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Alouettes' President Mario Cecchini is leaving the CFL team to become the Commissioner of the QMJHL, one of Canada's top Junior league. It appears that the sale of the Alouettes is near and the Quebecor steered Cechinni into the Commissioner job since it owns two QMJHL teams

It's official. The Montreal Alouettes have been sold to either to Quebecor or the CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau. There will a press conference tomorrow with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Good work to everybody involved in the sale. This is great news for the league. Now it's time to get that tenth team in Halifax

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:36 am It's official. The Montreal Alouettes have been sold to either to Quebecor or the CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau. There will a press conference tomorrow with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Good work to everybody involved in the sale. This is great news for the league. Now it's time to get that tenth team in Halifax

Interesting.

Peladeau is much more of a Quebec City guy. He got shut out of the NHL so this is sort of a consolation prize—but the guy does have lots of money. I do wonder if he moves some Als games to the PEPS in QC.

Pierre Karl Peladeau is the official owner, not his company. Dude is worth under 2 Billions US dollars according to Forbes. The Alouettes are in good hands for the long haul

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:35 pm

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:36 am It's official. The Montreal Alouettes have been sold to either to Quebecor or the CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau. There will a press conference tomorrow with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Good work to everybody involved in the sale. This is great news for the league. Now it's time to get that tenth team in Halifax

Interesting.

Peladeau is much more of a Quebec City guy. He got shut out of the NHL so this is sort of a consolation prize—but the guy does have lots of money. I do wonder if he moves some Als games to the PEPS in QC.

Peladeau's company is Montreal based. Peladeau says he's a Montrealer. I doubt he'd move Alouette games to TELUS/UL in Quebec City. Besides Quebec City is a smaller market than Montreal and TELUS Stadium is disheveled venue and small capacity(under 13,000)

He and the league would stage exhibition Touchdown Games like the ones that are featured in the Atlantic region this Summer on order to gauge interest in the QC market for CFL Football. But that would several years down the road. Halifax is on deck for expansion

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:43 pm

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:35 pm

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:36 am It's official. The Montreal Alouettes have been sold to either to Quebecor or the CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau. There will a press conference tomorrow with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

Good work to everybody involved in the sale. This is great news for the league. Now it's time to get that tenth team in Halifax

Interesting.

Peladeau is much more of a Quebec City guy. He got shut out of the NHL so this is sort of a consolation prize—but the guy does have lots of money. I do wonder if he moves some Als games to the PEPS in QC.

Peladeau's company is Montreal based. Peladeau says he's a Montrealer. I doubt he'd move Alouette games to TELUS/UL in Quebec City. Besides Quebec City is a smaller market than Montreal and TELUS Stadium is disheveled venue and small capacity(under 13,000)

He and the league would stage exhibition Touchdown Games like the ones that are featured in the Atlantic region this Summer on order to gauge interest in the QC market for CFL Football. But that would several years down the road. Halifax is on deck for expansion

I'm not sure QC is quite big enough for a team of his own. I know he was behind that bid to bring back the Nordiques that Gary "We Must Stay in Arizona At All Costs" Bettman shut down. But an arrangement similar to the one the Bills had with Toronto a decade ago wouldn't be a bad idea. PEPS is a little below CFL size but not terribly so, and given how much damage has been done to the fan base in MTL, it wouldn't be a major blow to attendance anyway to have one of the Als' home games there each year.

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:13 pm

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:43 pm

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:35 pm Interesting.

Peladeau is much more of a Quebec City guy. He got shut out of the NHL so this is sort of a consolation prize—but the guy does have lots of money. I do wonder if he moves some Als games to the PEPS in QC.

Peladeau's company is Montreal based. Peladeau says he's a Montrealer. I doubt he'd move Alouette games to TELUS/UL in Quebec City. Besides Quebec City is a smaller market than Montreal and TELUS Stadium is disheveled venue and small capacity(under 13,000)

He and the league would stage exhibition Touchdown Games like the ones that are featured in the Atlantic region this Summer on order to gauge interest in the QC market for CFL Football. But that would several years down the road. Halifax is on deck for expansion

I'm not sure QC is quite big enough for a team of his own. I know he was behind that bid to bring back the Nordiques that Gary "We Must Stay in Arizona At All Costs" Bettman shut down. But an arrangement similar to the one the Bills had with Toronto a decade ago wouldn't be a bad idea. PEPS is a little below CFL size but not terribly so, and given how much damage has been done to the fan base in MTL, it wouldn't be a major blow to attendance anyway to have one of the Als' home games there each year.

There is talk of expanding seating capacity at Saint Mary's Huskies Stadium in Halifax to get a CFL franchise in Halifax in a semi temporary configuration. Boost seating capacity from 11,000 to 16,000- 17,000. This idea was discussed in the CFL Forums. I think Randy Ambroise read the thread. Randy said on the Sport Cage radio show/podcast out of Regina today that the league needs to do something to get into Halifax and this might be it.

