The Montreal Alouettes, also known as Les Alouettes de Montréal, are a Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Alouettes play in the East Division of the CFL. Their home venue is Percival Molson Memorial Stadium and the head coach is Jason Maas.
📜 Montreal Alouettes History
The Alouettes were formed in 1946 by Lew Hayman, a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and businessmen Eric Cradock and Léo Dandurand. The name of the team is based on the traditional Quebecois work song "Alouette".
The team won its first Grey Cup with a victory over Calgary in 1949. The 1950s proved a very successful decade in Montreal, and in 1958 the Alouettes joined the newly established Canadian Football League.
A terrible trade deal in 1960 began a very difficult period for the Alouettes, who recorded losing seasons for the next decade. Workman sold the team in 1969 after the team finished a 2-12 season. Under new ownership, the Alouettes immediately saw a change in fortune, reaching and winning the Grey Cup in 1970.
The 1970s were full of success for the Alouettes, who made it to 6 Grey Cups and won 3 of them. The early 1980s brought administrative problems, however, and the franchise struggled with high levels of debt. Owner Nelson Skalbania returned the team to the league, but refused to surrender ownership of the name and logos, so in 1982, businessman Charles Bronfman established the Montreal Concordes to replace the Alouettes in the CFL.
After coming to an agreement with Skalbania, the Concordes became the Alouettes once more in 1986, but the franchise folded in 1987. A replacement team based in the US, the Baltimore Stallions, competed in the CFL for several years, until the Alouettes were revived in Montreal in 1996.
The 2000s finally saw the Alouettes return to their winning ways, and Montreal gained 3 Grey Cups in 2002, 2009, and 2010.
