Ambrosie says he has received assurances from Alouettes majority ownership about club

TORONTO — Commissioner Randy Ambrosie says he has received assurances from the Montreal Alouettes majority ownership that nothing has changed with the CFL club.

Minority owner Gary Stern created a huge stir Monday when he announced he was stepping away from the franchise's day-to-day operations and surrendering his spot on the CFL's board of governors.

Stern and partner/father-in-law Sid Spiegel purchased the Alouettes from the CFL in January, 2020, with Spiegel taking a 75 per cent ownership stake. Spiegel died in July 2021 but his estate controls the majority ownership of the Montreal club.

Stern also stated Monday he was keeping his 25 per cent stake in the franchise.

Ambrosie said Stern informed him Sunday of his intentions. The CFL commissioner remains upbeat about the Alouettes' fortunes after speaking with representatives of Spiegel's estate.

"It has been exceptionally encouraging," Ambrosie said. "They (majority ownership representatives) have had three core messages and they haven't wavered from them.

"They've said it's steady as she goes. They've got a good management team in Montreal and they want to continue the operation. They talked about winning football games being a big priority, which clearly demonstrates they understand our business and want to entertain their fans. From my perch, it's been a really good week . . . in some respects it's been very uplifting with their focus on those three priorities for today."

Montreal (4-6) will chase a third straight win Friday night when it hosts the Ottawa Redblacks (2-8) to kick off the CFL's Labour Day weekend. The Alouettes are second in the East Division, two points back of the front-running Toronto Argonauts (5-5), who visit the third-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats