Longtime CF Montréal owner Joey Saputo is selling the club, doesn’t dismiss relocation: ‘It’s time to move on’

Joey Saputo, the longtime owner of MLS' CF Montréal, is putting the club up for sale. In a press conference on Monday held in both French and English, Saputo said the team has started to explore a sale of the club, and added that "it's time to move on." The 62-year-old owner said the goal of the sale is to "ensure continuity, preserve stability and create the right condition for the club's next chapter of growth and success." "There comes a time when we must recognize that a chapter needs to come to an end," Saputo said in a prepared statement. "After more than three decades of family ownership and leadership, the decision was taken to initiate a structured sale process. … We believe this is the proper time to identify new ownership for CF Montreal. "This decision is neither driven by urgency, nor dictated by circumstance. It's the result of a careful and deliberate reflection on where we stand today, and more importantly on the opportunities that lie ahead of the club." Saputo is the son of billionaire Emanuele "Lino" Saputo, who is the CEO and founder of Canadian dairy giant Saputo Inc. Joey Saputo founded Montreal Impact, in 1992 and helped navigate it to join MLS in 2012; the club was rebranded to CF Montréal in 2021. Saputo is also the majority owner of Italian club Bologna. During the press conference, Saputo said the club has hired two firms, but that he hasn't had the chance to sit down with them yet. He repeatedly said he is not looking for a partner in the team, but instead an owner to take full control of the franchise. Though Saputo initially said that his "clear preference" is to find a buyer who will keep the franchise in Montréal, Saputo later admitted he would sell to someone interested in relocation if the local offers are too low. "I would love for the club to stay here in Montréal. But if the club doesn't find a local buyer, and I get an offer, and the club needs to be relocated, then I have no choice and that's the decision I will take. I will not discount the club to the point of just giving it away for the sake of giving it away. "At that point, I'm not doing anyone a favor by selling it to someone just to keep it here, that won't have the capacity to bring the club to the next level." Montréal has struggled mightily over the past two seasons, failing to make the playoffs over the last two seasons. This year, Montréal finished second-to-last in the league with a 6W-8D-20L record. "It's not the past season that we had, or wasn't one particular event," Saputo said. "When you've been in this the amount of time that I've been in this, there comes a certain point when you say, 'You know what, I've done everything I could possibly do, and it's time to pass the torch.'" CF Montréal's season came to an end with MLS Decision Day , after the team failed to make the postseason for the second straight year. Montréal has never made it past the semifinals in the MLS postseason.