The Montreal Alouettes (), colloquially known as the Als, are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded and been re-established twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and last won the Grey Cup in 2023, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup. Their home field is Percival Molson Memorial Stadium for the regular season and as of 2014 also home of their playoff games.
The original Alouettes team (1946–1981) won the Grey Cup four times and were particularly dominant in the 1970s; appearing in six Grey Cup Finals through that decade, they won in 1970, 1974 and 1977, while losing in 1975, 1978 and 1979 (all against the Edmonton Eskimos). After their collapse in 1982, they were immediately reconstituted under new ownership as the Montreal Concordes. After playing for four years as the Concordes, they revived the Alouettes name for the 1986 season. A second folding in 1987 led to a nine-year hiatus of CFL football in the city.
The current Alouettes franchise was established in 1996 by the owner of the Baltimore Stallions. The Stallions were disbanded at the same time as the Alouettes' re-establishment after having been the most successful of the CFL's American expansion franchises, culminating in a Grey Cup championship in 1995. Many players from the Stallions' 1995 roster signed with the Alouettes and formed the core of the team's 1996 roster.
For record-keeping purposes, the CFL considers all clubs that have played in Montreal as one franchise dating to 1946 and considers the Alouettes to have suspended operations in 1987 before returning in 1996. Although the Alouettes' re-establishment in 1996 is often considered a relocation of the Stallions, neither the league nor the Alouettes recognize the Baltimore franchise, or its records, as part of the Alouettes' official team history.
The latest incarnation of the Alouettes were arguably the best CFL team of the 2000s; they acceded to all but three Grey Cup Finals of the decade, taking home three Grey Cups in the process and bringing the franchise total to seven. The Alouettes had from 1996 to 2014 the CFL's longest active playoff streak, only having missed the playoffs three times since returning to the league. The streak came to an end in 2015. They have hosted a playoff game every year except 2001, 2007, 2013, and from 2015 to 2018. Their five losing seasons came in 2007, 2013 and from 2015 to 2018. The 2015 through 2018 Alouettes' seasons marked the first time the team missed the playoffs in consecutive years since their re-activation. Major stars of the recent era include Mike Pringle, the CFL career leader in rushing yards, and quarterback Anthony Calvillo, who led all of pro football in career passing yards before Drew Brees took over in late 2020.
In 2019 the CFL purchased the team from American businessman Robert Wetenhall, who could not find a buyer. Later that year the Alouettes were acquired by Crawford Steel executives Sid Spiegel and his son-in-law Gary Stern (through their subsidiary S and S Sportsco), who took over the team on January 6, 2020. In February 2023, the ownership was passed back to the league, which subsequently agreed to sell the team to Quebec media mogul and former Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau in March of that year. On November 19, 2023, the Alouettes won their eighth Grey Cup in their first season under Péladeau's ownership.
History Original Alouettes (1946–1981)
Canadian football has a long history in Montreal, dating to the 1850s. The Alouettes were first formed in 1946 by Canadian Football Hall of Famer Lew Hayman along with stockbroker Eric Cradock and former Montreal Canadiens part-owner Léo Dandurand. They named themselves after "Alouette", a work song about plucking the feathers from a skylark, which had become a symbol of the Québécois. The origin of the team's name also comes from the Second World War-era No. 425 "Alouette" Squadron, a bomber squadron operating out of North Africa and later Yorkshire, England. 425 Squadron was also the Royal Canadian Air Force's primarily French-Canadian squadron. They won their first Grey Cup championship in 1949, beating the Calgary Stampeders 28–15 led by quarterback Frank Filchock and running back Virgil Wagner.
The 1950s were a productive decade for the Als, with quarterback Sam Etcheverry throwing passes to John "Red" O'Quinn, "Prince" Hal Patterson, and with Pat Abbruzzi carrying the ball, Montreal fielded the most dangerous offence in all Canadian football. From 1954 to 1956, they reached the Grey Cup in three consecutive seasons, but questionable defensive units led the Alouettes to defeat versus the Edmonton Eskimos each time.
The team was purchased in 1954 by Ted Workman. Like all teams playing in the WIFU and IRFU, the Alouettes joined the newly-formed Canadian Football League in 1958. While the team continued to enjoy success for the rest of the 1950s, that all changed at the end of the 1960 season. To be more specific, the team was shaken by an announcement on November 10 – namely the trade of Hal Patterson and Sam Etcheverry to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for Bernie Faloney and Don Paquette. Workman had concluded the deal without consulting with general manager Perry Moss. The deal quickly fell apart because Etcheverry had just signed a new contract with a no-trade clause; as a result, Etcheverry was now a free agent. The deal was reworked and Patterson was traded for Paquette. Sam Etcheverry went on to play in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals for 2 years (1961 and 1962) followed by the San Francisco 49ers in 1963. Faloney remained in Hamilton, and teamed with Patterson to form one of the most deadly quarterback-receiver combinations in CFL history.
