When Mark Weightman walked into Pierre Karl Péladeau’s office atop the Quebecor Tower, he knew what this invitation meant. A shop steward from PKP, the new owner of the Alouettes, had already expressed his interest.
But nothing was decided as we had already met several candidates. He knew.
At the appointed time he entered the great room. The store manager waved at him and Weightman sat down on the large sofa. Then, as usual, Péladeau sat in a comfortable chair in front of him and crossed his left leg to get a better look at his guest.
It was gone. “He seduced me when he left,” says Mark Weightman. “He’s a guy who knows what he wants. He told me why he bought the Alouettes and what he was planning to do. It was kind of okay what he said at the press conference. But personally, the tone, the intensity, it’s different. I answered his questions, we talked and discussed our visions,” said the new president of the Alouettes.
It must have been exciting as the meeting lasted more than an hour. “When it was time to leave, we exchanged a handshake. I have been conquered. It didn’t take me two days to accept. But he wasn’t ready,” Weightman added.
TWO DAYS LATER
It wasn’t until two days later that Weightman received confirmation that he had the job. He who had chaired after Jim Popp, after Anthony Calvillo and after Marc Trestman until 2016 before being carried away by the anger of Andrew Wetenhall, the angry son of Bob Wetenhall, owner of the Alouettes, returned to his chair . And also through the front door.
With a huge task ahead of him. “Due to the circumstances, it is time to bring pride back to the club. There is no magic recipe for this. But it starts with wins. The club has to win. Then these victories make it easier to identify with the team. In addition to winning, the club can contribute to the good of society. And the last point: you have to make the right decisions. People feel that and are proud of it,” summarizes Weightman.
“And that’s accomplished by creating a culture that reaches out to community throughout Quebec and Montreal and develops an atmosphere in the stadium. We need to welcome and care for every customer,” says the President.
Long live Sweden
The man is happy. He finds himself in the right place after going through a multitude of new experiences. The positive is that a man of his caliber learns from these experiences.
Weightman has been married to a Swede for more than twenty years. He gets by with Swedish and spent several weeks a year in the house the family bought near Linköping in Sweden. He already knew the people at the ice hockey club and when he became unemployed, the people at Linköping Lions quickly jumped at the chance. He found himself as a “Senior Marketing Consultant”.
Then Geoff Molson and France-Margaret Bélanger quickly spotted him and we brought him back to Quebec to become President of Place Bell and Rocket.
Two years later, Canadian management changed their minds, centralizing all subsidiary activities, and Mark Weightman found himself head of Lausanne Lions in Switzerland.
Then came the offer from the Trois-Rivières lions. Inside the Videotron Coliseum. Featuring games on TVA Sports from LP Neveu. In a neighborhood of Quebecor.
Pierre Karl Péladeau only had to buy the Alouettes and everything fell into place.
So here, ladies and gentlemen, is the former and, most importantly, the new president of the Montreal Alouettes…
