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  #161  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 8:20 PM
elly63 elly63 is offline
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Originally Posted by 25grapes View Post
If the Wetenhalls do indeed sell, this is a going to be a very good directional adjustment for the organization IMO. Yes they were the owners that brought the team back from bankruptcy to become one of the cornerstones of the league for 15 years. However, I believe the downward spiral that the team has been facing since Calvillo was injured has been due to the knee jerking oversight from that family. Robert Wetenhall always reminded me of Ed Snider, who's running of the Flyers was hardly textbook. 5 Different head coaches plus Jim Popp twice in 5 seasons, 4 of which were directly fired by the owner (Kavis Reed claims he was the one to fire Chapdelaine). If I were a fan of the Alouettes, I'd be doing a little dance and hoping the new owners put in $100 to paint the bloody rain stained concrete bleachers.
I think I agree depending on who the new owners might be, but I would think it would likely be a big player. Why would he sell now unless it was a good offer. Like Braley and the Argos, I hope it is a similar exchange.
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  #162  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 8:25 PM
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^Not what I might have been expecting

Montreal Alouettes have no comment on reports of sale of franchise
Various reports said the Alouettes — who have been owned by American businessman Robert Wetenhall for more than 20 years — are on the verge of being sold.
The Canadian Press March 13, 2019

Eric Lapointe hasn’t been approached by the Wetenhall family about purchasing the Montreal Alouettes, but remains a phone call away from trying to make it happen.

The Alouettes were offering no comment Wednesday regarding reports the CFL franchise is close to being sold. Various reports out of Montreal said the Alouettes — who’ve been owned by American businessman Robert Wetenhall for more than 20 years — are on the verge of being sold.

Montreal-based TSN Radio host Tony Marinaro tweeted Lapointe, a two-time Hec Crighton Trophy winner as Canada’s top university player and a former Alouettes running back, was heading up a local group that was looking into purchasing the CFL franchise.

The Canadian Press requested to speak with Alouettes president Patrick Boivin on Wednesday, but a club spokesman said in an email the organization “doesn’t comment on rumours.”

However, Lapointe said he hasn’t spoken to either Wetenhall or his son, Andrew — Montreal’s director and lead governor — recently about purchasing the Alouettes. Lapointe, who now works in wealth management, did approach the senior Wetenhall’s lawyer two years ago about either forming a partnership with or selling the club outright to a local group but was turned down.

However, the Montreal native, 44, said he could quickly assemble a potential ownership group if approached.

“I don’t think it would be hard to put a group together,” Lapointe said. “There’s a lot more Francophone business owners than back in the day … there’s a lot of people who’d like to be involved

“Obviously I’m passionate about football but I’m not looking for a job. I love what I do. And I can’t say enough about the Wetenhalls and what they’ve done for our city.”

The five-foot-11, 208-pound Lapointe starred collegiately at Mount Allison in Sackville, N.B. He was named Canadian university football’s top rookie in 1995 before claiming the Hec Crighton Trophy in 1996 (after rushing for a record 1,619 yards) and ’98.

He was selected in the third round, No. 20 overall, of the ’99 CFL draft by the Edmonton Eskimos, but joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats later that season after being released. Lapointe was traded to the Toronto Argonauts in 2000, then joined the Alouettes as a free agent in 2001.

Lapointe remained with the Alouettes through the 2006 campaign. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Lapointe is currently a managing director with Stonegate Private Counsel in Montreal. His office assists high net-worth entrepreneurs with sustaining, growing and transitioning their wealth.

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie was in Montreal on Wednesday for the league’s East regional combine as well as for a gathering with fans later in the evening. Ambrosie would neither confirm nor deny reports of the Alouettes sale, saying only the league remains committed to helping the franchise return to its former greatness.

“We have been in discussions with the Wetenhall family and Patrick Boivin about how do we work together to strengthen the Alouettes’ situation,” he said during a telephone interview. “We’re in a leave no stone unturned mode.

