New stadium crucial to Montreal's quest for a team

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said on Monday that Montreal needs a new stadium to have any chance of bringing a team back to Canada's second-largest city.

Manfred said a pair of exhibition games between the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays that drew 96,350 fans last year demonstrates "a real interest" in baseball in Montreal but the league would need a strong commitment from the city before it could seriously consider relocating a team or expanding there.

"The key thing in Montreal would be to have a plan for an adequate facility that could support baseball over the long haul," he told The Canadian Press just a few days before Montreal hosts two exhibition games between the Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds at Olympic Stadium.