TORONTO — The Canadian Football League (CFL) has released a statement on Tuesday morning about the Montreal Alouettes.
Good move, finally
Mario Cecchini is the right guy to do it! 
Agreed. Hopefully they will find new owners soon and bring some much needed stability to the franchise. Unfortunately it appears that this year will be a competitive loss.
about time. yea unfortunately the Als will probably be quite poor this season. i hope they can survive.
Can't say that I feel too sorry for the Als. The fans that constantly said that they want "local ownership" will have to actually show up to games now.
Is Cecchini the guy they let go a while back?
Yes, Unjustly and unceremoniously fired by Gary Stern
Well that's good then. Seems everyone associated with the team thought he was doing a great job.
I'm mixed on this move.
Yes it's good to see Checchini back in the fold but what is happening on the back end that they couldn't be sold from the estate/Stern directly to the new owners..
Just when there was some messaging that they were days maybe weeks before new ownership is being finalized didn't think it would refer to this,
At least they hired a firm to look after the sale this time instead of doing it themselves
Sad....
my biggest surprise is that the former owners said they were thinking of selling up to 90%. Something obviously changed. Perhaps the rumour of the son of Sid Spiegel saying that he was tired of losing his inheritance had some merit.
IMO the impact on the team's performance depends entirely on how quickly, and how well, ownership is resolved ... hopefully the sale gets done in a professional manner this time ... no campaigning in the media ... I've always thought that played a role (however big or small) in Vincenzo Guzzo and Lapointe's group not winning favour with the CFL.
The ownership void may well impact free agent signings/re-signings ... but the CFL cap limits the options for veterans, so the "best" may leave or pass-by, but I am cautiously optimistic for this season ... not Cup favourites by ANY means but Harris was far from an elite QB (neither was Adams I-M-O, but he was a popular leader) and last season was one with some turmoil with the QB and coaching changes ... I am hoping starting with a clean slate will allow the coaches and team to play well.
I believe it was Gary Stern who said they were thinking of selling up to 90% ... not the Estate ... the other 10% likely would have belonged to Stern, keeping him in the game ... I suspect the 75% decided that wasn't the route they wanted to follow.
Not looking too positive for the Alouettes. Curious as to what they do in todays Free Agency. Maybe one of their rookies turns out to be a gem like Gino Lewis was before he left for more money.
CFL free agency always LOOKS bright and sparkly but it is rarely the backbone of a team.
It's about time! THIS time C.F.L., sell to a group who will actually take ownership SERIOUSLY & will own the team LONG TERM!! This was a DISASTER & failure on the C.F.L.'s part. Do not mess this up. Ambrosie has not been a good commissioner.
In fairness, I think Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern took it seriously ... unfortunately Sid passed away and he was the majority owner.
People are acting like the Als are an expansion team. We still have good players under contract. Don't write 2023 off just yet.
I think you got it there. The estate (which is 4 people) saw this as a money losing enterprise. There are people who don't mind losing money on the operations of a team if they can hang out with athletes and enjoy the media glare. Gary Stern anyone? But this estate was very discreet, so did not desire or get any of those intangible benefits of team ownership, while bleeding cash. So rather than search for a buyer they simply decided to cut their losses, drop the entire enterprise and move on without the distractions. This is not a crazy decision from a sophisticated investor.
The selling up to 90% line was a smokescreen or BS and many of us called it. Estates just don’t run businesses for very long. They also saw the $ going out. If there is any merit to the rumour you mention regarding Spiegel’s son the heirs may finally have realized the reality of the situation. I’m not sure why it took so long.
In any event what may have intially been a well intentioned ownership group fell apart after Spiegel’s death. As I said, hopefully something positive can take place moving forward. It is odd that this was announced on arguably the biggest news day of the off season. Perhaps the estate just said that as of now we are not writing one more cheque.