Commissioner Randy Ambrosie continues to float Quebec City as a possible destination for CFL expansion, but one of the city’s most powerful sports investors isn’t on board with the idea.
In an exclusive French-language interview on Friday, Jacques Tanguay, the deep-pocketed businessman behind the success of the Laval Rouge et Or, told Benoit Rioux of Le Journal de Montreal that he did not believe a CFL team in Quebec City was currently viable.
“Mr. Ambrosie is a nice and courteous man, but a CFL team in Quebec, we can’t even think about it right now because there is no infrastructure to host a club in Quebec,” Tanguay told the newspaper. “It’s a project that could perhaps happen one day, but it would require new infrastructure and the investment will not come from the private sector.”
Getting Tanguay onside with an expansion proposal is widely regarded as the key to Quebec City, a fact that Ambrosie has repeatedly alluded to in public appearances. He did so again on Friday, seemingly unaware of the Quebecer’s thoughts on the matter.
“I met Mr. Tanguay last year at the Vanier Cup. He is someone who brought a lot to football in Quebec with the success of the Rouge et Or at Laval University,” Ambrosie told JDM. “We haven’t had the discussion with him yet (concerning possible expansion), but he’s someone we need to talk to, at least for his knowledge of this market, to move forward.”
Tanguay was the key force and monetary backer behind the launch of the Universté Laval football team in 1996 and has served as president of their board of directors ever since. The Rouge et Or have become a national powerhouse, in part due to their unique financial structure, winning a record 11 Vanier Cups. The Rouge et Or captured their latest national championship in 2022, defeating the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by a score of 30-24.
The 62-year-old was also critical to the return of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts in 1997 and served as club president until stepping down earlier this year. That team was purchased by Quebecor in 2014, the company run by new Montreal Alouettes owner Pierre Karl Peladeau.
Tanguay does not appear to want to add launching a CFL team to his resume. While many have pointed to the Rouge et Or’s strong attendance numbers as evidence that a professional football team would thrive in the city, he is quick to point out the limitations of Quebec’s only suitable venue — the Pavillon de l’Education Physique et des Sports (PEPS) at Laval.
“For PEPS, it’s made for 12,500 people [seated] and the reality is that it is impossible to expand with what is around it. It does not meet the standards of the Canadian Football League.”
The Rouge et Or averaged 13,122 fans last season, more than double any other university program in Canada. Major rivalry games, like their annual clash against the Université de Montréal, attract even more attention, with 18,173 tickets sold last year. However, most of those additional fans are in standing-room-only sections.
The CFL has tested the waters with two preseason games at PEPS this century, receiving mixed results. A clash between the Alouettes and Ottawa Renegades in 2003 drew a respectable crowd of 10,358 with considerable backing from the Rouge et Or. A second matchup between Montreal and the expansion Redblacks attracted just 4,778 in 2015 without local support from Tanguay.
Fans and prominent CFL voices in Quebec like Alouettes’ general manager Danny Maciocia continue to back the idea of a team in the provincial capital. However, Ambrosie has typically positioned the city as an alternative to Atlantic expansion, with the team still struggling to find stable footing in Halifax.
Tanguay sees Nova Scotia as a more viable option than his hometown but shares the same expansion-based pessimism of many in CFL circles.
“For the city of Halifax, it’s definitely an interesting destination to add a CFL club in the east of the country, but again, I haven’t seen a new stadium built yet.”
