An Expos return?: This millionaire says he has a plan to bring the MLB back to Montreal

It's been over two decades since the Montreal Expos played their final game and relocated to Washington, D.C., but the wound still hasn't fully healed. The team's departure left a void in the city, one that Netflix's recent documentary "Who Killed the Montreal Expos" has brought back into public conversation.

Now, one Montreal entrepreneur says he may have what it takes to bring an MLB franchise back to the city.

Last week, Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, founder of WatchMojo, one of YouTube's most successful channels reaching 100 million people monthly, announced his intention to explore bringing the Expos home in a detailed blog post titled "Project Peanut."

For Karbasfrooshan, the team's 2004 departure was personal.

"Twenty years ago, when the Expos left Montreal, I felt powerless," Karbasfrooshan wrote on his blog Context is King. "I was a young radio host (my side hustle) covering the team and doing everything I could to help keep MLB here, but the truth is I had no real influence at that age."

That sense of frustration, he says, drove him toward entrepreneurship. Now, with WatchMojo established as one of the largest independent media companies in the world, Karbasfrooshan feels he's in a position to actually contribute to bringing baseball back.

"In the summer of 2012, I attended a Washington Nationals game in their beautiful open-air stadium, wondering if nos Amours — who had relocated to Washington — might have stayed in Montreal had they gotten a new venue," he wrote. That visit brought closure, until recently, when he began to reconsider the possibility.

"None of this means I could bring a baseball team back to Montreal on my own. Far from it," Karbasfrooshan acknowledged. "An MLB franchise is one of the most complex undertakings imaginable. It requires capital, political alignment, real estate vision, a winning outlook, patience, and a lot of humility."

Making a credible MLB bid

MLB relocation is rare, but it does happen. Along with the Expos moving to D.C. for the 2005 season, the Oakland Athletics are planning to move to Las Vegas, with a temporary relocation to Sacramento before the new stadium is completed. But even if Montreal doesn't inherit a defunct team, there's always the possibility of expansion.

However the opportunity should arise, Karbasfrooshan believes he now has the pieces in place to make his dream possible. The timing is notable, as WatchMojo goes through its own merger and acquisition process, several groups have approached the company about sports and media collaborations.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in," he wrote.

His blog post lays out what he sees as the essential ingredients for bringing baseball back. On financing, he points to significant resources: "The investors who have expressed interest in WatchMojo during this process collectively manage over $500 billion," though he notes MLB caps institutional ownership at 30%. For those who know Montreal, he adds, "money is not the constraint."

WatchMojo itself serves as a global promotional platform, reaching 100 million people monthly. Karbasfrooshan has signed hundreds of local and international partnerships over two decades. And he brings experience across "content, sales, marketing, legal, human resources, technology, finance, international, partnerships — all functions required for an undertaking of this magnitude."

Montreal's stadium solution

On the stadium question that plagued the Expos' final years, in which they played out of Olympic Stadium, Karbasfrooshan sees viable options. "The island of Montreal is ten times larger than Manhattan and Atlanta's The Battery is a great case study of doing it right so that the community feels the lift: job creation, housing built, etc."

His brother-in-law, a 25-year veteran of major corporate projects with over $300 million in successfully completed construction projects spanning over 5 million square feet, has already mapped out a viable roadmap for a stadium. Karbasfrooshan compares Montreal's skyline from 2000, when the Expos considered building Labatt Park, to today: "Montreal like all cities faces its challenges, but the city is booming in many ways."

The real challenge

"If I may be candid, the more I study the opportunity and survey the landscape, the only real curveball I see is MLB awarding Montreal a franchise slot (other challenges are complex, but solvable)," Karbasfrooshan wrote.

The real obstacle isn't money or land, he argues. "The real challenge, as always, is people: egos, pride, and competing interests."

Still, the entrepreneur believes he brings an unusual combination of credentials to a potential bid.

"Considering that for 20 years I told everyone 'I started WatchMojo to bring back the Expos,' it began to feel hypocritical to ignore this calling now that I'm actually in a position to explore it," Karbasfrooshan wrote. "On my deathbed, I'd have comfort knowing I explored impossibility rather than ignored opportunity."

Whether his exploration will lead anywhere remains uncertain. Karbasfrooshan himself acknowledges he has "no idea where this journey leads. It may go nowhere."

But for a city that still mourns the loss of its beloved baseball team two decades later, his announcement represents hope.

In the meantime, he's asking Montreal fans to weigh in through an online survey on his website.

Should Montreal get an MLB team (again)?