This episode remains one of the most lopsided trades ever made in the Alouettes history, and it ushered in a dark decade for the team. During that time, they failed to register a single winning season. From 1968 to 1976 the team played in the Autostade stadium—which had been built as a temporary stadium for Expo 67. The stadium's less-than-desirable location on Montreal's waterfront near the Victoria Bridge led to dismal attendance, putting more strain on the team's finances.
Workman sold half the team to Joe Atwell in 1965. Atwell bought the remaining shares in 1967. The change in ownership failed to reverse the Als' slide. They finally bottomed out in 1969, finishing 2–12. After that season, Atwell sold the team to the highly capable Sam Berger, a former part-owner of the Ottawa Rough Riders. Berger made immediate changes to the team. On December 9, the team announced that Red O'Quinn and Sam Etcheverry were returning to the organization, this time as the team's new general manager and head coach, respectively. The team also unveiled new uniforms—their home jerseys were now predominantly green, with red and white trim. The white helmets with the red "wings" used during the 1960s also disappeared, replaced by a white helmet with a stylized green and red bird's head that formed a lower-case "a." As one might expect from a team that had won only two games in 1969, many new players were brought in.
The changes paid immediate dividends. Although the team finished third in the East, they defeated the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the playoffs. The 1970 season culminated when the Alouettes won the 58th Grey Cup, played on November 28 at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium before a crowd of 32,669. Led by quarterback Sonny Wade (who was named the game's most valuable player, and who would soon become a fan favourite in Montreal—not unlike the status his coach had enjoyed in the 1950s), halfback Moses Denson, receivers Gary Lefebvre and Tom Pullen, along with kicker George Springate, the team defeated the Calgary Stampeders 23–10 for the city's first Grey Cup since 1949, also against the Stamps.
That 1970 victory would herald the beginning of arguably the greatest decade in franchise history. During Berger's tenure as owner, the team played for six Grey Cups and won three (meeting both Alberta teams all of those times, and the Edmonton Eskimos in five of those six games). In 1974, the team changed their colours to match the other Montreal pro sports teams- red, white and blue. They finally moved out of the Autostade and into Olympic Stadium midway through the 1976 season and attendance shot up. In 1977, the Als had a very successful year both on the field and at the box office, winning the Grey Cup at their home field before a Grey Cup-record 68,318 fans (a CFL record that still stands as of 2023). They also averaged 59,595 fans per game at the "Big O" during the regular season, a league record that also still stands.
However, the success ended with Berger's retirement in 1981. He sold the team to Vancouver businessman Nelson Skalbania. The flamboyant Skalbania set about signing two first-round picks from the 1981 National Football League draft and NFL name players such as Vince Ferragamo, James Scott, David Overstreet, Keith Gary and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. Even with all that talent, the Alouettes suffered on the field, finishing with a dismal 3–13 record while attendance plummeted to under 30,000 per game. However, the East was so weak that year (Hamilton was the only team in the East to finish with a winning record) that they actually made the playoffs, finishing third in the East ahead of the 2–14 Toronto Argonauts. In the East Semi-Final, they made a fairly good showing against the second place (and eventual East Division champions) Rough Riders before losing by a final score of 20–16.
This would be the last game that the original Alouettes franchise would play. Skalbania was reported late in 1981 to be selling to oil magnate Pat Bowlen, who would later buy the NFL's Denver Broncos in 1984. Later in 1981, NFL coach George Allen obtained an option to purchase 51% of the club and was named Alouettes' president. While holding both the option and the post, Allen was surprised by Skalbania arranging a sale of the same controlling stake to Harry Ornest, who would later own the St. Louis Blues and the Toronto Argonauts. Ornest was reluctant to take control of the Alouettes as a result of the team's high level of debt and extensive commitments to high-profile stars. In early April 1982, Allen looked set to take control of the Alouettes. However, Allen left the club in late April after Skalbania was unable to resolve 1981 debts. With the franchise in collapse, Berger tried to force Skalbania to relinquish the team to him as payment for debt. Skalbania returned from a business trip to Hong Kong in late April and was able to regain control of the team. However, Skalbania's highly leveraged business interests collapsed a month later. Unable to meet his obligations, he was forced to return the team to the league on May 13.
Montreal Concordes (1982–1985) The CFL had anticipated the collapse of the Alouettes and was well prepared when Skalbania returned the franchise to the league. Among potential suitors for the troubled franchise was Montreal businessman Charles Bronfman, founder and owner of the Alouettes' co-tenants at the Big O, the Montreal Expos. Bronfman had made it clear to league officials that he would not deal with Skalbania, but would be willing to establish a replacement franchise on short notice if the Alouettes ceased operations. On May 14, 1982, a day after the original Alouettes franchise folded, the CFL granted the Montreal franchise rights to Bronfman. However, Skalbania continued to assert ownership of the Montreal Alouettes name, logos and related intellectual property even though he had given up the franchise.