Thinking of using part of your TFSA to buy the Alouettes? I hope you stocked up on Amazon stock in 1998, because the Canadian Football League is looking for strong investors. When the club was last sold, in 2020, investor groups had to show that they owned at least a dozen million dollars.
Is this your case?
Congratulations.
Afterwards, you wonder what state the franchise is in?
A quick tour of the owner with the interim president of the Alouettes, Mario Cecchini, brought back to the nest by the CFL to answer questions from potential buyers.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Alouettes interim president Mario Cecchini
Profits
The Alouettes have been in deficit for about ten years. In 2019, the losses were 9 to 10 million. In 2021, between 4 and 5 million. This is a step in the right direction, considering the revenue losses linked to the pandemic. “We have shown that after more difficult years, the club’s finances can improve,” said Mario Cecchini.
Enough to hope to make a profit one day?
” Yes. Not next year. But eventually, if someone comes up with a good plan, I think it’s possible […] We are no longer in 2019. The League now has an agreement with Genius, to develop sports betting and digital marketing. The television experience will improve. We will have more advanced statistics, and 25 to 30 cameras per stadium. The collective agreement is signed until 2027. Revenue sharing is in place. We also have a long-term television contract. »
Stadium
A big issue. The Alouettes are not owners, but tenants of the Percival-Molson stadium. It comes with constraints. One example among many others: McGill University, owner of the premises, sees perhaps less interest in installing a state-of-the-art giant screen than the Alouettes.
The team is currently in the process of renegotiating its lease. In the short term, its future remains downtown. But in the medium term? The future owner will have options.
“There are alternatives in Montreal,” explains Mario Cecchini. There are requests made to the government to renovate the Olympic Stadium. I had the chance to see what the Stadium could look like after renovations. It is frankly interesting. In four or five years, could the Alouettes move into a revamped stadium? »
“Most fans love Percival-Molson Stadium. When I walk around the stands and talk to people, they’re like, ‘Don’t think about leaving Molson Stadium. The stadium was built in 1914. It is quite charming. But this is Wrigley Field of the Canadian League. »
THE assets
The Alouettes rent Molson Stadium, their training ground and administrative offices. They therefore have few assets.
The previous owners, Sidney Spiegel and Gary Stern, wanted to build a training ground, and become its owners. “COVID and the death of Mr. Spiegel derailed the plan,” said Mario Cecchini.
“I have no advice to give to the future owner, but it is an aspect that deserves to be studied. The new buyer will have the opportunity to start from something close to a blank page. »
“Of course it’s always better to have an owner who is committed and who wants to take his team further. At the same time, there are several management models. Mr. [Robert] Wetenhall has been here for almost 20 years. He left the management to locals, but he himself invested in adding bleachers. »
local sponsorship
In 2020, the Canadian Football League decided to sell the Alouettes to two Ontario investors, rather than to Quebec consortia. This decision offended many people in the Montreal business community. Mario Cecchini felt it on the pitch.
“Yes, people were disappointed with the way it happened [en 2019-2020]. These people are not against an out-of-town owner, but they will be more likely to listen if the owner is from here. Forget Montreal, for a moment. The other eight teams in the league have local owners. A person has business interactions in the city where he lives. This network, it speeds up conversations. It allows to have a different antenna with the companies [locales]. It is certain that the potential is greater [pour un propriétaire local] than for a shareholder who comes from outside the market. »
season subscribers
In the early 2000s, the Alouettes sold 17,000 season tickets. The club were so popular that they installed additional bleachers – which were almost never used when performance on the pitch began to decline. By 2019, the subscription base had shrunk to 10,000.
Today ?
Mario Cecchini is not authorized to publicly reveal the exact figure. But he agrees that “COVID has eaten into that a bit.”
The risk of defanatization
Alouettes fans are less vocal on social media than those of the Canadiens and CF Montreal. The setbacks of recent weeks, for example, have not generated any wave of mobilization. Should we be worried about this indifference towards the team?
“Indifference is a bit strong”, tempers Mario Cecchini. “On Twitter and our website, people have been showing a lot of impatience over the past few weeks. You can see that they were passionate. Is there still work to be done to grow the fan base? Absolutely. The good news is that in 2021, we were better than in 2019. We were happy with our numbers, because we had just gone through a pandemic. And in 2022, we have improved even more compared to 2019. We are showing good progress. These are good first steps. »
Addiction to Victory
A few years ago, the Alouettes called their former subscribers to find out why they had left the nest. “Nearly 83% of fans who canceled their subscription did so because of the team’s performance,” revealed former president Patrick Boivin.
Does the Alouettes’ box office success depend on wins?
“We have often said that about the Montreal market,” explains Mario Cecchini. This is true of all sports. A few months ago I was on a panel with Geoff Molson [du Canadien] and Gabriel Gervais [du CF Montréal]. Even Geoff said the best marketing is winning. That’s what creates the excitement. If that’s true for hockey, it’s surely true for us too. Afterwards, it’s up to us, year after year, to improve the atmosphere, so that people have three, four or five reasons to come to the stadium. »