobody in the stadium.
Clearly, the local shareholders
all underestimated Jeffrey Loria
across the board.
In dealing with
the American financial system,
there are sharks.
I saw it happen.
I never thought that Loria would carry on.
I'm sure that in the contract,
there was an exit clause.
Radio-Canada has learned
that Jeffrey Loria had a clause added
that allowed him to force shareholders
to sell their shares.
After these two unsuccessful appeals
for capital from local shareholders,
we learned yesterday that Jeffrey Loria
now holds 92% of the team's shares.
Unbelievable. He was the club.
At that moment, they lost everything.
The group of Expos owners
had all lost their money.
He diluted Quebec Inc.'s money.
Why? Because they stopped
putting money into it.
The never-ending Expos saga
has taken a new turn.
The minority shareholders of the team
are suing Loria for fraud.
They think that he lied to them all along.
- Mr. Mnard.
- Hi, how are you?
We're talking about 14 corporations.
Who are they?
All the shareholders
who thought it was smart
to get rid of Claude Brochu.
Maybe they changed their minds.
The lawsuit hits hard,
citing laws against influence peddling
and corrupt organizations.
It's often used
against organized crime and drug cartels.
He tried to create an economic crisis.
The way they treated
the minority shareholders,
I would say, was a bit Soviet, in that
A total 180 in the world of baseball,
Jeffrey Loria is selling the Expos,
and buying the Florida Marlins.
When Loria and Samson
left for the Marlins, I had a computer.
They told me, "Marc,
I need to take your computer."
"Why?"
"Well, it's part of the things
they're bringing with them to Florida."
A computer!
Legend has it they took
all they could get through customs.
Eighteen million dollars,
that's how much Loria spent in 1999
to become the co-owner
of the Montreal Expos.
Barely two years later,
he surprised everyone
and gave up the team
for 120 million dollars.
What does that mean for the Montreal team?
He is selling the Expos to a new entity,
either a corporation or company
belonging to the other 29 MLB owners.
The team is under guardianship of the MLB
for part, or all of next season,
we don't know yet.
Major League Baseball
has become the owner of a team
which is a bit strange.
We were truly caught with our pants down.
There was no-one
in our corner to defend us.
STADIUM
It could make a difference.
We just need to let people know
that the Expos do have fans and do count.
They were under guardianship
of the MLB for three seasons.
It was an extremely long time,
extremely painful.
It wasn't the end, it was death.
My love was dead.
We were in palliative care.
The Expos were on life support.
And when that happens, you keep going
because the end is near.
The enthusiasm was gone.
In the last few years,
despite the situation we had ended up in,
everyone still kept pushing forward.
We still hoped
that things would get fixed.
I arrived at the office at about 9:00 a.m.
There was already talk
of a press conference
in Washington at midday.
Of course, no one could work.
The rumor was true. It was over.
It was over.
Oh, yeah. It was Yeah.
Sorry.
It is confirmed.
In less than 30 minutes,
the Expos will play their last game
in Montreal history.
We now join Chantal Machabe
at the Olympic Stadium.
- Good evening.
- Hello, Franois.
The Expos confirmed the bad news
at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.
DON'T GO, YOUPPI!
We saw the message from the fans.
Some showed their discontent.
Even I don't know if I'm going to cry,
but I think I will.
EXPOS ALWAYS #1 IN OUR HEARTS
During the whole match,
we were tearing up.
People were crying their eyes out.
It feels like a funeral here.
A lot of people have
come together with heavy hearts.
The Expos' departure
was a collective mourning.
It was extremely difficult.
I'm sure it took some people
years to get over it.
For sure.
We knew it was over.
My whole world was crumbling.
I GREW UP WITH THE EXPOS
I grew up with baseball.
Whatever was happening in our family,
I could always talk
to my dad about baseball.
We'd always have something to talk about.
I thought, "If I have a son one day,
I won't have that."
Being a fan was part of our identity.
Part of our identity was taken away.
It's almost unthinkable
to lose a team like that after 36 years.
I really loved my career.
I loved my 36 years with the Expos.
All of a sudden,
there's no baseball in your life.
There's no more work.
I was really sad.
I gathered all my courage
through the tears.
Goodbye, and thank you so much
for everything you've done
for us and the team
over the last 36 years.
I hope that one day, we'll have a miracle
and it will come back here.
Thank you so much
on behalf of all the players.
Thanks a lot.
For me, the death of the Expos
was a shared responsibility.
There were the local shareholders
who clearly lacked vision.
Claude Brochu was not able
to bring people to the stadium,
although it was his job as team president.
Jeffrey Loria and David Samson
are clearly responsible as well
for the end of the Expos.
They could have saved the club.
THANKS FOR NOTHING
OUR LOVES
But what really killed them
is much more simple than that.
What killed the Expos was money.
Thank you for being here.
