Editing Montreal Alouettes (section)

===Baltimore Stallions (1994–1995)===
{{Further|Baltimore Stallions}}
The [[Baltimore Stallions|Baltimore Football Club]] was granted an expansion franchise for 1994 by the [[Canadian Football League]] during their [[Canadian Football League in the United States|American expansion]] of the early-mid 1990s. After the NFL's [[Indianapolis Colts]] (who had moved from Baltimore in 1983) blocked attempts to name the new team the ''Baltimore CFL Colts,'' owner [[Jim Speros]] eventually settled on ''Stallions'' as a nickname. The Stallions were by far the most successful of the CFL's American teams, garnering strong fan support in the [[Baltimore]] area and appearing in the [[Grey Cup]] in both its seasons, losing in 1994 and winning in 1995. To date, they are the only American-based team to play for and win the Grey Cup. Only a week before the Stallions won the Grey Cup, [[Cleveland Browns]] owner [[Art Modell]] announced his intention to [[Cleveland Browns relocation controversy|relocate]] his [[National Football League|NFL]] club to Baltimore.  Support for the Stallions dried up almost overnight. With no reasonable prospect of successfully competing with an NFL team, and unwilling to have his club effectively reduced to "minor-league" status in Baltimore, Speros decided to move the Stallions elsewhere.<ref name="OralHistory"/>

At one point, Speros was very close to moving the team to [[Houston, Texas]]. Although Houston at the time was still home to the [[Houston Oilers|NFL's Oilers]], fan support for that team had collapsed due their pending [[Tennessee Titans|relocation to Nashville]] (to later become the Titans). Speros had reason to believe a CFL team there could repeat the success that had been enjoyed in Baltimore.<ref name=OralHistory/> In addition, a team in Houston would have been natural rivals for the [[San Antonio Texans]], who were still planning to play the 1996 season had at least one other U.S. team survived. On the other hand, the proposed move to Houston was considered in some circles to be little more than a ploy to win concessions from the NFL, which presumably would not have wanted to risk the embarrassment of having one of its teams outdrawn by a team from another league in the same city. The NFL would return to Houston in 2002 in the form of the [[Houston Texans|Texans]].

In the end, under prodding from league commissioner and former Alouettes running back [[Larry Smith (Canadian politician)|Larry Smith]], Speros began talks with Montreal. Smith had been looking for a way to return the CFL to Canada's second-largest market and, at the same time, find a way out of the failing American expansion (which Smith had also presided over). He believed that the defending Grey Cup champions would be a better vehicle for reviving football in Montreal than what would have effectively been an expansion team.<ref name="OralHistory">{{cite web|url=http://cnsmaryland.org/interactives/baltimore-stallions-oral-history|title=Baltimore's Forgotten Champions: An Oral History|publisher=Capital News Service Maryland|access-date=11 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=Ralph>{{cite web|last=Ralph|first=Dan|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19960126&id=iBUmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2P0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4313,1970578|title=Speros reportedly close to pulling Stallions|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=26 January 1996|access-date=11 November 2014}}</ref>

At a league meeting on February 2, 1996; Speros formally requested permission to move the Stallions to Montreal.  The request was granted, officially ending the CFL's American experiment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19960204&id=GrgfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=q9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3044,359055|title=CFL's American experiment ends as Stallions move north to Montreal|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=3 February 1996|access-date=11 November 2014}}</ref>  However, talks had been so far advanced that at least one Baltimore outlet reported that the Stallions were moving to Montreal in January.<ref name=Ralph/>  According to at least one Canadian outlet, at the same time Speros had already begun deciding whether to retain the Stallions moniker or "revive" the Alouettes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/1996/01/31/Leagues-Governing-Bodies/THE-CFL-MEETS-ITS-DESTINY-THIS-WEEK.aspx?hl=CFL&sc=0|title=The CFL meets its destiny this week |date=31 January 1996|publisher=Sports Business Daily |access-date=26 January 2014}}</ref>  He ultimately chose the latter course, reconstituting his organisation as the third incarnation of the Alouettes. While Speros was able to reclaim the history of the 1946–86 Alouettes/Concordes franchise, he was not allowed to retain the history of the Stallions. As a result, according to official CFL records, Speros is now reckoned as having surrendered the Stallions franchise before "reactivating" the Alouettes franchise. The Alouettes are now retconned as having suspended operations from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are officially one of only three modern-era Grey Cup champions to fold (after the Rough Riders and the original Alouettes). The Alouettes, however, do briefly mention the Stallions on their history page.

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Montreal Alouettes Logo (2000-2018).svg|thumb|200px|The Alouettes logo used from 1996-2018.]] -->
While all of the Stallions players were released from their contracts, general manager [[Jim Popp]], who followed the team from Baltimore, was able to re-sign many of them. However, as with all the other U.S.-based CFL teams, the Stallions had been exempt from CFL rules that mandated a certain quota of Canadian "non-import" players on team rosters.  For this reason, an [[expansion draft]] was held to help stock the Alouettes with the required number of Canadian players.  Popp hired former Stallions assistant coach [[Bob Price (Canadian football)|Bob Price]] to be the new head coach of the revived Alouettes. With the help of much of the core of the Stallions, the Alouettes were able to overcome a slow start to finish with their first winning record since 1979. They defeated the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] in the East semifinal before being defeated by the Argos 43–7 in the East Final.

In 1997, Speros sold the team to developer and investor [[Robert Wetenhall]], who owned the team until he officially transferred ownership to the league on May 31, 2019.<ref name="3downnation.com">{{Cite web|url=https://3downnation.com/2019/05/31/alouettes-sold-to-the-cfl/|title=Alouettes sold to the CFL |website=3DownNation|first=3Down|last=Staff|date=June 2019 }}</ref> Smith stepped down as league commissioner and became president of the Alouettes. Bob Price left the Alouettes to head south and coach in the NCAA. Popp hired former B.C. Lions head coach and Concordes defensive line coach [[Dave Ritchie (Canadian football)|Dave Ritchie]] as his successor.