While many cities in North America are getting excited about the return of Spring Training and baseball in general, Montreal fans can only look forward to watching the Cardinals vs Jays on the 26th and 27th of March. Those games will serve as a teaser for what could have been over the years. It brings up the question of future Montreal Expos ownership issues.
Let’s fast forward for a second and wonder about who will own the team if and when it returns.
The first two candidates are those who sat down with Rob Manfred just under a year ago and added the following very telling and confident statement,
Now, for those who have been around a while and know about previous Expos ownership, the Bronfman name will be very familiar. But for those that may not be aware of who the key players are, here’s a quick rundown of each.
Stephen Bronfman: The Basics
- 53 years old
- Education – Graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1986.
- Title – Executive Chairman of Claridge Inc (private investment firm) for over 20 years.
- Must Read Article – From June Thompson, Montreal Gazette, here.
- Questionable – In 2017, Stephen Bronfman denied having funded or used offshore trusts after the Paradise Papers saga came to light (up to $60M being questioned). Stephen denied all allegations and was never charged
- Well connected – Globe and Mail article (March 2017), talks about Justin Trudeau placing the fortunes of Liberal Party fundraising efforts in Stephen Bronfman’s hands.
- Charitable work – Work through the “Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation (CSBFF), which gives millions of dollars a year to a variety of causes (over $3.5M in 2016) including $1M to the CRB Foundation and $250K to the David Suzuki foundation. According to New York Times staff reporter, Nathaniel Popper, the Bronfman family is “perhaps the single largest force in the Jewish charitable world.”
Stephen Bronfman: A Family history
It would be hard for me to do any better to tell the basic take of how his family came to be in the position they are (wealth wise), so I’ll let what’s denoted on Claridge’s website tell the take on this one.
Stephen Bronfman: Why so Interested in the Expos?
With all of this wealth, success, and high level work, why would Stephen be so interested in bringing the Expos back to Montreal?
Well, his father, The Honourable Charles Bronfman (86), was the majority owner from the time the Expos were formed in 1968 right through to 1990. That explains his interest in the team, but what kind of wealth does Stephen have? (his father is said to be worth approximately $2.8B)
Here’s a quick look back at Charles Bronfman and his Expos legacy,
In terms of direct experience with the Expos, Stephen “worked briefly in the marketing department of the Expos, then owned by his father. Still unsure of a career path, in 1990 he enrolled in Montreal’s Concordia University to study geology” That only last one year, whereafter he had various experiences before settling in with previously noted Claridge in 1997.
The experience with the Montreal Expos, even if for a short time and in a limited capacity, must have had an impact on Stephen, and watching your father go through the ups and downs of such an endeavour has to leave a mark of some kind.
There’s a sense that Stephen may want to complete the mission his father set out on when he brought the Expos to Montreal. To finally push the city to a World Series Championship, changing the city’s fortunes as it applies to Baseball forever in the process and setting Montreal Expos fans hearts firmly within MLB’s realm.
When you also consider that the Canadian Prime Minister at the time that Charles Bronfman brought the Expos to Montreal was none other than Pierre Trudeau, the current Prime Minister’s father, it begs the following question, are the sons of Charles Bronfman and Pierre Trudeau setting the course to make a success of something their fathers yearned to achieve in their time?
It’s possible, and there’s no doubting that Bronfman has the Prime Minister’s ear and likely support in helping fund a stadium build.
Mitch Garber: Basics
There’s a much shorter story in Mitch Garber‘s case.
- Also 53 years old.
- Before going to University, apparently watched his father who owned the Rib ’N Reef and suffered from depression go broke. Mitch reportedly needed assistance in donations in order to continue through his education and just got into McGill.
- McGill Graduate (BA, 1986) and University of Ottawa (Law, 1989).
- Practiced law in Montreal at the firm Lazarus Charbonneau from 1990-1999.
Mitch Garber: Business successes include
- Co-investor and Board member of Rackspace.
- Co-investor and advisor to Career Builder.
- SureFire/Terra Payments/Optimal Payments/FireOne
- PartyGaming Plc
- Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) (CEO)
- Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment.
- Left Caesars Oct 6th, 2017 “after overseeing the successful merger of (CACQ) and Caesars Entertainment”
- Received a cash payout of $210M, the largest Executive cash payout of a publicly traded company in US history
- Playtika
- Cirque du Soleil
- Has equity and investment ties to TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management.
And quite possibly the best indicator as to what Garber could bring to an Expos ownership group, aside from as impressive a business experience as you can imagine, he is noted as being ranked by Bloomberg in 2017 “as the 7th highest-paid executive in America, with total annual compensation estimated at $91 million, alongside the likes of Tim Cook and Elon Musk.”
Garber was quoted as saying the following
Potential Future Montreal Expos Ownership is a Strong One
I dare anyone to come up with a pair of potential Montreal Expos owners who are as wealthy, well connected, and successful as Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber are.
From ties to the Prime Minister to ties and knowhow with the Entertainment industry, these two truly have it all and it’s no wonder that they were reportedly able to meet all the prerequisites looked for by MLB’s Commissioner, Rob Manfred, and even went as far as to make this strong statement,
What we now know, based on the above, is that MLB will have an extremely strong, capable, and motivate ownership group to depend on as it expands in the near future. What we don’t know yet is how strong other cities’ ownership groups will be and whether that competition will edge Montreal.
With the Canadian dollar, politics, and other stakeholders in play (such as ties by MLB owners), we simply don’t know yet whether or not Montreal will be selected if and when MLB expands. But what we do know for certain is that should they decide on this pair as owners of the Expos and bet on them it would make for a compelling story down the road if they were able to bring that coveted Wold Series Championship to Montreal.
– Mat Germain, baseball writer for Expos Reloaded and SB Nation’s DRaysBay, with more than 10 years covering the Toronto Blue Jays (Jays Journal) and Tampa Bay Rays. Still serving in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Reservist and Operations Officer for 413 Search and Rescue Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia. Follow Mat on Twitter @MatGermain76.