And if we ever
pass each other in the street,
I'll happily shake your hand,
because you were a proud baseball fan,
and an Expos supporter. Thank you.
Thank you very much
to Jacques Doucet, and again,
the final score, 1969-2004.
There were ups and downs.
Because I grew up with this team,
I was such a loyal fan.
I was a loyal employee
when I worked with them.
Hey, my friend! How are you?
Even in the difficult years,
even on the darkest days,
I always wore the Expos logo with pride.
I haven't watched
a baseball match in ten years.
That was the case
for the majority of baseball fans.
They were so angry
that even though they love the game,
they just couldn't watch.
It was like that for me.
Until at a certain point
My son became a baseball fan.
Father-son relationships
aren't always easy.
Even if it's baseball, it doesn't matter.
We throw the ball and we talk about life.
I just wanted to give my son
what my dad gave me.
And I'm able to do it today,
so for that, I'm very grateful.
Since the team's
crushing departure over 20 years ago,
fans who dream
of a team returning to Quebec soil
are increasing their efforts
to convince the MLB.
In Montreal,
we talk about the Expos coming back.
My son is a fan of the Blue Jays.
We talked about the Expos coming back.
He said,
"Dad, if they do, who will we root for?"
Ladies and gentlemen, the best team
in Major League Baseball in 1994!
Do you really believe they'll return?
Do I believe?
I hope.
Do you believe they'll come back?
You have to.
I'd love it. You have no idea.
I miss it in Montreal.
Yes, it would be good.
To feel like coming back,
not necessarily to play,
but just to see a game again.
Watch it with the fans who saw us play.
I'm hopeful.
But they better do it fast. At my age,
I don't want to be there in a wheelchair.
Subtitle translation by: Felipe M.
Pedro Martinez!
Expos win 6-5! Yeah!
They came back to win the match.
The success of the Expos
made Montreal known across America.
It was crazy in Montreal.
So long!
So long, she's gone! What a beaut!
How's it going? It's going well, yeah.
We had something huge on our hands.
Ladies and gents, our Expos, our darlings!
A Montreal Expos jersey.
Play that tape of the Chicago Cubs
against our Expos.
We never would have thought
that one day we'd lose that team.
For Montrealers, it was always,
"Our Expos, our darlings."
The Expos played
their final Montreal game.
It's the Expos' farewell game
in Montreal tonight.
The team is moving to Washington.
The Expos' death
is a bit like a big game of Clue.
There are a lot of suspects and motives.
There's a long list.
Is it the owner, Claude Brochu?
It's Claude Brochu.
The president, Jeffrey Loria.
Major League strike.
David Samson.
Who stumped the Quebecers?
It's your fault. You ruined everything.
The tough actions I took
were not Machiavellian.
Simply betrayed.
We have a special show tonight
with a bit of nostalgic flavor.
But no matter what your memories are,
20 years after the Expos' final match,
we want to hear from you.
Who am I speaking to?
The lines are full, and I'm not surprised.
I have to say I'm very sad.
Montreal won't be the same
without the Expos.
Sports fans need their dignity back
here in Quebec.
Because we were humiliated.
We never saw that again in Montreal.
Even today, when we go to the U.S.
and we meet baseball fans, they say,
"Oh yeah, you're the guys that had a team,
and then they left."
People talk to me
about the Expos every day.
"Do you think the Expos will come back?"
I can't say, "They were stolen from us,
we sold them. We had a fire sale."
You were robbed?
Of course we were robbed.
For sure, we should've never let it go.
But the real reason
There's somebody, somewhere
who's responsible.
Baseball was everyday life.
Home run!
My dad would fix stuff in the garage.
The radio was on,
and the Expos were playing.
We weren't missing an inning.
In a few moments,
we'll witness an incredible game, Rodger.
It's awesome for Montrealers.
Think of the biggest party you've been to.
That was it.
It was amazing.
Quebecers love to sing, dance, have fun
We love to drink, eat
And baseball games had all of it.
He's got him. He's safe!
The players were very endearing.
We called them our darlings for a reason.
Gary Carter, Warren Cromartie,
Andr Dawson, Larry Parrish
We could feel that this team
had what it took to be good.
It was unique.
The new players always noticed it.
They'd see the stands and say,
"What's all this about?"
He faced 27 batters and got them all out!
I really loved it!
I was always committed to do a good job
because our fans
were always there cheering us on,
either in Spanish
or in their own language.
Their support encouraged me
to play at my best.
As soon as I came into the stadium,
I saw people's reactions.
Their faces lit up.
A child running towards you for a hug?
Indescribable. You have to live it.
GIVE US YOUR YOUPPI! IMPRESSION!
This summer, come and see us.
MY SUMMER, MY EXPOS!
You get attached to the team
and the players.
When you've done this all your life,
then it stops existing,
it's like someone in your family died.
Ladies and gents, the Expos are here!
