THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes have declined to comment on a report they exaggerated attendance at their games to help get governments to pay for the expansion of Percival Molson Stadium.
Montreal newspaper La Presse, quoting two unnamed team sources, reported Wednesday that many games in recent seasons that were announced as sellouts were not full houses.
It did not say which games were not sold out or how many seats went unsold, but it said that because the stadium has benches instead of individual seats, spectators can be spread out so that the stadium appears to be full.
The report said announcing anything less than a sellout could have hurt their bid for the $29 million stadium expansion completed last year. The Quebec government put in $19.3 million, the city of Montreal $4 million and team owner Robert Wetenhall paid the rest of the project.
The two-time defending Grey Cup champion Alouettes drew an announced crowd of 22,317 to their regular season opening game last week against the B.C. Lions, nearly 3,000 less than the stadium’s capacity of 25,012. It was thought to have ended a 105-game sellout streak since 2002.
No attempt was made to hide unsold seats, as a large section of the northeast grandstand sat empty.
It was the team’s first game since former Montreal Canadiens executive Ray Lalonde took over as team president from Larry Smith, who left during the 2010 season just before he was named to the Senate.
