Contrary to what a lot of posters who reside outside Montreal believe, theres a substantial number of CFL fans in both the French and English communities. However, the lack of a plan for the future from the previous administration, essential dragged this franchise to point where it is now. The existing administration was left with an operational mess and debt. This will take a period of time to fix plus I’m sure the other CFL teams will at some point ask why should they continue to pay the Als bills, until new owners are found.
Of course the new owners, whoever they maybe must understand the Montreal market and have a plan. The real Als fans deserve better and do not need not to read or hear continued speculation plus all this talk about connections from the past, please leave it there in the past. Why hasnt the CFL or the Wetenhall’s issued a statement …… Don’t the season ticket holders deserve that
I think they are embarrassed. Pro sports seem to be all about optics these days. The league obviously thinks of itself as “big league” so they can’t admit otherwise.
Als fans and Argos fans.
The unicorn of CFL fans.
Remember used to getting into friendly battles with Argo fans…now I’m afraid that if Hamilton says something to Toronto, their last remaining fans will bolt.
Montreal the same way.
I just hope the fans for Argos and Als just stick around.
Not likely, but I hope so.
I just like to thank Argos fans these days.
The Als have fans?
Buzz off to all that have been making fun of Als fans!
Where are Als fans? EVERYWHERE, waiting for our a hole owners to sell. Sell to who? One of many groups who want to hire Danny Maciocia.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Blame the owners, not the fans. Anyone who has a problem with this, can meet Johnny in the parking lot…
Maybe they will enjoy going back to eight teams?
Winnipeg fans will enjoy their team going back East?
Those who think the fans are responsible for this are morons. For 15 years Als fans packed the building paying anywhere from 50 percent to double what fans in Edmonton and Hamilton were paying for their tickets.
The only problem with Montreal fans is they know incompetence and lack of respect when they see it. The only way this team lost 40 million dollars over the last four years is if the owners were bleeding it to get their money out.
It is like those who blame the fans for the demise of the Expos … it is either ignorance of the situation (or perhaps general ignorance), “hatred” of Montreal/Quebec or just general low-brow, low-class trolling.
Bad teams and markets beget bad owners. The fact is Montreal sports fans are not as resilient as fans in other better markets when the team slumps. Shortly after the Als great seasons of the 70s, the team folded twice within a few seasons. It looks like it will happen again after a few bad seasons.
The Expos mostly drew poor crowds often drawing at the bottom or near the bottom the NL. Even in 93 and 94 when the Expos were a great team, they drew some of the worst average attendance in the National League. Terrible crowds continued despite some competitive teams post - 94.
Contrast that with Toronto. The Blue Jays would pretty well always outdraw the Expos if they had a comparably bad seasons. Typically 20,000 instead of 10 -12,000 the expos would draw. How about the Raptors? During their many poor seasons, they would still average 16,000 - 17,000 per game. What do you think a Montreal team would average if they had several poor seasons?
Edmonton provides another example of fan resiliency - 10 seasons in a row without making the playoffs, incompetent management and among the worst records in the NHL year after year…and yet the constantly sell out. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were terrible during the Mike Kelly/Joe Mack era and yet crowds averaged 24,000 or better during their entire tenure. Resiliency.
Back to Montreal, Saputo’s team is struggling with attendance again this season despite a decent team and ticket prices that are very reasonable. After their first few seasons they are among the worst teams with home attendance the past 3 or 4 years. Saputo has complained about the lack of corporate sales and season ticket sales - a reflection of a not so great market I guess. He lost over $10 million last year and with crowds down again despite a decent season so far, he will likely lose just as much this year. Contrast that with the Toronto FC who have constantly drawn better crowds despite a longer streak of losing seasons a few years back.
Face it, outside of the Habs, and one-off events, Montreal is mediocre in its fan support. That my friends is…
The Last Word
I’ve heard some silly business mantra in my life, but your takes the cake.
Don’t ever start a transaction based business.
Some markets are tougher then others when it comes to drawing sports fans. The passion and culture for many sports are not there or at least in lesser amounts then other comparably sized markets. OUtside the Habs, Montreal happens to be one of those markets. When the team, whether it is the Impact, Als, former Expos, play poorly for any length of time, the crowds drop off more noticeably then in other markets that experience similar mediocre stretches.
The common response I hear from defenders of those markets, who are almost always people who live in the region and are inherently bias, is that their market has to deal with one of the worst owners/management of all time so it isn’t a true reflection of their fandom and support. Bull spit.