Montreal was the first city
to welcome a Major League Baseball team
outside the U.S.
We were getting into the American pastime.
For us in Quebec, it was a big deal.
In the '80s, everything changed.
Baseball went from being a pastime
to a real entertainment business.
Salaries skyrocketed,
and TV contracts went insane.
It was also a time
when the economic situation was poor
because the Canadian dollar wasn't strong.
This morning,
the Canadian dollar hit an all-time low,
at 71 American cents.
The players' salaries were paid in U.S.,
but the revenue was in Canadian.
So it's like the Expos were taxed
on every transaction they made.
Which meant that in 1999,
the Expos were last
in nearly every possible category
for revenue in the Major League.
In fact, the Expos were losing money,
year after year.
They needed money to save the club.
No one in Montreal
was ready to invest those millions.
You have to understand,
in the U.S., there are family fortunes
that have been built up
over five, six, seven generations.
In Quebec,
there were no billion dollar fortunes.
After 15 years of financial issues,
the Expos are looking for a new owner
to take over from Charles Bronfman
and Claude Brochu.
And since no Canadian investors
were interested,
the team had no other choice
but to turn to a potential American buyer.
In 1999, I was hired at La Presse,
and they said,
"Do you want to cover baseball?"
It's a bit ironic.
I joined as a baseball journalist
to cover the game.
In fact,
I wrote very little about the games.
But I wrote over 500
articles about Jeffrey Loria.
Major League Baseball
has approved Jeffrey Loria's candidacy,
a New York art dealer
who is prepared
to invest 75 million dollars himself
and become the chairman
of the board of directors.
He was a mysterious man.
When he came to Montreal, he hid.
He did everything in the shadows,
He was incognito.
People knew very little about him.
We were very hopeful
when Jeffrey Loria came to the Expos.
He was reported to have a lot of money.
A lot of clout.
I clearly recall
that he was called a "savior."
This is the Expos' savior.
Jeffrey Loria, 58 years old,
rich enough to invest
75 million dollars in a baseball team.
Like it or not, he comes from New York.
Americans know how things work.
I was excited. Everyone in the office was.
It's what we always wanted.
Like an angel coming down from heaven.
We didn't like
that he was American, it's true.
Listen, some guy, a Francophile,
shows up
with millions of dollars and says
Montreal will no longer be
Major League Baseball's farm team.
It was a strong statement
that made us hopeful.
During that press conference,
we learned about
the new vice president of the team.
You didn't know him. Tell me about him.
You mean David Samson?
David Samson arrived with a certain style.
David Samson was one of a kind.
He carried a mirror everywhere he went
so he could see himself.
Arrogant, self-satisfied,
he looked at you as if you were crap.
I've yet to meet someone who likes him.
I've never seen someone so despicable.
Jeffrey Loria's right-hand man
is his son, David Samson.
He'll be responsible
for the team's daily operations.
Expos, hello.
that I can speak French
with some of them.
I'm a Quebecker.
The Expos were my dream team.
I was always proud to wear the uniform.
Pierre Arsenault,
you know this place well. The bullpen.
I spend most games here,
warming up the players.
I had no reason not to believe
what Jeffrey Loria said,
and what David Samson added.
They said all the right things,
things we wanted to hear.
The second someone says,
"We'll open our wallet
and buy more players,"
Woah, we're not used to hearing that.
We're used to the opposite.
How much was it
to build the Montreal Expos team?
It was a very large sum,
but Major League Baseball is huge deal.
It's like they say, a big business.
The original owner
of the Expos is called Charles Bronfman.
He was a wealthy businessman
who loved baseball.
I played in teams
where I never met the owner.
Mr. Bronfman took the Expos to heart.
It was his team,
and we players were like his children.
He was like a father.
Mr. Bronfman had a big heart.
Forget money. He had heart.
Attention buyers, the Expos are for sale
for 100 million dollars, a pretty penny.
At first,
I didn't think that Mr. Bronfman
would actually sell the team.
It was his life. He loved it.
He said to me, "Baseball changes a lot."
The industry isn't profitable.
The surge in wages
was enough to shake up many owners.
He said, "I can lose 2-3 million a year,
I can soak it up."
"But now, we're heading to a future
where it could be losses
of 25-30 million a year."
He said,
"I don't have the means for that."
He put me in charge
of organizing the sale of the club.
The rules for a change in ownership
are handled by Major League Baseball.
What they want, first of all,
is a local owner.
Secondly, they will accept
an owner from elsewhere
who'll keep the franchise in Montreal.
It's only in third place
that they'll allow an owner
who'll move the franchise elsewhere.
Mr. Bronfman's hope was
for the club to stay in Montreal.
Between 1900 and 1940,
it was the most popular sport in Quebec.
Quebec welcomed many Black players
in the 40s, during segregation.
