The departure of president Mark Weightman appears to mark a shift in financial strategy for the Montreal Alouettes, but general manager Danny Maciocia had few answers for the media on Thursday.
Owner Pierre-Karl Peladeau has long maintained that he is comfortable operating the team at a loss. However, in the press release announcing Weightman’s sudden resignation, the goal of returning the organization to profitability was stated.
That’s something the Alouettes haven’t said in a very long time and it raised some questions about the reasons for Weightman’s departure.
“I can’t answer that in detail,” Maciocia said when asked about the mandate for profitability. “I received a phone call on Tuesday, that’s it. On the finance side of things, the last two years, when I tell you I’m working at peace, it’s not only words. I’ve lived through rough moments for multiple years, I know what it is like. Peladeau doesn’t only hand out paychecks; he is present on a daily basis, and the players and the coaches like it.”
The decision for Weightman to step down after just two years on the job was a surprise all around. The Als had made significant financial progress over the last few years and as recently as November, the long-time executive had said that the team was getting close to halftime of his vision, suggesting there were still some items to cross off his list.
The Alouettes will have a new structure, as no new hire is planned to replace Weightman’s role. Rene Masson, director of finances, will become senior vice-president and CFO while Maciocia will become senior vice-president of football operations in addition to his GM role. Maciocia compared the new structure to European soccer, suggesting that if it is successful for those teams, it could be successful for the Alouettes as well.
“It’s not traditional in North America, but it’s something we see in Europe with soccer teams. The way they are successful is intriguing and I’m excited to get to work on that front,” he said.
“I don’t know what they are going to do with the money. It may be redistributed, but it won’t affect me. I just received a phone call. I will not have a salary raise. It won’t change anything. I’m still the general manager and will take care of the football side of things. I might have some extra meetings.”
Maciocia didn’t communicate much with Weightman after he received the news of his departure and was not made aware of the former president’s future plans.
“We may have talked for 5-10 minutes, but that’s it. I’m gonna miss him a lot. We started together, and we won the Grey Cup in Hamilton together,” he said. “He started as an intern, I started as a volunteer. It was a full-circle moment in 2023. When everything settles down, we are probably going to go for dinner and open a good bottle of wine”.
It is unclear if this new structure will allow Maciocia to have a say in the nomination of the new CFL commissioner. He will meet with the chairman in the next few weeks but hopes that case will be closed sooner rather than later.
Maciocia concluded by saying he “lost” two to three days thinking about his new role and will now get back to what he likes to do: evaluating prospects for the 2025 CFL Draft. He had the chance to talk to 28 prospects in Regina during last week’s Combine, but he wants to have more calls with potential draft picks in the coming days.
The general manager gave himself credit for changing the team’s mentality regarding the draft and the success of local players.
“If there is someone who changed the identity of this team, I’m gonna take the credit for that,” he said. “We’re going with the talent first, but if it’s a tie between two and one of them is a Quebecer, I will go with the local product.”
The Alouettes finished first in the East Division in 2024 with a record of 12-5-1 but lost the East Final to the Toronto Argonauts. The team will open its 2025 regular season by hosting the Argonauts at Percival Molson Stadium on Friday, June 6 with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT.
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