“At the core of everything has been, ‘How do we make a better future for the Alouettes,’ in a city that’s obviously had a proud tradition of winning. That includes, how do we help them get an on-field product that’s going to kind of match that proud history of winning?”

Ambrosie said that future does include the Wetenhall family.

“The discussions are absolutely inclusive of the Wetenhall family because we’re talking with them about how do we take this club back to where it once was,” he said. “They are very included in this discussion and very interested in setting this team on a path for its next great success.”

Lapointe told Le Journal de Montreal in 2017 that he’d be interested in joining a team of investors to buy the Alouettes if he was asked.

Robert Wetenhall resurrected the Alouettes in 1997 after the franchise was revoked from Michael Gelfand and it declared bankruptcy. Wetenhall also assumed the organization’s debts despite not legally being obligated to do so.

Early in Wetenhall’s tenure, the Alouettes were a CFL powerhouse. From 1999 to 2012, the Alouettes finished atop the East Division nine times and advanced to the Grey Cup on eight occasions, winning three.

But Montreal hasn’t been to the Grey Cup since winning it in 2010. Montreal has posted just three seasons of .500 or better three times since then. The Alouettes have been to the playoffs just three times since their last CFL championship, most recently in 2014.

Montreal has amassed a dismal 21-51 combined record the past four seasons.

In 2016, Wetenhall said the team was not for sale, despite being concerned about the plight of the franchise. The following year, Boivin reiterated the Alouettes were not on the open market.

Wetenhall was a former part-owner of the Boston Patriots (AFL) and new England Patriots (NFL) (so was my cousin - elly ). In 2011 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from McGill University for his work with the Alouettes and expansion of Percival Molson Stadium.

He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
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  #163  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 8:46 PM
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Three groups possibly interested?


Last edited by elly63; Mar 13, 2019 at 9:00 PM.
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  #164  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 8:49 PM
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  #165  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 11:19 PM
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This is great news for the Alouettes as they badly need new local owners with fresh ideas. Now just fire Reed and Sherman and get some competent football people running the show. On a side note it is interesting that Impact fans are grumbling about their low attendance figures at Stade Saputo while the rest of MLS is growing. Would be interesting if they maybe seek to move downtown and maybe help renovate Molson to accommodate MLS or tag team with the Als and build a new stadium?

https://www.mountroyalsoccer.com/201...impact-stadium
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  #166  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 12:37 AM
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This is great news for the Alouettes as they badly need new local owners with fresh ideas. Now just fire Reed and Sherman and get some competent football people running the show. On a side note it is interesting that Impact fans are grumbling about their low attendance figures at Stade Saputo while the rest of MLS is growing. Would be interesting if they maybe seek to move downtown and maybe help renovate Molson to accommodate MLS or tag team with the Als and build a new stadium?

https://www.mountroyalsoccer.com/201...impact-stadium
I can't see them moving to Molson given it's still McGill's stadium. They seem to barely tolerate the Als half the time.
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  #167  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 1:10 PM
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The Alouettes seriously downplayed news about a possible sale of the team. Although experience tells us that this is normally the party line right up until a deal is announced, so... who knows.
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  #168  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 1:38 PM
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Originally Posted by thurmas View Post
On a side note it is interesting that Impact fans are grumbling about their low attendance figures at Stade Saputo while the rest of MLS is growing.

https://www.mountroyalsoccer.com/201...impact-stadium
This is not what the numbers show though. Their attendance went down 7% YOY but most teams in the league saw their attendance numbers decrease last year.

https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2018-mls-attendance/
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  #169  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 1:47 PM
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Every team understandably wants to control their own venue but it is tempting to think about what might have been had the Alouettes, Impact and McGill teamed up on a Molson Stadium project and a Soldier Field-type rebuild.
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  #170  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 1:53 PM
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Other names thrown around have been:

Étienne Boulay - former Alouettes player, now a TV personality

Stephen Bronfman - of the uber-rich family of the same name (Seagram), with a history of pro sports team ownership.

