MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact got a financial boost even before playing its first match in Major League Soccer.
The expansion team announced Friday the Quebec Labour Federation Solidarity Fund, the investment arm of the province’s largest labour organization, has put up $7.5 million for a minority share in the club.
Impact vice-president Richard Legendre said both sides agreed not to release what percentage of the team the union fund purchased. He said the investment includes ”part of the ownership as well as some visibility” as a sponsor.
Team president Joey Saputo and three family members, including his father, Lino Saputo, hold a majority interest in Free-2-Play, the company that runs the team. The fund will have some say in major decisions, including whether to sign a designated player or one who earns more than the MLS salary cap limit.
The club also announced more than 25,000 tickets were sold in the first 48 hours after they went on sale for the team’s first regular-season home game March 17 at Olympic Stadium against Chicago. Montreal’s inaugural MLS match is in Vancouver on March 10.
Their goal is to break the Olympic Stadium record for soccer of 58,000 spectators that took in a playoff game of the defunct Montreal Manic in 1981.
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Legendre said the Impact were not seeking any more investors and it was the FTQ fund that approached the team about buying in.
He said the fund, which has loans or investments in more than 2,000 enterprises, would help the club connect to the provinces’ largest companies and should help sell tickets and sponsorships.
”To get support from an important financial and economic institution sends a message that MLS is something worth investing in,” said Legendre. ”It sends a message to encourage others to be part of it, not only as a sponsor, but as part of the experience.”
Thus far the team has sold about 7,000 seasons tickets, well below its target of at least 13,000.
The announcement was made at the team’s training camp by Joey Saputo and the FTQ fund’s president Yvon Bolduc.
”This agreement is more than just a financial partnership,” Saputo said. ”By investing in the club, the Fonds de Solidarite FTQ is supporting our development.
”We will use these additional resources to better launch success in MLS. With this strategic investment in the club, le Fonds is also sending a message to (the Quebec business community) that MLS is major.”
The investment will help finance the club, its academy, the stadium and perhaps the search for a designated player.
The team has already had talks with European stars such as Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, without success.
Bolduc said the fund, which is also a minority shareholder in the Montreal Canadiens, sees it was a good financial investment as well as a way to promote a sports team and help out a neighbourhood still recovering from the loss of baseball games at Olympic Stadium after the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2004.
”It’s the best league in North America and it is very well managed,” said Bolduc. ”It’s a product that is improving every year and we want to be part of that growth.
”We are convinced the value of the franchise will continue to rise, and that’s good news for all the shareholders.”
The fund was particularly impressed with the Impact academy, which runs elite teams at various age groups to develop local talent.
The FTQ fund reported net assets of $8.2 billion as of Nov. 30, 2011. It invests workers’ funds primarily in Quebec-based businesses.
The Impact will play its first six home games indoors at Olympic Stadium until work is completed in June on the expansion of Saputo Stadium to 20,341 seats. The outdoor stadium is next door to the Big O.
The camp moves Monday to California, where three pre-season matches against MLS teams are scheduled.
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