NEW OWNERS BUY ALS WITHOUT LOOK AT BOOKS
After all the months of uncertainty and various groups or individuals expressing their interest to purchase, only to drop out or be pushed aside, the sale of the Alouettes came together in barely more than three weeks, to a couple of guys few if any in Montreal have heard of.
The Canadian Football League way, some will undoubtedly scoff.
We know this about Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern, Toronto-based businessmen who made their money in the steel industry: Spiegel is 89, even older than Robert Wetenhall, the Alouettes’ previous owner.
Stern, a relatively young-looking 65, is Spiegel’s son-in-law.
Spiegel, founder and chairman of the board of Crawford Steel, has the deep pockets. Stern, who undoubtedly will become the sole owner of the Als in time, given Spiegel’s age, married into money but undoubtedly worked hard to accrue a modest fortune.
Stern is Crawford’s chief executive and, together with Spiegel, who didn’t attend the Monday morning news conference due to a family issue, own the corporate entity, S and S Sportsco.
There will be doubters, of course, as there were when Wetenhall, an American businessman, rode into town in 1997, one year into the Als’ rebirth. Wetenhall turned out to be an outstanding owner until he and his son, Andrew, had enough of losing millions — an estimated $12.5 million alone in 2018 — last May, when the league assumed ownership of the team.
The same fate likely awaits Spiegel and Stern, although anyone kicking the tires of a new car always sees the glass half full.
“It was an easy decision. We’re here. We’re funding it. We believe in it,” Stern said. “We’ll be the most patient owners you’ve seen.
“Yes, the Als lost a lot of money; that doesn’t frighten us. We didn’t do it to throw away money and be risk-takers. I’m telling you, don’t worry. This team’s well funded. You’re correct, CFL teams don’t make millions of dollars. We fully expect not to lose money within two or three years.”
There were no shortage of Montreal businessmen — former Als player Eric Lapointe, now a financial adviser and, most recently, entrepreneur Clifford Starke — who didn’t hide their desire to own the team. But the sale, in the end, was completely driven by Toronto, where the league offices are located.
Stern and Spiegel watched the November Grey Cup with Dale Lastman, a Toronto-based lawyer, the Argonauts’ governor and, as of Dec. 17, chairman of the CFL’s board of governors. Stern and Lastman are lifelong friends, and it was the latter who informed the former of the Als’ availability.
Lastman advised CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie of the interest and, the next day, Ambrosie met Stern, who called himself a fan with a passion for sports. The deal, obviously, came together quickly — so quickly, in fact, Stern was accompanied on Monday by two accountants who were going to look at the
Als’ financial books more closely later that afternoon.
We’re not quite sure this is the way they teach business transactions in Economics 101.
“This is the right time in our lives where it’s not just about money,” Stern said. “It’s about having a good time with something you own. There wasn’t much due diligence. We looked at ‘what can it be?’ We didn’t nitpick. We won’t know half the problems until we get to the offices today, but know there will be (problems).”
Ambrosie, who accompanied Stern, claimed too many of the other potential ownership groups had to find investors to support their bids — a hurdle not faced by Spiegel and Stern.
“Group ownership works well when things go well. It’s more difficult when things don’t go well,” Ambrosie said. “They (Spiegel and Stern) have been partners for decades and didn’t have to go looking for support as owners. Funding the team wasn’t an issue. We’re sitting with what we believe is the very best choice we could have made for the future.
“They weren’t looking to the league to support them. They were willing to invest real money. They have more than enough resources. They were prepared to invest and didn’t need to go anywhere else for financial resources. That’s a different scenario than bringing a bunch of investors together and how much capital are they all willing to put up?”
Ambrosie, predictably, refused to disparage Lapointe, Starke or anyone else involved in the process. Or to divulge any shortcomings they might have had. Meanwhile, it became more apparent brothers Jeffrey and Peter Lenkov didn’t have the financial resources they purported last July, when it appeared they would become the owners.
With the Lenkovs out of the picture, the interest of Montreal-based Claridge Investment Ltd., a potential partner, quickly waned. And with Pierre Boivin, Claridge’s president and CEO, no longer involved, the CFL Friday announced it was cutting ties with Als’ president Patrick Boivin, Pierre’s son.
Only time will tell whether Ambrosie made the right decision or was backed into a corner by the league’s owners and governors, all of whom undoubtedly were growing impatient paying the Als’ bills and certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the arrangement for another year.
“Sometimes things just come together when they’re meant to be,” Ambrosie said. hzurkowsky@postmedia.com twitter.com/HerbZurkowsky1
This is the right time in our lives where it’s not just about money. It’s about having a good time with something you own. There wasn’t much due diligence. We looked at ‘what can it be?’