Louis Morissette who is named in one of the tweets is an entertainment bigwig and with his wife Véronique Cloutier forms one of Quebec's top power couples in showbiz.

And there is former player Éric Lapointe and the architecture guy Lemay as well.

Not sure if any or all of these people are working together (or at all), if there are competing bids, or whatever...

Anyway, lots of interesting ownership potential there...
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  #171  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 8:13 PM
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Originally Posted by esquire View Post
Every team understandably wants to control their own venue but it is tempting to think about what might have been had the Alouettes, Impact and McGill teamed up on a Molson Stadium project and a Soldier Field-type rebuild.
I think they may have been limited by space restraints.
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  #172  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 8:16 PM
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Originally Posted by le calmar View Post
This is not what the numbers show though. Their attendance went down 7% YOY but most teams in the league saw their attendance numbers decrease last year.
But their attendance by streaming is huge

Meanwhile back at the CFL thread...
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  #173  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2019, 10:42 PM
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  #174  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2019, 10:55 PM
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Would be interesting if they maybe seek to move downtown and maybe help renovate Molson to accommodate MLS or tag team with the Als and build a new stadium?
I really don't see Molson as an upgrade over Saputo for anything other than location. Saputo is a very barebones stadium but it's at least soccer specific and built to suit. Molson Stadium is just a combination of very different things including bench seating and isn't a very great facility on the whole. The Als would be wise to seek their own purpose-built venue but costs and location are always going to be up in the air.

This is beside the fact that the Impact would be foolish to give up a stadium they currently own and operate to play in a stadium in which they do neither.

Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
Every team understandably wants to control their own venue but it is tempting to think about what might have been had the Alouettes, Impact and McGill teamed up on a Molson Stadium project and a Soldier Field-type rebuild.
Indeed.

I'm curious about the additional infrastructure teased in the Lalji tweet. I'm presuming this is infrastructure regarding upgrades/changes to Molson rather than a new stadium build and the costs associated with such a project. Olympic Stadium is already sucking up quite a bit of public dollar on the stadium front.
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  #175  
Old Posted Mar 19, 2019, 8:07 PM
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Alouettes ‘have been such a freaking nightmare’: Eric Lapointe
3Down Staff March 18, 2019

Eric Lapointe is exactly the type of owner that the Montreal Alouettes need.

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame running back lowered his pads and met the idea of buying the team with full force.

“Yes, it’s something that would be very interesting for me. I was surprised that they were not actually ready to listen for anything. Maybe the approach wasn’t right because the person that talked to the lawyer first – Paul Harris – was talking about the full acquisition and maybe should approach with a partnership instead, but anyway that’s in the past now,” Lapointe said on TSN 690 radio in Montreal.

“We always said that we were in. Now probably the same group would be there and probably now two years later they’re probably even more people, but we’re running out of time. It’s past March and the draft is coming. I’m not really sure, it’s been very silent since last week. It’s weird. Is there something going on with the league? The commissioner seemed to say that he was talking with the Wetenhalls to make the team better, but what does it mean? I’m not exactly sure. But if they need me, just tell me how much and I’ll write the cheque. I don’t think there’s any other way.”

Lapointe played the last six seasons of his CFL career for the Alouettes and believes the franchise can thrive in La Belle Province.

“It’s a smaller business obviously than the Montreal Canadiens, it’s even a smaller business than what we have right now for most of the people that are in the group. Yes, there’s different aspects to it. There’s obviously football ops, there’s administration and then the coaching and the actual game, which is three different things. If somebody thinks that they can manage the three at the same time, I mean they’re wrong and that’s probably what’s happened for the past couple years,” Lapointe said.