For 150 years, baseball
has been part of our social fabric.
It's true.
- One!
- Out!
Baseball and pro sports
bring people together.
People say, "It's just sports."
Yeah, it's just sports,
but it becomes part of our lives.
That ball is outta here!
A home run for Rick Monday
and the Dodgers' bench clears!
It's emotional, it's gripping.
You get so into it.
It was a family for us.
We were like a family.
It's a family.
The Expos belonged to Quebec,
but reality eventually caught up with me.
Quebec's wealth
was more institutional than private.
There wasn't anyone
strong enough in Montreal
to take over from Mr. Bronfman.
If Quebec investors don't speak up soon,
Mr. Bronfman will turn to the U.S.
where there have been some firm offers.
I was interested in becoming the owner,
but wow! You need money for that.
A lot of money.
So I started to think
about putting together
a group of investors to buy the club.
If we could get
around 15 Montreal companies involved,
it would belong to the people here,
and the club would stay.
Brochu had been successful
in management roles before.
Charles Bronfman really trusted him.
He had to find the money.
100 million to save the Expos.
That was his mission.
Not a day goes by
where I don't meet
potential new investors.
It's ongoing.
It's taking up a lot of my time.
They knocked on 235 doors
trying to find shareholders.
It was in small amounts.
One, two, or five million.
It was difficult at times
because the potential partners
weren't interested
in getting involved in something
that could cost them extra.
So I said to them, "I'm committed
to managing this very tightly."
It was an extremely complex
financial set up,
almost unprecedented. I mean, in sports.
It wasn't easy.
The survival
of the Montreal Expos is guaranteed.
The Expos will have new owners,
and they are from Quebec.
Not one American is investing.
It's thanks to an all-Quebecois board
guided by the firm hand
of the president, Claude Brochu,
that the sale was organized.
I was told that the best day of our lives
was when we became the owners
of a Major League Baseball club.
I couldn't believe
we'd managed to keep our club
in Montreal and not lose it.
The classic structure in baseball
is one strong owner.
That's how baseball worked
for its first 100 professional years.
But in the consortium,
there were all kinds of investors.
There were business people
who invested their own money,
but also the City of Montreal,
a bank, and even a trade union.
They were all business owners,
so the partners saw themselves
playing a decision-making role
where they would have a say in things.
But the Major League didn't agree.
They wanted one person
to have all the responsibility.
So baseball decided
to move forward on one condition.
There had to be one guarantor,
which was Claude Brochu.
Thanks.
You make decisions about the club,
and they don't have a say?
They don't have a say. Exactly.
For fans like me at the time,
we didn't care
what was happening upstairs.
All we wanted was our team,
and for it to be competitive.
We had crowds,
and there was a great atmosphere.
But with salaries increasing,
we had to find more people
and fill more seats.
The club had some good years.
We were always there,
but we were never first.
I knew that that would safeguard
the club's long-term future.
For the first time in a long time,
fans believe in the championship again.
They're back at the Olympic Stadium.
The team is even talking about profit.
At the heart of this rebirth
is new management,
and also a new leader
who has become a real treasure of Quebec.
A chess player in baseball.
Every move was calculated.
He'd done it all.
He'd managed in the minors and coached.
He arrived at the right time.
Everyone loved Felipe Alou.
He's a really great guy, very endearing,
very involved in the community.
Lived in Laval, married a Quebecker,
his children spoke French.
Is your dad good?
Yeah, really good.
- Really good?
- Yes.
- Why?
- He's not a player.
But he's the boss of all the players.
He's like my dad. In 1997,
even though I suffered many injuries,
he didn't send me to the minor leagues
but he kept me in the Major Leagues.
We saw good young players,
but we weren't ready
for a championship race.
Something was created
with the young players.
Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker.
Pedro Martinez.
Tim Scott, Mel Rojas and John Wetteland.
We should monitor this closely.
They could have a great future.
I didn't see this team as special
when in training camp.
I saw great potential.
But as the months went on,
we started to see "Oh!"
There's thousands today
at the Olympic Stadium.
This year the Expos have
what it takes to please their fans.
We are in the running
for the championship.
This team came out of nowhere.
They were so fast,
they were 1-0 up
during the national anthems.
Never ever in the history of the Expos
has the team performed so well.
Walker runs, dives and makes the catch!
Two out of three against the Braves.
They're one and a half
games away from the lead.
He's out!
In '94, we had a dream team.
People came to the stadium.
It was euphoric.
They were the best in Expo history.
I remember on August 3,
when I gave birth to my son at 4:09 p.m.
I had to have a TV in my room.
There was an Expos game at 7:00 p.m.,
and I couldn't miss it.
That desire to see Montreal,
perhaps the smallest Major League team,
in the World Series,
was something that drove us.
The chance of winning doesn't come often.
I was proud, I was enthusiastic,
but I knew, in the back of my mind,
bad news was coming.
