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Expos say 'Au revoir'

Play ball! From the impromptu games of "town ball" in the 1800s, through Jackie Robinson's Montreal Royals to the Expos and Blue Jays, Canadians have always been infatuated with baseball. But getting big league teams to come to Canada proved harder than hitting a grand slam. It took decades of persuading, promoting, wheeling and dealing, but eventually America's favourite pastime found a home in the great white north.

After 36 seasons in Montreal, the Expos are packing their bags and moving to Washington. Though rumours of the team's demise had circulated for a decade, the final game brings with it a wave of nostalgia. Among the mourners is Expos founding chairman Charles Bronfman. In this CBC Radio interview, Bronfman fondly recalls the grass of Jarry Park and the concrete menace of the Big O, a fleeting glimpse of World Series hope, and the stark realization that the city had lost interest in their team. 
• Charles Bronfman was the founding chairman and principal owner of the club from 1968 to 1990. The quiet millionaire handed over Expos ownership on June 14, 1991.

• Ever since the strike-shortened 1994 season, when the Expos were the best team in baseball, the team's base of fans and finance ebbed away. Top-flight players were traded to save money. In 2002 owner Jeffery Loria sold the team to Major League Baseball, and bought the Florida Marlins. The league soon began looking to relocate the Expos, and decided to hold some of their home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003 and 2004.

• On Sept. 29, 2004 it was announced the the Montreal Expos would be relocated to Washington, in time to start the 2005 season. It was the first such relocation in 33 years, when the previous Washington team, the Senators, moved to Texas to become the Rangers.

• With the departure of the Expos, the provincial government was left looking for ways to use and finance Olympic Stadium. Quebec taxpayers were still paying for the stadium's construction. "The Big Woe", built for the 1976 Olympics, ran more than $1 billion over budget. Montreal expects to have the stadium and its entire Olympic debt finally paid off in 2006.
Medium: Radio
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: Sept. 29, 2004
Guest(s): Charles Bronfman
Host: Barbara Budd, Mary Lou Finlay
Duration: 6:46

Last updated: February 27, 2012

Page consulted on April 3, 2013

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