The Montreal Alouettes have greatly accelerated their rebuild since defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup. Team president Mark Weightman told the media at Olympic Stadium during Wednesday’s end-of-year press conference that over 700 new season tickets have already been sold for 2024.
This is an enormous boost for a team that saw its season ticket base shrink last year due to the uncertainty regarding club ownership. Though it may feel like it happened long ago, only eight months have passed since Pierre-Karl Peladeau decided to buy the Als.
Ticket sales have increased significantly overall with revenue increasing by 16 percent from 2022 to 2023. The team sold 53 percent more group tickets, 28 percent more corporate suites, and 24 percent more individual tickets. Montreal’s recent Grey Cup parade was also viewed by 576,000 people when combining all the present broadcasters.
The championship has also positively impacted the team’s online retail store as 2,000 new orders have been made since Nov. 19. That number is equivalent to what the team had for the whole season. Weightman joked that some employees aren’t sleeping because of all the packaging they must do.
In all of this, Weightman was careful with his words. It’s a long process, and as he repeated on multiple occasions, this remains only the first year. When asked about the team’s profitability this season, he didn’t elaborate much, just saying the Als will stick to the plan for the foreseeable future.
Speaking of plans, the new big screen that was supposed to be installed mid-season finally arrived at the end of the season. Its arrival was delayed because of a hurricane in Asia and a strike at the Vancouver port.
Bring the nucleus back
On the football operations side, general manager Danny Maciocia gave a lot of credit to his scouting team, which found young American players who immediately impacted the club. Some key finds were receivers Austin Mack and Tyler Snead as well as defensive backs Kabion Ento and Reggie Stubblefield.
Maciocia also made it clear that the team is no longer rebuilding, even though he never used that word when he couldn’t acquire big names and lost some in free agency last year.
The 56-year-old also revealed that during exit meetings, every player expressed their desire to return for 2024. Maciocia had never encountered this during his professional career, even after Grey Cups in Edmonton.
“There were always four or five players that wanted to leave,” he said. “Not this time.”
Discussions have already started with some players and the general manager hinted that some signings could come in the next few days. The team’s goal is to retain its nucleus, which includes Tyrice Beverette, Shawn Lemon, and Darnell Sankey, per Maciocia.
He sounded confident he could bring back the core of the locker room while insisting on the importance of signing more young talent. Without mentioning any names, he also mentioned his belief that many players around the league now want to play for head coach Jason Maas and his staff.
It will be hard to match 2023, but that’s the vow Maciocia and Maas made in the car returning from the airport after their Grey Cup win. They want to challenge each other to once again compete for a championship next year.
They will have tough choices to make, as the 2024 edition of the Alouettes will look different. How so? The next couple of months will provide the answers.
Click here for Montreal’s full list of pending free agents.
