Given the success of the Montreal Impact and the cosmopolitan nature of Montreal, you'd think MLS soccer there is a natural.

And, we're guessing, it will be. But not until 2012.

MLS and Impact owners Joey Saputo and George Gillett have negotiated the terms of expansion, with Saputo eventually walking away because of the steep fees involved. Now that MLS has reportedly dropped expansion-fee demands, the two sides were talking again.

This time, it's Garber walking away from the talks. Saputo Stadium, he says, is too small for MLS, and he's probably right: the place seats only 13,000 and lacks a lot of suites or specialty seating areas. Definitely not up to MLS standards. The solution is public funding of a stadium renovation.

Which may be a hard sell. The only reason Saputo Stadium got built in the first place is its private financing. Montreal has had an aversion to public financing of sports facilities for a long time, ever since Olympic Stadium construction costs went way over budget: proposals for a new ballpark and a new CFL stadium died on the vine. We're not entirely sure public financing of a Saputo Stadium expansion will go over well with the populace, either, but a new MLS franchise is a nice carrot to hold out for now.