It is interesting that this seems to happen in Montreal time and again throughout recent history…teams folding or relocating almost inevitably because of poor fan support. The Expos, The als going on three times by the looks of things, possibly the Impact. Is Montreal unlucky enough to have the worst collective ownership in all of North America that this seems to be a regular occurrence? Pretty unlikely. More like a extremely fickle fanbase that has zero loyalty to an organization outside of the Habs.
Hmm. How many times has Ottawa reincarnated their football team?
Use to have a AAA baseball team too.
Argos. Were they not bailed out at one point? How have they been drawing attendance wise?
Lions. ??
1990s+:
CFL: RRs, Renegades … now Rouge et Noir (in a stadium built for them by the City on a deal that shockingly is not returning the City what was projected)
BASEBALL: Lynx (AAA, in a stadium built by the City), Rapidz (Independent), Fat Cats (Independent) … now Champions (Independent)
LACROSSE: Rebel
I agree that there are some cities (and it’s ALWAYS big cities) that aren’t great sports fans. Los Angeles is a great example, outside of the Lakers. But sometimes, oddly enough, it’s the sport itself, not the team. Toronto, for example, had last year’s defending Grey Cup champion, and the city didn’t support their team. (Heck, they didn’t support the Argos when they were actually winning). It just isn’t a football town. Then you have smaller metropolitan areas like Saskatchewan and Green Bay, where they are RABID football fans (and I love 'em for it!). But the truth is that there are few cities that will continue to support perennially poor teams (outside of Chicago and Boston). To be honest, I don’t know if Montreal is a bad sports town, a bad football town, or a place that is justifiably exhausted from terrible management and losses accumulating like December snow in Edmonton. Unfortunately, football executives consistently ignore the Reginas and Green Bays of the world and insist on salivating over major metropolitan areas. (At one point, three different NFL teams duked it out for the chance to get into the Los Angeles market, even though football has ALWAYS been a losing proposition there). We also have to contend with the reality that football as a sport is on the wane. Just ask any Pop Warner, high school, or U-sport coach. The soccer moms are winning, even though soccer STILL has little traction in the U.S. or Canada (although, as immigration continues to climb, soccer numbers will go up). Concussions are the new Communism, and everyone is afraid their little angels will succumb to it, so we’re seeing fewer players at the lower levels, and will continue to see downward trends in attendance. However, I’m hoping this is cyclical as opposed to trending. As for the here and now, the best teams can hope for is A) Wins and B) a Star. Tiger Woods, a single transcendent player, changed golf from a boring, white-male-dominated afterthought on television to a ratings sensation. As his star faded, so did the ratings. Eventually I hope we’ll see that game-changer in our sport, who will begin with changing attendance in a particular city, then the league, then maybe the world with CFL 2.0. (Doug Flutie was a great example). Until then, we’ll just have to muddle through and enjoy what we have, while we have it.
All the games I have been to whether Ottawa or Montreal was filled with young people .
More than enough to keep these teams going for a generation or two .
It’s not the sport its self it’s the organic drawing to an entertainment event (CFL/NFL) .
The stadium ,location , price and atmosphere .
When you don’t have corporations or businesses buying up tickets you need people who want to be there for the pro sports experience ; that return over and over again.
If you turn your clientele off which a poster a year or two went into great lengths posting here; who worked for the Als .
He or she exposed as absentee owner with no leadership in the office and no customer support and this is why this happened .
Losing games is just the added element that pushed it over the edge .
Lets keep in mind every CFL team has come very close to bankruptcy if not actually going there and closing up over the years.
Exactly. People were not attacking fans in Montreal when it became the fastest growing football market in North America. for 15 to 17 years fans packed the place often getting hosed on pricing or giving up their cherished seats at McGill so that the owners could make some money hosting playoff games at the BigO.
Let’s be CLEAR!
This is a failure of ownership and management. From terrible decisions to verbally attacking beat reporters at the team’s Golf tournament, to hiring people who live in another country or and completely disappear for six months instead of engaging with the community. Maybe holding dinners with various ethnic associations, participating in fundraising efforts. It is easy to send players to hang out in schools, not much effort required by owner and management but 8-year-olds don’t buy tickets.
Wow! Extremely well said!
100% correct … but:
Agreed. Well said HfxTC
Alouettes sold to the CFL