CFL confirms sale of Montreal Alouettes

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The CFL has officially confirmed the sale of the Montreal Alouettes as reported late Thursday night. The deal will be announced during a press conference at 11:00 a.m. ET at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on Friday with league commissioner Randy Ambrosie in attendance.

The league did not confirm the identity of the club’s new owner, though it will reportedly be Quebecor Inc., a Montreal-based media and telecommunications company whose assets include Videotron, Groupe TVA, Le Journal de Montreal, Le Journal de Quebec, and the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL.

It remains unclear if the team will be owned by Quebecor or directly by company president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, a prominent businessman and former politician who briefly served as the leader of the separatist Parti Québécois. The 61-year-old Montreal native has an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion USD.

The CFL took over interim control of the Alouettes franchise last month in the hopes of finding a new owner. The team’s future was placed in jeopardy after the estate of the late Sid Spiegel elected to stop funding operations.

The Alouettes were originally purchased by S and S Sportsco, a corporate entity owned by Spiegel and his son-in-law Gary Stern, in January 2020. However, Spiegel passed away in July of 2021 having never seen his team play, leaving his 75 percent stake in the franchise under the control of his estate.

The team had previously endured a year-long period of league ownership after long-time owner Robert Wetenhall surrender the franchise in May of 2019.

Interim team president Mario Cecchini, who helped oversee the search for new owners alongside the league’s investment banking partner Park Lane, was announced as the new commissioner of the QMJHL on Tuesday and will not be returning to the franchise.