The CFL could do the same for Quebec City. If I'm Peladeau, I'd have training camp or exhibition/pre-season games in QC, but not a regular season game unless in a Touchdown Game setting with either Ottawa or the Grey Cup Champion.

It's a shame Rourke, a generational Canadian talent left for the NFL, he'd be the face of the league to expanding the CFL very much like how Wayne Gretzky's presence was utilized to expand into California

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:13 pm

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:43 pm

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:35 pm Interesting.

Peladeau is much more of a Quebec City guy. He got shut out of the NHL so this is sort of a consolation prize—but the guy does have lots of money. I do wonder if he moves some Als games to the PEPS in QC.

Peladeau's company is Montreal based. Peladeau says he's a Montrealer. I doubt he'd move Alouette games to TELUS/UL in Quebec City. Besides Quebec City is a smaller market than Montreal and TELUS Stadium is disheveled venue and small capacity(under 13,000)

He and the league would stage exhibition Touchdown Games like the ones that are featured in the Atlantic region this Summer on order to gauge interest in the QC market for CFL Football. But that would several years down the road. Halifax is on deck for expansion

I'm not sure QC is quite big enough for a team of his own. I know he was behind that bid to bring back the Nordiques that Gary "We Must Stay in Arizona At All Costs" Bettman shut down. But an arrangement similar to the one the Bills had with Toronto a decade ago wouldn't be a bad idea. PEPS is a little below CFL size but not terribly so, and given how much damage has been done to the fan base in MTL, it wouldn't be a major blow to attendance anyway to have one of the Als' home games there each year.

Nothing wrong with taking one your home games against a Western Division team that wouldn't be a huge overwhelming draw, and move it to QC to drum up new interest and TV viewers for the other 17 games a year. It's not THAT much smaller than Molson. 20k-13k. That's not a gigantic dropoff. The goal would be to create new/more fans in QC who will watch the Alouettes that currently don't or rarely.

Sykotyk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:14 pm

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:13 pm

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:43 pm

Peladeau's company is Montreal based. Peladeau says he's a Montrealer. I doubt he'd move Alouette games to TELUS/UL in Quebec City. Besides Quebec City is a smaller market than Montreal and TELUS Stadium is disheveled venue and small capacity(under 13,000)

He and the league would stage exhibition Touchdown Games like the ones that are featured in the Atlantic region this Summer on order to gauge interest in the QC market for CFL Football. But that would several years down the road. Halifax is on deck for expansion

I'm not sure QC is quite big enough for a team of his own. I know he was behind that bid to bring back the Nordiques that Gary "We Must Stay in Arizona At All Costs" Bettman shut down. But an arrangement similar to the one the Bills had with Toronto a decade ago wouldn't be a bad idea. PEPS is a little below CFL size but not terribly so, and given how much damage has been done to the fan base in MTL, it wouldn't be a major blow to attendance anyway to have one of the Als' home games there each year.

Nothing wrong with taking one your home games against a Western Division team that wouldn't be a huge overwhelming draw, and move it to QC to drum up new interest and TV viewers for the other 17 games a year. It's not THAT much smaller than Molson. 20k-13k. That's not a gigantic dropoff. The goal would be to create new/more fans in QC who will watch the Alouettes that currently don't or rarely.

Yeah, but an owner has to give up gate revenue to participate in a neutral site game. I don't think Peladeau would do that until he recoups some of his investment in the Alouettes. I can see Peladeau using his francophone business connections to bid on a CFL expansion team in Quebec City until the TSN TV deal ends in 2026

DavedaHammer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 7:42 am

Sykotyk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:14 pm

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:13 pm
I'm not sure QC is quite big enough for a team of his own. I know he was behind that bid to bring back the Nordiques that Gary "We Must Stay in Arizona At All Costs" Bettman shut down. But an arrangement similar to the one the Bills had with Toronto a decade ago wouldn't be a bad idea. PEPS is a little below CFL size but not terribly so, and given how much damage has been done to the fan base in MTL, it wouldn't be a major blow to attendance anyway to have one of the Als' home games there each year.

Nothing wrong with taking one your home games against a Western Division team that wouldn't be a huge overwhelming draw, and move it to QC to drum up new interest and TV viewers for the other 17 games a year. It's not THAT much smaller than Molson. 20k-13k. That's not a gigantic dropoff. The goal would be to create new/more fans in QC who will watch the Alouettes that currently don't or rarely.

Yeah, but an owner has to give up gate revenue to participate in a neutral site game. I don't think Peladeau would do that until he recoups some of his investment in the Alouettes. I can see Peladeau using his francophone business connections to bid on a CFL expansion team in Quebec City until the TSN TV deal ends in 2026

Not neutral site. It would be Alouettes home game collecting gate. But the idea of QC ever getting a team anytime soon is a dream. They can barely keep the 9 cities they have now and maybe go after Halifax. QC is best right now to be cultivated as fans of Montreal and strengthen their financial support. Giving up 8000 paying customers once a year to get 13000 potentially NEW customers who will in turn possibly become Als fans, viewers, merch buyers, etc may be worth that concession. Have to spend money to make money.