“It’s been such a freaking nightmare to look at all this and people fired after one year, it needs to be cleaned up. I said that 20 years ago and it’s still not fixed. Am I interested to fix it? Yes, for sure. I know exactly where to start. It’s an interesting business, but don’t get me wrong it’s not a passion investment for me. I believe there’s potential. I’ve seen numbers in the past and I’ve talked to many teams in the league also. It’s probably not a team that you could make 10 millions of profit every year… but as a group if we bring different type of people, different type of expertise, we can do great things for a small organization.”

Robert Wetenhall has owned the team since 1997 when he brought the team back from the brink of insolvency. He was responsible for the team’s successful relocation to Percival Molson Stadium and played in a role in the stadium’s expansion. He oversaw the team’s run of dominance from 1999 to 2012 when the Als finished first in the East Division nine times in 14 seasons, winning three Grey Cups.

“This organization was so strong back then when it was a team of the people. Again there is room for the team of the people because the Montreal Canadiens, yeah we love them, but they’re unaccessible for a lot of people. It’s more expensive. The players are different,” Lapointe said.

“For us we need to build the team like it was back in the days around Quebecers. We need to make sure that we do like Larry Smith was doing – shaking hands, getting involved. It’s a different type of organization, but it doesn’t mean that it sucks. It doesn’t mean that it’s bad – I think it’s a fantastic business.”


Montreal Gazette beat man Herb Zurkowsky reported the Alouettes were on the verge of being sold, which generated quite a stir in Montreal.

“Some people start calling, they’ve heard rumours. I’ve heard that Herb mentioned the team was for sale. I wasn’t sure that it was true that it was for sale because obviously why would you not approach different groups to get a better price? Unless they just want to sell it for cheap to someone that they know, but that’d be ridiculous,” Lapointe said.

“But since then after hearing the commissioner I guess something is going on, but what is it? I don’t know. Am I involved? Not yet. Should I be involved? Yes. Would I want to be involved? Yes. There’s many Quebecers that would like to do so. Even on the francophone side, in Quebec the money was not really on the francophone side 15 years ago. People are proud to be Quebecers, people are proud to be here in Montreal and there is a lot of people that would like to invest and be part of the next Grey Cup celebration on St. Catharine with 100,000 people.”

The team has fallen on hard times in recent years, missing the playoffs for four-straight seasons, the longest streak in franchise history. The Alouettes have struggled at the gate as well as fans have tired of the perpetual on-field ineptitude.

“If people are talking about money problems, why do you spend money on new uniforms instead of just trying to build a team? There’s been so many bad decisions over the years. We need somebody to be more vocal and bring more charisma to the team. The president and the GM needs to be involved with the people, they need to sell the tickets,” Lapointe said.

“You always wonder why the people below you don’t work correctly but if you don’t do things correctly at the top, how do you want people to understand what’s going on?”
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  #176  
Old Posted Mar 24, 2019, 7:00 PM
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Report: CFL could buy Als, sell to investors
TSN.ca Staff March 24 2019

The Montreal Alouettes could first be bought by the CFL before then being sold to a group of Quebec investors, according to a report from Didier Ormejuste of RDS.

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie did not confirm the information, according to Ormejuste, but did say the file is progressing.

"I am confident we will soon be able to talk about a new era for the Alouettes," Ambrosie said, per Ormejuste. "In the meantime, it is better to keep the details secret."

RDS added the sale of the Alouettes should be completed by the beginning of this season.

Former Alouettes running back Eric Lapointe, who is now a financial advisor, has made it known in recent weeks he is interested in putting together a group to purchase the team.
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  #177  
Old Posted Mar 26, 2019, 2:51 AM
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Canadian QB Michael O’Connor’s combine performance opens eyes and opportunities
Justin Dunk 3downnation.ca March 25, 2019

Canadian quarterback Michael O’Connor had a plan coming into the CFL combine.

And it worked.

