Remember the Montreal Expos, the first MLB team outside the U.S.? Yes, they had their struggles, low attendance, financial headaches, and never getting that modern ballpark they needed. That all played a role in their eventual move to Washington in 2005, where they became the Nationals. But were those the only reasons?

Well, a new documentary, Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, is about to shed light on that very question. It’s premiering at Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinema in October and then heading to Netflix later in the month. And just as the buzz around the film builds, former MLB executive David Samson has found himself caught up in fresh controversy. Thus, adding even more intrigue to the story.

“When they said, ‘We’ll come to your house,’ I thought, hmm,” Samson said on The Dan Le Batard Show. “Then it was nine hours long, and I thought to myself, what’s this about again? And I didn’t know the title until yesterday, and it’s called ‘Who Killed the Montreal Expos?’. So I had to call my agent, I had to call my lawyer, I had to call my kids, and I said, I may have made a mistake.“

Well, if you know, Samson’s reputation was built on overseeing the dismantling of multiple MLB teams. Reportedly, long before he put together a championship roster with the Marlins, he played a major role in the Montreal Expos’ messy exit during the late ’90s and early 2000s as the team’s president.

However, now, with this new Netflix documentary, which is revisiting that saga from a Montreal perspective, Samson himself admitted that he sat for a marathon nine-hour interview with the filmmakers. But he had not realized that he might end up cast as the villain of the story. But he was already one, in the eyes of the fans.

Former MLB president got his controversial past

There’s a reason for the Montreal fans to have negative thoughts about Samson. He, along with his stepfather, Jeffrey Loria, ran the Expos from 2001 to 2003. They then sold the team and used that money to buy the Florida Marlins. That gamble paid off in the short term with a 2003 MLB World Series title. But the roster was torn apart soon after.

So, with both the Expos and Marlins eventually sinking into irrelevance under his watch, Samson’s critics argue he prioritized financial gain over building sustainable, on-field success. Remember that showdown between David Samson and ESPN’s Ariel Helwani back in 2020?

Helwani, a die-hard Montrealer, never got over the heartbreak of the Expos leaving town after the 2004 MLB season to become the Washington Nationals. To this day, he pins the team’s demise squarely on former owner Jeffrey Loria and his stepson David Samson.

So when Helwani finally got the chance to square off with Samson on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, he didn’t hold back. And what followed was a fiery, nearly two-hour verbal battle that was as emotional as it was heated. An indication of what the Montreal fans think about Samson. And the new documentary series might just fuel this hatred even more.

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