We were heading for a big problem.
Strike in the MLB.
Everyone hoped there wouldn't be a strike,
because they'd discussed it for months.
I was so sure then.
There'll be a strike for ten days,
then it'll be sorted.
But it wasn't.
And we lost everything.
We'd not seen that since 1904,
90 years ago,
a season of baseball canceled,
including the World Series.
It was like a shovel to the face.
It was like
a sledgehammer.
Imagine the revenue they would have made.
It would have been phenomenal.
Ticket sales, games broadcasted on TV,
everything that comes with it.
Millionaires fighting each other.
And who is in the middle of it all?
You and me.
I still think today that that strike
pushed the Expos closer to the edge.
We looked for solutions, for sure.
But we found none.
I knew we wouldn't have TV revenue.
And our fans were so furious
that season tickets
wouldn't be renewed for the next year.
The Expos will lose
over 20 million dollars this year.
Wow, we're in deep shit.
I knew that I would be criticized.
But I didn't have a choice.
I was thinking about the club's survival
and about avoiding bankruptcy.
I had named players we needed to trade.
Ones who would be
earning high salaries next season.
At 11:10 a.m.,
the first transaction was completed.
Wetteland has been transferred
to the New York Yankees.
At 2:00 p.m., Malone is back on offense.
This time, he gave Ken Hill
to the St-Louis Cards.
We thought they'd let one or two go.
Not four.
You can't have a good explanation
for axing four of your best players
when you had the best team.
After just over five seasons
with the Expos and two Golden Gloves,
Marquis Grissom is returning
to his hometown of Atlanta.
He went back to Atlanta with the Braves.
The Braves?
You're not supposed to give
your best players to your sworn enemy.
That's not sports.
Larry Walker packed his bags for Colorado.
Even us in the Major League
often didn't know the players we had.
We realized that
not only did we not have the same team,
but we wouldn't be competitive.
Money spoke once again.
We talked more about cash than baseball.
Brochu is someone
who inherited a Mercedes,
but couldn't even afford to buy gas.
Lots of people said
that the '94 strike killed the Expos.
But the fire sale was harmful too,
because the fire sale killed hope.
When you kill hope, you kill the fans.
It was tough to lose players. I know that.
It was a tough blow.
But the shareholders
didn't want to put money in.
I wasn't able to put money in,
nor were they.
So where does that leave us?
To keep our club here in the long term,
we needed more revenue.
It seemed to me that if we had
a new stadium, it would all be fine.
The rain poured for two hours last night
onto the Montreal Olympic Stadium.
The Olympic Stadium
was literally falling to pieces.
This beam collapsed
just before 8:00 a.m. this morning.
It's an outdated stadium from the '70s.
No team will want to play there anymore.
Bad weather is wreaking havoc
on the stadium roof.
Oh boy.
On the other side of this door,
a dividing wall has collapsed.
After the roof was torn by snow,
it's now letting the rain in.
I think that, in our hands,
we have the finest project
in Quebec in the coming years.
We'll have TV cameras
from Atlanta, Chicago, New York
projecting images of Montreal
towards downtown, all lit up.
And elsewhere in North America,
teams in small markets
who were struggling
were building baseball stadiums.
They could generate revenue
to compete against top clubs.
How were we going to fund that?
Impossible.
I was a believer. I loved the plans.
It was extraordinary.
But it needed government support.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Lucien Bouchard!
Almost everywhere in the U.S.,
the new stadiums are funded by the state.
That's what we want in Quebec.
But during that era,
in Quebec specifically
Budget cuts of 1,169 million.
Quebec has no more money.
It's unprecedented.
At that time, they needed money
to keep hospitals and schools going.
We had a long way to go,
but Bouchard negotiated.
I worked with his head of cabinet.
We started to tie it all together.
It took time. It was a long-term plan,
but it progressed very well.
But he also said,
"Let's keep this between us."
"All your partners are gossips."
Many of them had loose tongues.
They said things they shouldn't have.
Often, it went to the media,
then we'd have to clean it up.
The more people there are in a room,
the greater the risk of a conflict.
It's hard to understand
the exact reasons for disputes
among Expos shareholders.
Friction quickly set in
among the shareholders.
The local shareholders didn't like
that Brochu made the decisions.
They had invested one,
two, or five million dollars,
but didn't have a say
in the day-to-day decisions of the club.
They never understood the rules.
Even if they did,
they wanted to be included.
Eventually, it blew up.
If we interfere in others' business,
we can end up as part of the problem.
The daily soap opera of baseball
turned into a soap opera of business.
That's rare.
We saw the bickering. We saw the ego wars.
I'm not saying I don't like being here.
There was more drama
than at a high school prom!
More and more,
in the newspapers, you'd read stories
from others who were fed up with him.
Perhaps he should step aside
and let someone else promote the stadium.
