CFL: If I Were Montreal Alouettes President Larry Smith...

These are good times for Larry Smith, ex-CFL commissioner and current president of the Montreal Alouettes.

His football team finally won the Grey Cup (with a little help from the officials), his football stadium is being expanded by 5,000 seats, and he had an impressive crowd of over 53,000 to see the Alouettes in their last home game in the Eastern Final.

But Larry, if I were you, I know how I could make things even better. Start networking with Quebecor (or any other sports-minded rich Quebecer) who is interested in getting Quebec City into the CFL permanently.

As CFL commissioner, you tried to take the boldest step the CFL has ever taken in my lifetime by trying to expand into the United States.

It was a good try and succeeded in Baltimore where the CFL still has some friends, but the great experiment proved to be a failure.

The only good thing that came out of it was that it got Montreal back into the CFL permanently after the Concordes went out of business a few years ago.

Subsequently, you quit as commissioner and became the relocated Baltimore team's new president where you have had a successful team ever since.

And yet curiously for a man who took the boldest risk in recent CFL history, you have been extremely conservative since.

Instead of trying to bite off more than you can chew like you did as commissioner, you've played it cozy to the vest.

To save expenses and make a profit, your team plays in the smallest stadium in the CFL—with 5,000 seats less than the CFL minimum requirement of 25,000.

You live within your means. The second biggest market in the CFL plays in a stadium that seats 10,000 less than the stadium in the smallest CFL market in Regina.

That's extreme austerity considering the population of Montreal is over 3 million and Regina still hasn't cracked the 200,000 mark.

But Larry, even you have to be impressed with the 53,000 who came to the Eastern Final. You must have made a good profit even playing in the Olympic Stadium. Do you want more?

You always sell out for your home games, but that is because you are playing in a tiny stadium where you can't help but sell out.

You need rival teams from cities who will be a better draw in Montreal. In the eastern conference, you have Winnipeg, Hamilton and Toronto.

The first two cities are an OK draw in your little stadium, but you won't play a regular season game against them in a venue like the Olympic Stadium. Toronto is your only natural rival.

You were supposed to get Ottawa back next year, but the indifference shown by the city council to get stadium plans under way has delayed things for a while.

Ottawa would certainly be a better draw than Winnipeg and Hamilton.

But the real prize is Quebec City, and sports fans there have been making noise recently.

Quebec seems to be the coming city in Canada. In the last census, they pulled ahead of Winnipeg in population and outgrew Hamilton becooming the seventh-largest city in Canada.

Last year, they successfully staged their 400th anniversary celebration and this year they are looking for new fields to conquer.

Unfortunately, most of the hunt seems to be for the return of the Nordiques to the NHL and staging the Winter Olympics. The mayor has thrown his support behind a $400 million arena and a major investor, Quebecor, has been recruited as principal franchise owner.

Nobody is talking CFL.

But there is football interest. This year, Quebec staged the college level Vanier Cup and sold out all the tickets, over 18,000, at the Laval University Stadium. That's better than what they do in Toronto.

Now if that interest could be transferred to a professional team in the CFL—that would mean good business prospects for you.

When Quebec was in the NHL, there wasn't a better draw or more bitter rival for the Canadiens than the Nordiques. Imagine if that rivalry could be transferred from hockey to football.

Quebec would be a permanent good draw in Montreal—no matter how lousy each team was and the championship of the province would be at stake.

Imagine an eastern conference of Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton.  That's far more attractive than the way things are now.

The only two problems are that there is no CFL-size stadium in Quebec and no impressive investor has stepped forward.

But you could help matters by starting to network with some rich sports-minded Quebecers. 

Persuade Quebecor to enlarge its concept into a multi-sport arena stadium combination or find someone else in the province who would like to own a football team.

Point out that impressive 53,000 and the sold-out Vanier Cup. Remember how you convinced the CFL Board of Governors to expand with visions of sold-out American stadiums?

Now do the same with Quebec investors. Fire up their imaginations with the money Quebec will make by staging the Grey Cup.

Convince them of the glory there will be if their team wins the Grey Cup and there is a victorious parade through the Plains of Abraham before thousands of cheering fans.

Tell them that the expansion fee is a measly $7 million as opposed to the NHL entry fee, and that they could start immediately by expanding Laval Stadium by a few thousand seats for a temporary home until a permanent stadium is built.

As commissioner, you were eager to go into far more risky territory. But here is a permanent great draw for Montreal right on your own doorstep.

A few games each year against Quebec and Ottawa will be more attractive to Montreal fans and could probably draw more than the 20,000-25,000 you get now.

Who knows, with Quebec and Ottawa in the eastern conference, you might be able to scrap that 5,000 seating expansion and move back to the Olympic Stadium. Permanently.