Language barrier: Rays' split-season plan met with scorn from Quebec taxpayers

Despite local chamber endorsements, doubts persist about the feasibility of the team's "Sister City" strategy.

By Brian Hartz
| 12:00 p.m. December 2, 2021

Wikimedia/Resolute. Fans called for a return of the Montreal Expos in April 2015 when the Toronto Blue Jays played an exhibition game vs. the Cincinnati Reds at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

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The Tampa Bay Rays have gone all in on their “Sister City” idea — a proposal to split the Major League Baseball team’s season between the Tampa/St. Petersburg area and Montreal and play home games in brand-new, open-air stadiums to be built in both cities. The Rays would presumably continue to hold spring training at their facility in Port Charlotte, but it’s unclear what would become of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, the United Soccer League team, owned by the Rays, that currently plays its home games at Al Lang Stadium in downtown St. Pete.