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It became official on September 29, 2004 - Major League Baseball's run in Montreal was coming to an end Custom Detroit Lions Jersey after 36 seasons. Tomorrow, the announcement was made the Montreal Expos were moving to Washington, D.C., starting with the 2005 season. This came as no surprise to anyone who follows baseball, as this inevitable move have been in the creating at least 10 years.
Let's take a look back at the good reputation for baseball's fall from grace in Montreal. The decline began following the 1994 season. That was the growing season by which Montreal had the best record in baseball and was headed for just their second postseason appearance in the club's history. Then, at the begining of August, disaster struck. It came in the form of a season-ending players' strike. The about fans in Montreal for the Expos' first World Series title were Custom Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey dashed. The Expos deserved better. Their accomplishments during the 1994 season had gone for naught.
Following that 1994 debacle, The Expos' ownership group started to trade away then sell off the franchise's star players. As result, the Expos started to drop within the standings and never regained their 1994 level of glory. In response, disappointed fans in Montreal began to stay away from Olympic Stadium in droves.
Attendance at Expos games dropped precipitously. By 1998, things had really started Custom Dallas Cowboys Jersey on lose their freshness (no pun intended). That season, the vultures had begun to circle the Expos. Correlating using the drop attending because the 1994 strike, they was bleeding red ink, according to its owners.
Its ownership group, led by Canadian businessman Claude Brochu, wanted out of Olympic Stadium coupled with given Montreal and the province of Quebec one further chance to Custom Indianapolis Colts Jersey accept build the Expos a new, publicly financed downtown stadium.
Brochu said the Custom Kansas City Chiefs Jersey team would have to be sold and possibly moved Custom Houston Texans Jersey if he couldn obtain the new stadium. It had Custom Green Bay Packers Jersey been rumored that that one from the potential owners from Washington, D.C. or Northern Custom Denver Broncos Jersey Virginia has applied for informal negotiations with Brochu. As the 1998 season was winding down, all the Expos requests for stadium financing deals were rejected. It looked like the jig was up for the Expos in Montreal and that they could be leaving for either D.C. or Northern Virginia in time for 1999 season.
However, enter New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria to save the day in Montreal. Loria made an offer being most who owns the Expos, keep them in Montreal, and become proactive in getting the required land, seeking sponsors, and getting a stadium deal done. MLB owners, eager to keep your team in Montreal, urged Brochu and company to sell nearly all their curiosity about the Expos to Loria, instead of selling out to interests in D.C. or Northern Virginia. Loria's bid succeeded and he became the majority owner of the Expos, before the 1999 season.
For a couple of years, all seemed well in Montreal. Loria eventually bought out the interests from the other owners. However, once he did this, things quickly turned sour again. When he decided to purchase the team, he'd taken out a choice to buy some choice (and rare) unoccupied land in downtown Montreal for the site from the new stadium. In late 2000, however, that option expired without Loria ever having exercised it.