Is Marc Lalonde up to the task of filling Larry Smith’s shoes in Montreal?
Ray Lalonde has some tough cleats to fill stepping in as the new president of the Montreal Alouettes, who had Larry Smith as the face of the franchise.
Lalonde will be unveiled on Wednesday in one of the most significant hirings in the history of Montreal professional sports, replacing Smith, the onetime Alouette player who joined the organization in 1997 after a checkered career as commissioner of the Canadian Football League.
Smith, a carnival hustler in a sport coat and slacks, had the difficult task of making the Als relevant when it was born again in Montreal after relocating from Baltimore in 1996. The Stallions were one of several teams that were part of the CFL's ill-fated expansion into the U.S., one of Smith's major moves as commissioner to create some badly-needed revenue. It worked as well as a square football.
The Als played in the Big Owe, which was could fill more than 60,000 seats, but on some games had as little as 8,000 people in attendance. It was only through a scheduling conflict in the fall of 1997, in which U2 was booked for a concert at the Big Owe on the same date the Als were scheduled for a playoff game, that the franchise moved to its eventual full-time home, Molson Stadium. It was old, decrepit and ugly for that playoff game, but over time, through numerous facelifts, it changed in a fan-friendly stadium that could accommodate 25,000, along with some badly-needed corporate suites.
Smith was behind all of this, biding his time between doing a hard-sell on the streets to customers and in the political arenas to bolster up financial backing for stadium and Grey Cup-related projects.
The success of the team on the football field, combined with Smith's hustle in business operations, made the Als the talk of the town - at least when the media and fans were following over everything to do with the Montreal Canadiens. In fact, the Als have been the city's most successful sports franchise since the new millennium.
Smith resigned after December 31, appointed as a senator and then publicly announced his plans to run for federal politics in a Montreal riding.
So it's interesting that the Alouettes have tapped into the Canadiens for a new president. Lalonde worked for the Canadiens for some 10 years, overseeing marketing and sales, which will be a key component for the Als moving forward. The Als have proven they can be a success on the field, but it will be Lalonde's task to grow the business off of it. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have become the model of how to grow a brand on and off the field, and surely this is something Lalonde will have to address in his new role. Compared to the Canadiens, who have merchandise sold of every possible variety, the Alouettes are sadly lacking in this area.
And this is where Lalonde's corporate contacts will be most important. He knows the key business people, both in the city and the province, and that's what is most needed to grow the Als and take it to a higher level of commercialism.
One source suggested the Als knew this was a fundamental aspect lacking on the business side and a key reason why they tabbed Lalonde over some higher-profile candidates such as former Als' players Eric Lapointe, Michael Soles and Jock Climie. All three have transitioned well since their playing days - Lapointe and Soles in the financial sector, Climie in the legal field - but were lacking experience at a high level of business, specifically running an organization. If the Als were looking to groom one of them with an infrastructure in place, they would have done so. But with Smith gone, they needed someone with tangible experience running a company, or at least high up on the corporate ladder.
Lalonde knows the game of football. He played at McGill and had some experience working on the staff of legendary Penn State head coach Joe Paterno and was later employed as director of football operations of the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football. The graduate of sports administration later continued his career working with the National Basketball Association in Europe, before returning home and working with the Canadiens.
He did some noteworthy things - contributing significantly in the Canadiens' centennial celebration in 2009 and in the newly-built Habs' Hall of Fame, unveiled in the Bell Centre last year at this time.
And yet he was purged in January as part of a restructuring by Canadiens' owner/chairman of the board, Geoff Molson. Changes in ownership often create changes below, so it's not as if Lalonde did anything wrong.
He will, most likely, make changes on the Als' business side, bringing in his own people after viewing things for the first month or so.
How he translates his vision to the public will be interesting. Surely, he won't be as macho as Smith or as bellicose as Hamilton's Scott Mitchell, probably more conservative along the lines of Toronto's Bob Nicholson. If he's smart, he'll say little at the outset rather than speak in grandiose terms. To borrow an expression, it's an evolution in Montreal, not a revolution.
It's not like he's taking over a team that can only go up and needs drastic retooling. Frankly, he may be taking over a team that can only go down - on and off the football field - so in a sense his work won't be as tangible as, say, a coach taking over a losing team. It will be his task to take the franchise to a higher level - without the bluster of Smith, who did the heavy lifting.
