{"id":560249,"date":"2026-03-25T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/560249\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:10:08","slug":"danny-maciocia-montreal-alouettes-extremely-close-to-breaking-even","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/560249\/","title":{"rendered":"Danny Maciocia: Montreal Alouettes ‘extremely close to breaking even’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes<\/p>\n

There\u2019s often been hand-wringing in CFL circles regarding the financial stability of its privately-owned teams, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to Montreal Alouettes senior vice-president of football operations and general manager Danny Maciocia, it doesn\u2019t appear there\u2019s cause for concern in La Belle Province.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are definitely closer (to profitability). We are extremely close to breaking even. The new structure is one that\u2019s been in place (for) about a year. It seems to be working \u2014 we\u2019re aligned, everybody\u2019s got a role, everybody understands what their role is,\u201d Maciocia told the media via videoconference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I also involved on the business side? Yes. Am I also involved on the corporate sponsorship side? Yes, I am. Do I go out and speak to groups and to people? I do so. This is more than just a general manager\u2019s job for me due to the fact that it is my hometown. I understand what the expectations are, but that\u2019s been well-defined when we made the moves we made about a year ago and it seems to be working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring, Mark Weightman suddenly stepped down as the president and CEO of the Alouettes. The move was accompanied by an announcement that Ren\u00e9 Masson was taking over as senior vice-president, chief executive officer, and chief financial officer. Explicitly stated in Montreal\u2019s press release was Masson being tasked with \u201cgrowing the team\u2019s revenues and returning it to profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he doesn\u2019t speak for Masson, Maciocia indicated that owner Pierre Karl P\u00e9ladeau, who purchased the team in 2023, has never given him an expectation or timeline for the Alouettes to get out of the red and into the black.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never mentioned that to me. The only thing he\u2019s mentioned to me is that he loves his football team and it\u2019ll remain in his family for the longest of time. It\u2019s not going anywhere anytime soon,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m beyond confident (in P\u00e9ladeau\u2019s investment in the team).\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long after being hired as the CFL\u2019s new commissioner last spring, Stewart Johnston said only two teams were profitable the previous year. Based on financial reports from the league\u2019s two publicly-owned teams \u2014 the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers \u2014 the identities of these franchises is clear.<\/p>\n

The league\u2019s seven privately-owned clubs don\u2019t disclose any financial information but it\u2019s not hard to believe they\u2019re unprofitable.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, the Roughriders and Blue Bombers have led the CFL in attendance by a considerable margin. Game-day revenue is still the lifeblood of the league\u2019s teams with gate receipts, concessions, and other such funds accounting for roughly half of total team revenue, according to reports from Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Randy Ambrosie, Johnston\u2019s predecessor, often referred to the league\u2019s private owners as \u201cphilanthropists.\u201d This term is usually reserved for people who build hospitals or homeless shelters, but here it appeared to mean, \u201cPeople who are willing to absorb losses in years that their CFL team doesn\u2019t host the Grey Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2020, a time when the CFL had a strong incentive to paint itself in the most negative possible light as it sought financial assistance from the federal government, Ambrosie claimed the league\u2019s teams collectively lose $10 to $20 million per year.<\/p>\n

Around this time, Ambrosie also insinuated league revenues were roughly $250 million annually. It\u2019s rough math \u2014 and, again, none of these numbers are official \u2014 but this would mean the league falling four to eight percent shy of breaking even across its nine franchises.<\/p>\n

Revenue has grown in recent years, triggering significant increases to the salary cap. In January, the league trumpeted year-over-year revenue growth of over $10 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The league also introduced a revenue sharing model in 2022, though its formula remains unclear. One revenue stream that\u2019s shared to at least some extent is Grey Cup. In the old days, the game would bring a massive boost to the host city\u2019s team. Nowadays, each team gets at least a small cut of the revenue from the league\u2019s championship game and festival.<\/p>\n

The details here are few and far between but it seems positive that the Alouettes appear to have made financial strides. The team plays in one of the league\u2019s smallest stadiums \u2014 which it doesn\u2019t own \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t own its practice facility, either. Compared to other setups around the league, Montreal\u2019s is far from ideal.<\/p>\n

If the Alouettes are encroaching on profitability, surely that\u2019s possible for the CFL\u2019s other privately-owned teams, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes There\u2019s often been hand-wringing in CFL circles regarding the financial stability of its privately-owned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,50470,3179,216538,49,48,7028,521,522,520,62411,118182,2517,527,134,2338,216539,48537,92356,196672,82,84996],"class_list":["post-560249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-alouettes","tag-als","tag-breaking-even","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-commissioner","tag-danny-maciocia","tag-financial","tag-football","tag-money","tag-montreal","tag-pierre-karl-peladeau","tag-profit","tag-profitability","tag-randy-ambrosie","tag-sports","tag-stewart-johnston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}