Fifty years ago, on August 15, 1968, Major League Baseball came to Montreal to make the announcement that the city would receive an expansion National League baseball team.
According to the Montreal Gazette, the team was going to be named the Voyageurs and would start its inaugural season in 1969. Instead, on September 6, the team announced they would be called the Expos to capture the massive success and international reputation the city earned from hosting Expo ’67.
Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens were in the process of buying their Central Hockey League affiliate, the Houston Apollos, and moving them to Montreal, mainly to reduce the travel costs between the parent club and for overall profitability reasons.