Joey Saputo has told the Vancouver Sun that Montreal entering the league will be on the agenda of MLS officials when they meet ahead of the All Star Game in Utah next week.

Joey Saputo believes that the Impact's expansion hopes no longer rest in the bid process. Essentially, Montreal's original bid that fell apart thanks to a disagreement over the expansion fee still carries weight with the league, and with Saputo willing to play the same expansion fee as Portland and Vancouver ($35 million, reduced from the original amount of $40 million), he believes they are on track to enter MLS in 2011 or 2012.

Saputo is nothing if not a picture of supreme confidence, and while he may seem to be getting ahead of himself, the smart money is on Montreal becoming an MLS city sooner rather than later. If the Impact receive the Quebec provincial government's assistance to upgrade Stade Saputo to meet league standards, there's no reason to believe that they won't skip another bid process and become the next expansion franchise.

Montreal's impressive support of the Impact during this year's CONCACAF Champions League (55,000 attended their home leg against Santos Laguna at Olympic Stadium) surely grabbed the leagues attention; while not all of those tickets were sold at full price, the number alone is impressive. Combined with a solid organizational infrastructure, strong home attendance at Stade Saputo, and the apparent desire of MLS to exploit the passionate fans in Canada, Montreal's entry might be a foregone conclusion.

It is interesting that MLS leadership will review Montreal's "dossier" next week, separate from the normal expansion review process. What that means, or how quickly things will move because of it, remains to be seen.