And Basketball in Vancouver was a colossal disaster. Granted, ownership was beyond inept and the city itself is quite fickle - you win or we ignore you. But the NBA just could not compete with the Canucks. I suspect a similar issue would arise in Montreal, never mind the language barrier and many player's indifference to Canada. The NFL I could see being successful due to the immense popularity and existing proof Canadian like football, but otherwise this is a hockey country.
The Grizzlies really had the most inept management of our time. I thought they had a great chance to grasp this market because the canucks were in the midst of that messier/keenan circus show, where they were drawing about 13,000 fans for some games
Unfortunately, the NBA had this rule where the grizzlies were not allowed to have a #1 pick for the first 5 years, and if you go down the list of trades, its downright appalling in terms of asset management. There's enough problems trying to attract nba talent north of the border, but to multiply that problem with wretched mangement, and the nba draft rules working against them, the grizz never had a chance.
If the grizz were allowed to draft #1, they would have Tim Duncan. Local kid Steve Nash was available for cheap, but the GM thought he wasn't even worthy of a flyer (I don't have enough finger power to go through all his mistakes).
I personally think this team would still be here if they had semi competent management, but eventually, they would be in trouble again, unless the attitude that NBA players have towards Canada changes