Brampton mayor trying to block Excelsiors move
The City of Brampton has threatened legal action against the Ontario Lacrosse Association if the Excelsiors’ planned move to Owen Sound is approved.
In a Nov. 4 letter, Mayor Patrick Brown wrote to then OLA president Marion Ladouceur he intends “to do everything possible to keep (the) lacrosse team in Brampton and playing in the Major Series Lacrosse league. All available options including legal action are actively being considered,” and suggested a vote to ratify the MSL’s decision to move the Excelsiors to Owen Sound is premature.
On Oct. 15, the MSL board of governors unanimously voted to allow Joe Norton, owner of the Excelsiors, to move the club and all its assets, including the Excelsiors name, to Owen Sound in time for the 2021 season.
Norton cited a lack of fan support in an Owen Sound Sun Times article as the reason for the move.
News of the move leaked to the public early.
The Excelsiors are 11-time Mann Cup champions, most recently in 2011. Since then, they have resided at the bottom of MSL standings but have a bright future in the league with homegrown stars such as Jeff Teat leading a resurgence.
The OLA was scheduled to vote to ratify the move Nov. 4 but it appears Brown’s letter postponed the vote, putting the onus to ratify or not on a newly elected OLA board, led by acclaimed president Jim Bomhof, voted in during an annual general meeting on Nov. 7.
Questions have arisen over the legitimacy of the sale with tweets from Excelsiors board of directors member Ron Evans claiming president Ziggy Musial finalized the April 2018 sale without consulting the board and that the agreement was kept from the board for over two years until Norton announced the move.
Evans confirmed there was a second local Brampton party interested in purchasing the team at the time of the sale. That offer was dismissed.
If the board never ratified the agreement, is it legal? That’s what Brown wants to know.
“As you can imagine, many in the community are shocked that Mr. Musial would sign an agreement for $1,500 especially when other members of the Brampton community would have offered to buy the team for more money and keep it located in Brampton,” Brown wrote.
“Given the concerns raised about whether the sale of the team was duly authorized, I would ask you defer tonight’s vote until the legal validity of the agreement can be reviewed and if necessary discussed and voted on at a board of directors meeting of the Brampton Excelsior Lacrosse Club.”
That meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, at which point a formal statement is expected from the Excelsiors board.
Norton told the Sun Times, “We had a lot of back and forth about it, both within the organization and with Brampton, and we just came to the final conclusion that the team needs a fan base that can support the cost of running the team at this level.”
There was no consultation with either the board or city, opponents to the move suggest. Likewise, there appear to have been no initiatives to help raise funds to keep the team in the city.
Despite being a community-owned team, “the city had absolutely no involvement in the ‘sale’ or ‘ move’ of the Excelsiors Club, in fact we were as shocked as anyone to hear of the potential move to Owen Sound,” said Brampton Coun. Jeff Bowman, an Excelsiors alumnus.
“Excelsior Lacrosse has a very long and storied history in this city and I am hopeful this can be resolved and have the team and all its assets (the name, the logo, etc.) remain as part of our city’s rich sports culture.”