The interim CEO of the Edmonton Elks says the football club is in need of capital investment and is launching a review of the CFL franchise’s ownership structure in an effort to explore what options are available.
The club’s board of directors has created a special committee to conduct the review.
“When you are a community-owned team … when you run out of money you run out of money,” Rick LeLacheur said at a news conference at Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday.
“(It’s hard for a community-owned team to) go borrow money, so you need somebody to make an investment.”
LeLacheur rejoined the Elks on an interim basis in August after the club parted ways with former president and CEO Victor Cui.
On Thursday, LeLacheur told reporters the Elks had to use about $4 million from the club’s reserve fund in 2023 and that the fund has about $7 million left. He added that the team has liabilities that it cannot ignore.
“There’s no one on this board, special committee or me that’s going to leave this city with unpaid bills,” he said.
Tom Richards, the chair of the football club’s board of directors, also fielded questions from reporters at Thursday’s news conference.
“We’re not ruling out anything,” he said of what options are available. “There’s still lots of unknowns in this business.
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“(But) we’re here … (and) we know we can get through 2024, barring COVID or nobody showing up in the stands or nobody wanting to partner with us.”
In a news release, the Elks said the goal of the review is to ensure “professional football continues to thrive in northern Alberta.”
“The creation of the five-person special committee was approved by the club’s board late last month. The special committee consists of current board members Tom Richards, Brent Hesje, and Darryl Boessenkool. They’re joined by previous board members Diane Brickner, and Bruce Bentley, who serves as chair of the committee. Current Elks president and CEO Rick LeLacheur serves on the committee as a non-voting member.”
The Elks have faced challenges over the past few seasons, and the team has struggled to win consistently since winning the Grey Cup in 2015. Those struggles on the field were magnified by a record-setting home losing streak that began in October 2019 and only ended in late August.
The Elks finished the 2023 season with a 4-14 record.
“The club’s financial struggles over the last several seasons can’t be overlooked,” LeLacheur said in a news release. “The impacts of the COVID(-19) pandemic, football operations decisions and subsequent struggles on the field have all contributed to a difficult financial situation.
“We’re confident in our ability to operate in 2024 thanks to our trust fund, strong season seat renewals, and the support of our sponsors and fans. We will, however, need new investment before the end of next season to ensure the club is positioned to succeed for years to come.”
Last month, the Elks announced they would be closing the upper seating bowl at Commonwealth Stadium for 2024.
“If we could sell out the bottom bowl, I think that would be the greatest thing,” Richards said.
“If we do things right and get to where we’re playing exciting football on the field, they’ll come back,” LeLacheur said of Elks fans.
He added that the emergence the Elks’ 25-year-old Canadian quarterback Tre Ford, a dynamic talent who has drawn praise from CFL commentators, is helping to spark a renewed interest in the club.
“Our staff here are working very hard on the renewal of season seats,” LeLacheur said. “We’re selling actually a good number of new season seats, which is a great sign.
“Tre Ford and the excitement he has, the environment got a lot better.”
The club said the ownership review committee will bring forward recommendations to the board, “which will ultimately determine the best course of action for the club.”
The Elks said no deadline has been set for putting forward recommendations.
“In conversation with management and the board, we’ve looked at a lot of things and forecasts in particular and know that over 2024, if we kept on the same track or even to a degree got better, that the trust fund is going to be in danger of diminishing,” LeLacheur said. “We all felt very strongly that now’s the time to go forward and look at what the options are.
“We’re not going to pre-judge what the options are but there’s a number of them.”
The Elks have been a community-owned football club since being founded in 1949.
LeLacheur noted that a number of formerly community-owned CFL clubs have moved to private ownership.
Commonwealth Stadium’s suitability for CFL
At Thursday’s news conference, LeLacheur spoke about the Elks’ home at Commonwealth Stadium, which first opened to the public in 1978.
“This is my opinion, not the club’s: we need some very high investment into this stadium if this stadium is going to go forward as a CFL stadium,” he said. “It’s been the love of the CFL lot of years. It’s had a lot of events here, but it’s not the stadium of the future that you see … in Regina and in Winnipeg and Hamilton and Ottawa going forward.
“It needs a pretty big investment and I know the city’s been looking at it. It’s too big for today’s environment of the CFL and the type of seats that you can sell.”
LeLacheur also said that “if there’s an unlimited amount of dollars, I’d build a new stadium.” He noted that a stadium that can be home to both a CFL team and a Canadian Premier League soccer team would be ideal because it would get more use out of it.
“The more days you get with a facility, the better off you are,” he said.
Last November, the CPL announced that FC Edmonton — which played its soccer games at Clarke Field, next to Commonwealth Stadium — would not be operational for the 2023 season after a lacklustre performance in the standings despite incremental league investment.
At the time, the CPL’s commissioner said the league was in talks with ownership groups about bringing a new franchise to Edmonton “when more favourable conditions can be established in the market.”
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