Claude Brochu became a sort of piata
the shareholders hit with a baseball bat,
taking turns to hold the bat.
It's the ultimatum
the shareholders gave him.
Here. Your turn. Go!
He wasn't liked, wasn't a visionary,
was a bad manager
In Montreal,
people are talking badly about you.
They destroyed his reputation,
his leadership,
and his stadium project.
I can't work like this.
Who do we believe?
It never ended. It was the Expos saga.
That's all we cared about.
So much so
that the team's results came second.
It's not complicated. Deep down,
I just want baseball to stay here.
There was so much talk in the media.
So many rumors.
Emotionally, it's difficult.
You want it to happen,
you want a new stadium.
It's out of your hands.
You don't control anything.
The government will decide.
I saw that it was serious.
I said, "We gotta do something."
He's such a big Expos fan
that his phone number
include the word "Expo."
Mr. Jeremy Filosa.
I encouraged Claude Brochu.
In my head, he had a good project.
Culturally, the Expos
are essential to the city of Montreal.
The fact that he put all this in motion,
I thought,
"Okay, this won't stop.
It won't die here."
I said, "I'll organize a gathering
on the site where
we want to build the stadium."
"I want people to come,
so the government
realizes that there are fans."
"They have the Expos at heart
and don't want it to end."
I didn't know what to expect. But I went.
I just hoped people would show up.
I saw the crowd coming down the street.
SAVE OUR EXPOS
THINK ABOUT THE JOBS
MY STADIUM MY VOTE
Hundreds of Expos fans have come together
to support construction
of a new stadium in the city center.
I wanna be there.
I love baseball.
I can't live without my Expos.
I want to
encourage them to stay in Montreal.
Before it's too late.
We gotta do something. Wake up.
MY STADIUM, MY VOTE
I got emotional, because I'm thinking,
"Yes, sir, it worked!"
I'm starting to It's the emotion.
Thanks to those who came to support us.
We had around 10,000 people
over the whole day.
What did you think about the new stadium?
I agreed with the new stadium being built.
It was a big toy.
They had the means
to have a baseball team.
Let's do it.
Let's take the plunge once and for all.
But don't just wait
for the government to do everything.
If it doesn't work, we won't survive.
A decision will have to be made.
We had funding for the stadium.
We knew how to do it.
We were close to succeeding.
We're aware of Quebec's financial state,
the priorities, etc.
If hospitals are closing,
we can't open stadiums.
IT'S A NO!
- It must have been disappointing.
- Yes, very.
Very disappointing.
What went through your head?
We were wondering what to do.
We need this to survive.
If we can't get it, we can't stay here.
Claude Brochu assumed
that the government would pay
for most of the stadium
because that's how it was in the U.S.
The government never let on publically
that they would support them.
We will not ask workers
to pay more taxes
so that baseball players can keep
making millions of American dollars.
He's the Premier, and it's his decision.
Claude Brochu couldn't stay.
Even publically,
the shareholders weren't shy
about wanting Claude Brochu out.
We're not doing a witch hunt today,
but we have to say
we didn't get the cooperation we hoped.
Brochu must resign. We can't move forward.
It's a time-out, it's clear.
We can't move forward
if Brochu is still here.
They blamed me. "It's your fault."
"You ruined it all." Absolutely not.
Lucien Bouchard played a part
in the Expos' downfall.
But it was them that killed the Expos.
They managed to embarrass me,
but by being so negative
about the franchise,
they damaged the brand.
I was sure that the damage
that had been done to the franchise
was irreparable.
I'm very happy to announce
that late last night
we came to an agreement,
which, I think, meets everyone's needs.
The shareholders' smear campaign worked,
because in the end,
Claude Brochu agreed to sell his shares.
I sincerely believe
that it is worth giving
the new owners a chance.
Do you think Brochu
was a victim of injustice?
Claude Brochu was not a victim.
He had a mandate.
Find funding to build the stadium.
He didn't do it.
- Mr. Loria, how are you?
- Very well.
- Do you trust David?
- Very much so.
We want to tell fans
that there will be great baseball
at the Montreal Olympic Stadium this year.
I knew him. I interviewed him
in the '90s to be part of the franchise
when I was looking for a partner.
He wanted to control the club,
so I let him go.
He's got an iron fist in a velvet glove.
He's tough.
I didn't trust him.
Are more good things coming
in the next few weeks?
It's possible.
Jeffrey appoints David Samson
as his second-in-command.
He knows the codes of business well,
but American business.
In Quebec, we like to reach a consensus.
He's clearly not someone
who tries to reach a consensus.
Treat us like a Major League team.
He's like a bull in a china shop,
and then
When you go to a new city,
you try your best to make friends.
They made enemies everywhere.
You had someone we didn't know
telling us what to do.
Quebecers don't like
being told what to do.
We became strangers in our own home.
When Jeffrey Loria arrived,
he held a big press conference.
I'm happy to be here again
to tell you about another important step
in the story of our team,
the Montreal Expos.
There must have been over 100 journalists.
You could feel the ambition.
It was really spectacular.
As we have done since the beginning,
we will spare no effort
in overcoming our challenges.
He started the press conference
by presenting a new stadium project.
Club president Jeffrey Loria
revealed a model
of the future stadium today.
Jeffrey Loria has another plan.
Claude Brochu's stadium plan
didn't exist anymore.
It was a glass stadium
that would cost
at least 50 million dollars.
That was already surprising.
The new Expos stadium
is designed specifically for baseball,
and for the people of Montreal and Quebec.
He undid everything
to create their own model,
their own project.
It wasn't amazing, but I didn't care.
I wanted a stadium.
He then said,
"The agreement we just signed
with Labatt Brewery"
Labatt is a big brewery
that had sponsored the Expos for years.
Claude Brochu had negotiated this deal.
Labatt agreed
to spend 100 million over 20 years.
"We signed it last year.
We're going to rip it up."
The deal with Labatt fell through.
The name is the "Expos Downtown Stadium"
in the city center.
Loria didn't think
it was lucrative enough.
There'll be another name.
But for now, it's not the Labatt Park.
Jeffrey Loria has just met with the press.
What did he have to say?
We learned in the next few days
that the Expos games
wouldn't be broadcast in French.
Wait a minute. No matches on TV?
Baseball is a soap opera.
How will people keep up?
TV rights are your lifeline.
He thought he'd have
TV contracts like in the U.S.
Doesn't work like that.
They said radio is possible,
but not TV this season,
but I'll keep negotiating.
WHEN WILL BASEBALL BE ON TV?
We felt like we were
watching a live act of sabotage.
And all that happened
in the space of ten days.
We thought, "Okay, did he come to Montreal
to shut down the team and relocate?"
Is he here just to make money?
Is he here to flip the club
and resell it quickly,
like flipping a house?
What's the real plan?
Can we talk after the meeting?
Is that possible?
The rumor had been around for a while.
In fact, since the arrival
of the new owner, Jeffrey Loria.
Exactly. Since the first training camp
under Loria's leadership.
He invited Jeff Torborg,
a former bench coach for the Yankees,
to coach players during the training camp.
That's when it started.
It was kind of impossible
to fire Felipe Alou,
because he was the club's popular figure.
He was the guy.
They never kept their promises.
I don't have any comment.
We felt like
we had been cheated by those men.
There are people
who have never forgiven Samson and Loria.
I'm really having a hard time
with the whole ending
With the sale to Jeffrey Loria,
and how we got played.
People thought he was the savior,
but to me he's a crook.
The MLB's commissioner made it clear
that a downtown stadium
was crucial to the Expos' survival.
The whole Expos survival plan
hinges on a new stadium.
- The Expos saga.
- The Expos saga.
All is not well for the Expos.
Loria said there was no money to be made
keeping the Expos in Montreal.
The stadium would not be built
and they had to let the land go.
The club was
over 100 million dollars in debt.
There wasn't much of a future.
There was nobody in the stadium.
Clearly, the local shareholders
all underestimated Jeffrey Loria
across the board.
In dealing with
the American financial system,
there are sharks.
I saw it happen.
I never thought that Loria would carry on.
I'm sure that in the contract,
there was an exit clause.
Radio-Canada has learned
that Jeffrey Loria had a clause added
that allowed him to force shareholders
to sell their shares.
After these two unsuccessful appeals
for capital from local shareholders,
we learned yesterday that Jeffrey Loria
now holds 92% of the team's shares.
Unbelievable. He was the club.
At that moment, they lost everything.
The group of Expos owners
had all lost their money.
He diluted Quebec Inc.'s money.
Why? Because they stopped
putting money into it.
The never-ending Expos saga
has taken a new turn.
The minority shareholders of the team
are suing Loria for fraud.
They think that he lied to them all along.
- Mr. Mnard.
- Hi, how are you?
We're talking about 14 corporations.
Who are they?
All the shareholders
who thought it was smart
to get rid of Claude Brochu.
Maybe they changed their minds.
The lawsuit hits hard,
citing laws against influence peddling
and corrupt organizations.
It's often used
against organized crime and drug cartels.
He tried to create an economic crisis.
The way they treated
the minority shareholders,
I would say, was a bit Soviet, in that
A total 180 in the world of baseball,
Jeffrey Loria is selling the Expos,
and buying the Florida Marlins.
When Loria and Samson
left for the Marlins, I had a computer.
They told me, "Marc,
I need to take your computer."
"Why?"
"Well, it's part of the things
they're bringing with them to Florida."
A computer!
Legend has it they took
all they could get through customs.
Eighteen million dollars,
that's how much Loria spent in 1999
to become the co-owner
of the Montreal Expos.
