If the Alouettes had actually come out and admitted fudging numbers that would've been shocking.
So the Montreal Alouettes are refusing comment that they inflated the actual attendances figures at Molson Stadium, the last two years, to secure funding from two levels of government.
Big deal.
If they had actually come out and admitted to doing it that would have been truly shocking.
As a privately-operated organization the Als can doctor the books and run freely with their actual data because who will check it? But owner Robert Wetenhall, who took over the team in 1997, has pumped countless millions in operating the team, some of those expenses directly related to renovating Molson Stadium.
The team moved full-time into the rickety, worn-down stadium in 1998, after a U2 concert forced them to switch from the cavernous Olympic Stadium for a playoff game in 1997. The stadium needed emergency work just to make it structurally safe and operable for the game.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa was more secure.
But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened. Instead of crowds of 6,000 or so coming to watch the Alouettes play at the Big Owe, fans flocked to the old stadium because of its intimacy and view of the skyline.
Reparations and renovations to just about everything in and around the stadium made it the place to be to watch the Als.
The Alouettes marvelous run of 105 consecutive sellouts since 1998 came to an end last Thursday, when they drew an announced crowd of 22,317, about 3,000 less than the stadium's capacity of 25,012, for their game against the B.C. Lions. Coincidentally, those were the same two teams for that historic playoff game 14 years ago.
The end of the consecutive sellout became a small sidebar, in what was yet another win by the two-time consecutive champions, at a stadium where they rarely lose.
The team expanded its seating by about 5,000 in the off-season, using $23.3 million in provincial and municipal funding for the overall $29 million renovation.
Wetenhall dipped into petty cash for the other $5.7 million.
On Wednesday, the Als declined to comment on a story by Montreal's La Presse, which quoted two unnamed team sources that the attendance figures were exaggerated for some games in the last two years, to help secure government money for the latest project.
The report said announcing anything less than a sellout, could have negatively impacted the Alouettes bid for the $29 million.
There are many people who would suggest the government has no business providing financial handouts to individual operators, leagues or organizations. That said, if the books were indeed cooked, where would the Als be now had Wetenhall not come in to bail out the team which was in financial peril?
Moreover, the Als have contributed considerable money to the municipal and provincial coffers. They didn't just suck out money.
This is not a defence for what has allegedly happened, only a reality of where the Als would be now in Montreal, without some financial help. The organization died once before and surely would have gone into the ground again, without help from Wetenhall.
So let's not go crazy. It's done.
It's not as if the Alouettes went over the salary cap, for god sakes.
Now that would be news.
