Montreal Possibly Back In Expansion Mix?

You all know I love a good expansion rumor. This one was just too good not to discuss even though I have a feeling most of it is not nearly as true as it sounds to be.

The always interesting Major League Soccer Talk discussed a rumor that Montreal may be back in the expansion race after all.

A source confirmed to me Monday, that Montreal’s ownership group has not ruled out an eventual move to MLS, but that the requirements to submit an expansion bid to the league must be changed. The big question will be this: after the Impact put on a show next week and draw the type of crowd current MLS clubs can only dream about for a CONCACAF match, will MLS and Montreal come to some agreement?  Could this also be the mysterious cause of the delay in revealing the expansion winner for 2011?

Currently the club is set to host a CONCACAF Champions League game in the coming weeks and are already selling a lot of tickets for it. How many? Almost a good 50,000. That’s definitely a number that would get MLS front office heads thinking about their expansion fee again.

While I hope this rumor is true I just have a feeling it won’t be the case. More than likely Montreal will be in the mix for the 2013 or 2014 round of expansion and will more than likely be granted a club. But for the 2011 round of expansion I just don’t see this group getting back in based solely on ticket sales for a CCL game there. Its a good thought but a lot would have to happen for Montreal to be considered back in the fold by MLS.

I’d love to see it happen but its something we will just have to wait for down the road here.