Well, we know the Mr. and Mrs. David Beckhams have a fondness for cosmopolitan world cities.
Madrid? Check. Milan? Hi there. … Montreal?
A New York Times report today suggests The Pop Star’s Husband is in talks with Joey Saputo et al to become a part owner of the Montreal Impact when they apparently join Major League Soccer, apparently in 2012.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Saputo, who has long been a big fish in a small French Canadian USL-1 pond, may be set to start trading butterfly strokes with MLS’s resident whale.
This would do a few things. Right away, it would make Montreal a mortal lock for an expansion franchise. MLS commissioner Don Garber is quoted at the back end of the story, saying “It’s not happening in 2011. It’ll happen sometime after that, but I’d like to see three teams in Canada.”
Everything still rests on the Quebec government’s pledge – as yet unfinanced – to pay for a healthy expansion of Stade Saputo. Big headlines like this aren’t going to hurt that process at all.
Ah, but what of Beckham as an owner. It’s going to happen – somewhere. Becks has a deal with the league that he gets to own a team. In practice, that means he would smile and wave at some press conferences, and jet in occasionally for smoked meat. The real “ownership” would be done by his money, and whoever gets hired to do the actual nuts-and-bolts gig.
Joey Saputo could actually be a pretty good fit. Yes, the Impact have been in an ongoing state of disintegration and free fall for most of this season, but some fairly strong business fundamentals are still in place. As a local frontman for Posh Cash? Yeah, that could go!
And that lets MLS hold a major-money auction for the twentieth – and allegedly last – place in the league. St. Louis is eager, but can’t compete in an all-out cash clash. So maybe MLS relocates the gagging mess that is San Jose over there, and lets New York, Miami and Who Knows? (sit down, Carolina) outbid each other to join Montreal in 2012.
In general, I’m a big fans of stories that tie lots of loose ends into an elegant bow. This one seems to pass that test. It should also help Vancouver relax a bit.
Recent uncertainty over the future of BC Place stadium has led to occasional whispers that maybe Montreal would grab the Whitecaps’ spot if a $365-million hole isn’t put in the Vancouver stadium roof. (Montreal, of course, is a city famous for getting holes in stadium roofs for free.)
All we need now is a trendy Posh Poutine © boutique and eatery on Crescent Street.
Thoughts?
Onward!