CF Montréal

CF Montréal Sale: What We Know (and What We Don’t Know) After 48 Hours
Maxime Truman
CF Montréal Sale: What We Know (and What We Don’t Know) After 48 Hours
Credit: Getty Images

Wednesday Morning Confession: I think I have a unique trait. When I commit to something, I give it 100 percent; it becomes an obsession.

When I was younger and playing music, that was all I thought about from morning till night. And God knows that all too often, mornings started early and evenings seemed to go on forever…

When I launched DLC, that was all I did. I worked all the time. I'd get up at 5:45 a.m. even on vacation so I could move my business forward while my partner and the kids were still asleep.

When I agreed to co-host alongside my friend Georges Laraque for a season, I thought about it from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

When I decided to follow CF Montréal on a daily basis, I went to EVERY practice… even the closed-door ones where I only had access for 15 minutes.

Since Monday afternoon, I've been consuming EVERY piece of content created related to CF Montréal—from videos on social media to articles and audio/video segments in our traditional media…

You know what? Something really bothers me: hearing or reading people who know nothing about CF Montréal, soccer, the MLS, or the Saputo family giving us their two cents (and very often, getting paid to do so).

When I read a journalist telling us that San Diego FC is also up for sale, it makes my skin crawl.

When I hear a member of the National Assembly promoting the fan-owner (socios) model—popular in Spain and Germany—in the hope of saving CF Montréal… while ignoring the fact that MLS wants nothing to do with that model, it discourages me.

When people discussing the sale of CF Montréal refer to the club as FC Montréal or FC de Montréal, it lacks credibility.

And when people tell me that it's up to the government to save CF Montréal, I remind myself that we do, in fact, live in a society that leans much more to the left than to the right. Honestly, the last thing I'd ever want to see is the provincial government buying CF Montréal. In any case, MLS would never want to see PSPP show up at a Governors' meeting to represent Montreal's shareholders…

I'm joking and exaggerating… just a little!

There are too many people drawn to the smell of blood right now. It bothers me.

Facts and Speculation Based on Facts

There have been three transactions in MLS over the past two years.

2025: San Diego FC paid a $500 million (US) expansion fee to the league (and the owners) to secure a franchise in Southern California.

January 2026: The Illig family sold 71% of Sporting Kansas City to Peter Malouk based on a valuation of $700 million (US).

May 2026: The Haslem family sold a 37% stake in the Columbus Crew for an estimated valuation of $900 million (US). And this is despite the fact that Forbes values the Crew at only $805 million.

In short, forget about $400 million or $500 million offers to buy CF Montréal! The MLS won't want to drive down the average value of its franchises.

According to reliable sources, Joey Saputo reportedly told Luc Poirier during their brief conversation that he valued CF Montréal at at least 700 million U.S. dollars. So it's unlikely to sell for less than 650 million U.S. dollars—or 925 million Canadian dollars!

A Small Ray of Hope

Yesterday, other reliable sources told me that MLS would most likely require a relocation fee of $200 million to $300 million from any investor intending to buy CF Montréal and move it south of the border.

That would mean that an offer from a group hypothetically led by Geoff Molson could be 199 million U.S. dollars lower than that of a businessman from Arizona and still be more attractive than the one coming from south of the border.

The problem, however, remains the same: there are VERY few billionaires in Quebec, and I don't recall seeing a single one of them show any interest in soccer culture.

Quebec has only 17 billionaires, including the Saputo family. Here is the list according to Forbes:

(Credit: Google)

Note that Stephen Jarislowsky passed away after this list was published.

Also note that Forbes seems to have left out the Desmarais family, the Bombardier family, the Molson family, and businessman Andrew Lutfy.

So we have 20 potential buyers, but none of them come directly from the soccer world. And to buy a soccer club valued at nearly one billion Canadian dollars, you'd need a certain passion for soccer…

Is Geoff Molson interested?

First, I'm convinced that if the Molson family were interested in acquiring CF Montréal, they would have done so before announcing the team's sale themselves (via National).

Second, trusted sources have told me that the CH Group might join a potential consortium if it's solid and led by a competent, trustworthy leader. For now, there isn't one.

These people don't see Geoff Molson as the leader of a group interested in acquiring CF Montréal.

Buyers Driven by Social Media and the Press

We've seen Luc Poirier express interest in buying CF Montréal. Yes, he loves soccer—he's had a box at Stade Saputo for years—but he really isn't wealthy enough to pull it off. And according to my sources, the phone call between Luc Poirier and Joey Saputo didn't last very long and reportedly ended with: “20 to 30 million in annual losses and an acquisition cost of nearly one billion Canadian dollars? No thanks!”

Olivier Primeau—he, too—is REALLY not rich enough for his name to be seriously considered in any potential scenarios…

And until proven otherwise, Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is worth $100 million or less. Yes, he has cash… but not enough to acquire an MLS franchise. And judging by his social media activity, I'm pretty sure the MLS will never want him in its inner circle.

The sale of CF Montréal, the return of the Expos… these things are negotiated and handled privately, not on social media. The business plans to make it happen are created without the help of artificial intelligence, and they aren't shared on X.

There's still the option of a foreign investor who wants to keep the franchise in Montreal. I want to believe it, but I haven't heard any names of foreign investors. We'll see in due time.

Final Doubt

Yesterday, I was told that CF Montréal is still in the lead to secure the Canadian national training center. The site has reportedly already been found, and the partners have already been identified.

Will the sale of CF Montréal cause everyone to take a step back on this issue?

At the same time, why would CF Montréal want to invest so much in Montreal when the Saputo family has decided to sell the franchise?

Something doesn't add up…

Unless the process to secure the national training center and the negotiations with the Olympic Stadium were just a smokescreen?