Barely two years later,
he surprised everyone
and gave up the team
for 120 million dollars.
What does that mean for the Montreal team?
He is selling the Expos to a new entity,
either a corporation or company
belonging to the other 29 MLB owners.
The team is under guardianship of the MLB
for part, or all of next season,
we don't know yet.
Major League Baseball
has become the owner of a team
which is a bit strange.
We were truly caught with our pants down.
There was no-one
in our corner to defend us.
STADIUM
It could make a difference.
We just need to let people know
that the Expos do have fans and do count.
They were under guardianship
of the MLB for three seasons.
It was an extremely long time,
extremely painful.
It wasn't the end, it was death.
My love was dead.
We were in palliative care.
The Expos were on life support.
And when that happens, you keep going
because the end is near.
The enthusiasm was gone.
In the last few years,
despite the situation we had ended up in,
everyone still kept pushing forward.
We still hoped
that things would get fixed.
I arrived at the office at about 9:00 a.m.
There was already talk
of a press conference
in Washington at midday.
Of course, no one could work.
The rumor was true. It was over.
It was over.
Oh, yeah. It was Yeah.
Sorry.
It is confirmed.
In less than 30 minutes,
the Expos will play their last game
in Montreal history.
We now join Chantal Machabe
at the Olympic Stadium.
- Good evening.
- Hello, Franois.
The Expos confirmed the bad news
at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.
DON'T GO, YOUPPI!
We saw the message from the fans.
Some showed their discontent.
Even I don't know if I'm going to cry,
but I think I will.
EXPOS ALWAYS #1 IN OUR HEARTS
During the whole match,
we were tearing up.
People were crying their eyes out.
It feels like a funeral here.
A lot of people have
come together with heavy hearts.
The Expos' departure
was a collective mourning.
It was extremely difficult.
I'm sure it took some people
years to get over it.
For sure.
We knew it was over.
My whole world was crumbling.
I GREW UP WITH THE EXPOS
I grew up with baseball.
Whatever was happening in our family,
I could always talk
to my dad about baseball.
We'd always have something to talk about.
I thought, "If I have a son one day,
I won't have that."
Being a fan was part of our identity.
Part of our identity was taken away.
It's almost unthinkable
to lose a team like that after 36 years.
I really loved my career.
I loved my 36 years with the Expos.
All of a sudden,
there's no baseball in your life.
There's no more work.
I was really sad.
I gathered all my courage
through the tears.
Goodbye, and thank you so much
for everything you've done
for us and the team
over the last 36 years.
I hope that one day, we'll have a miracle
and it will come back here.
Thank you so much
on behalf of all the players.
Thanks a lot.
For me, the death of the Expos
was a shared responsibility.
There were the local shareholders
who clearly lacked vision.
Claude Brochu was not able
to bring people to the stadium,
although it was his job as team president.
Jeffrey Loria and David Samson
are clearly responsible as well
for the end of the Expos.
They could have saved the club.
THANKS FOR NOTHING
OUR LOVES
But what really killed them
is much more simple than that.
What killed the Expos was money.
Thank you for being here.
And if we ever
pass each other in the street,
I'll happily shake your hand,
because you were a proud baseball fan,
and an Expos supporter. Thank you.
Thank you very much
to Jacques Doucet, and again,
the final score, 1969-2004.
There were ups and downs.
Because I grew up with this team,
I was such a loyal fan.
I was a loyal employee
when I worked with them.
Hey, my friend! How are you?
Even in the difficult years,
even on the darkest days,
I always wore the Expos logo with pride.
I haven't watched
a baseball match in ten years.
That was the case
for the majority of baseball fans.
They were so angry
that even though they love the game,
they just couldn't watch.
It was like that for me.
Until at a certain point
My son became a baseball fan.
Father-son relationships
aren't always easy.
Even if it's baseball, it doesn't matter.
We throw the ball and we talk about life.
I just wanted to give my son
what my dad gave me.
And I'm able to do it today,
so for that, I'm very grateful.
Since the team's
crushing departure over 20 years ago,
fans who dream
of a team returning to Quebec soil
are increasing their efforts
to convince the MLB.
In Montreal,
we talk about the Expos coming back.
My son is a fan of the Blue Jays.
We talked about the Expos coming back.
He said,
"Dad, if they do, who will we root for?"
Ladies and gentlemen, the best team
in Major League Baseball in 1994!
Do you really believe they'll return?
Do I believe?
I hope.
Do you believe they'll come back?
You have to.
I'd love it. You have no idea.
I miss it in Montreal.
Yes, it would be good.
To feel like coming back,
not necessarily to play,
but just to see a game again.
Watch it with the fans who saw us play.
I'm hopeful.
But they better do it fast. At my age,
I don't want to be there in a wheelchair.
Subtitle translation by: Felipe M.