If things go the way he hopes, Clifford Starke will own the Alouettes before the Canadian Football League season kicks off in June.
The chairman of Hampstead Private Capital put out a statement on Thursday confirming his interest in purchasing the team, which has been owned by American businessman Robert Wetenhall since 1997. There has been speculation the league has assumed control of the team and is looking for a new owner, something the CFL has not confirmed.
The question Montreal football fans have now is: Who is Clifford Starke?
The 35-year-old grew up in Montreal as a huge Alouettes fan and was very close with the family of Larry Smith, the former CFL commissioner and Alouettes president who is now a member of the Senate of Canada. Smith’s son, Brad, and Starke have been best friends since Grade 8 at Lower Canada College and were later roommates at Queen’s University. Brad Smith is now working as a consultant with Starke’s potential ownership group.
Starke grew up watching Alouettes games at Molson Stadium while sitting beside Larry Smith, Brad Smith and Brad’s grandmother. Starke later became an investment banker and was very successful on Toronto’s Bay St.
“Really, the past six, seven years my life has completely changed,” Starke said Friday in a phone interview from Australia, where he is on business. “The focus was on pharmaceutical and more recently medical cannabis. My partners and I have created billions of billions of dollars of capitalization. The whole taboo of cannabis and smoking a joint on the corner is done. We’re now presenting a pharmaceutical-grade product to someone to get better. Mental health, stress, anxiety, pain relief, that type of thing. So I’m on a global scale of operations in Uruguay, Colombia, Israel, Germany, Denmark, Portugal … it goes on and on. My day-to-day focus is cannabis related, specifically on one company called Franchise Cannabis Corp.”
Starke said one of his representatives has been in communication with the CFL, adding: “I don’t want to comment too much because I think it’s a process that’s ongoing and we’re going to respect the league and the Wetenhall family for now. I think now it’s very clear that there’s a real intention to move forward as fast as possible.”
Asked why he decided to send out his statement this week, Starke said: “It was more for the fans. I think they’re in the dark. Right now there’s a lot of uncertainty. It got leaked a bit in the last couple of weeks about my interest and I wanted to put out something formal to say: Yes, this true. Secondly, we’re moving forward and we’re going to try and own the team as fast as we can.”
Asked what the biggest holdup is now, Starke said: “That’s a good question. I think right now … listen, it’s a situation where we need to understand who are we negotiating with, to be honest with you. And I think that’s why we need to take four or five steps back and respect the league and the Wetenhall family. In the coming weeks, I think there’s going to be a lot of clarity on that.”
Starke said his interest in the Alouettes peaked last summer when the team acquired quarterback Johnny Manziel from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Manziel didn’t last long and his contract was terminated in February after the QB contravened an agreement that made him eligible to play in the CFL.
“I thought that was going to be a Doug Flutie type of turn and I was getting excited again and re-engaged,” Starke said. “And I also looked at Mr. Wetenhall — he’s had a phenomenal career. Ivy Leaguer, Wall St. guy, 20-years-plus owner, three Grey Cups. But he’s also in his mid-80s. So I reached out to Brad to see if there’s an opportunity here and that’s kind of where it started. More recently, obviously, I’ve been way more active. But overall, I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m excited for it.”
Starke wants to bring the Alouettes back to being the team he remembers watching as a fan when the team finished first in the East Division nine times between 1999 and 2012, made eight Grey Cup appearances and won championships in 2002, 2009 and 2010. The Alouettes have missed the playoffs the last four seasons.
Starke said he would be the majority shareholder in the Alouettes and bring in other business partners.
“Listen, I’m a Tier 1 guy in business,” he said. “I’m going to bring in Tier 1 guys around me from a management perspective to run day-to-day operations, but also on the advertising and the marketing and the sales.”
What’s his message to Alouettes fans now?
“We’re a very serious group,” Starke said. “We’re going to take the right steps to move forward and we want the fans to come back and feel passion for the game and the team and we’re serious about everything we’re saying publicly.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