“I came in here with a mission to show the teams a little bit more of my personality and how much I’m passionate about football, my football IQ and the type of person that I am,” O’Connor said. “I think I really did that, teams got to know me better on a more personal level, so that was a success.”

O’Connor interviewed with six teams, the most ever by a quarterback at the national event. Top prospects who are ticketed for the first round usually meet with all the clubs at the combine and the fact two-thirds of the league’s franchises booked O’Connor indicates a strong level of interest.

“I got the sense that they were treating me just as a quarterback. The way I view it, because the quarterback position is really not nationalized in any manner, so I kind of feel like an American in a Canadian draft and that’s just strictly based off the CFL rules. It’s kind of a weird position to be in for myself and the teams as well,” O’Connor said.

“They were all a little bit different, some questions about my personal life, my family, where I was raised, how I grew up, my journey down south, why I chose to leave Penn State, why I picked UBC, those were big topics. Basically just seeing what motivates me and if I’m really committed to football.”

Football executives were curious to find out why O’Connor chose to transfer from Penn State University to the University of British Columbia instead of accepting other NCAA Division I scholarship offers. Bill O’Brien, who spent time as Tom Brady’s quarterback’s coach and offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, recruited O’Connor and wanted him to play in his pro-style offence at Penn State. But before O’Connor arrived on campus, O’Brien left the Nittany Lions to accept the Houston Texans head coaching job.

“They couldn’t really wrap their minds around that, but I just tried to explain to them what really happened, what my decision was at the time,” O’Connor said.

“I’m just trying to get across to them that I’m committed to the game of football and going through hardship in the past, especially at Penn State, up and downs having time to reflect on that four or five years later, I’m very grateful for that experience and it showed me if I can get through that, I can get through anything.”

As CFL scouts dig into O’Connor, there is a growing belief he could earn a roster spot and even be a backup quarterback in the league from the jump. Some teams wanted to put O’Connor’s football knowledge to the test, discussing X’s and O’s and getting the six-foot-four, 225-pounder passer on the whiteboard.

“Speaking with Coach [Jason] Mass with the Eskimos we talked at length about what the Eskimos run on offence and what we were running at UBC last year. That was a great conversation getting into his world and letting him see what we were doing,” O’Connor said.

“Hamilton had me draw up a couple plays, some from them, some from what I ran at UBC. Coach [Dave] Dickenson at Calgary we were talking about protections. It scanned the whole spectrum, a mix of football.”

Seeing O’Connor live at his current stage had CFL teams buzzing about prototypical quarterback size and special arm talent. There are going to be NFL scouts who look at O’Connor just because of his frame and the connection to O’Brien; the Ottawa native won’t be an unknown in NFL circles.

There are NFL teams confirmed to attend O’Connor’s pro day at UBC in April. O’Connor’s background in four-down football had teams wondering where the next step in his career might lead. One general manager asked O’Connor if he was committed to the CFL with the Alliance of American Football kicking-off in February and the XFL on its way.

“Expect the unexpected in this process. I really haven’t thought about that at all. Just letting them know that football is my No. 1 focus right now and it’s what I’m putting all my energy behind,” O’Connor said.

“I was more concerned about throwing. I thought I threw the ball well, obviously some I want back, but shoot, I think I showed the CFL scouts that I can play at the next level. I have the requisite arm strength, can make all the throws.”
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  #178  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2019, 9:16 PM
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  #179  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2019, 6:02 AM
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Big announcement in Moncton on Friday regarding the Schooners apparently.
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  #180  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2019, 6:33 PM
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Big announcement in Moncton on Friday regarding the Schooners apparently.
The 2019 version of Touchdown Atlantic will be played at the Medavie Blue Cross Stadium on the Universite de Moncton campus on August 25th, featuring the Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes.

The stadium will be expanded to 16,000 seats for the event.

This will be the 4th time that Moncton has hosted Touchdown Atlantic.
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