Elks headed to private ownership as losses pile up

Larry Thompson is the new private owner of the Edmonton Elks. A CFL source said the former owner of Thompson Brothers Construction will become the franchise's new owner.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because neither the CFL nor the Elks have publicly confirmed the sale.

With Thompson taking over, the CFL now has just two community-owned franchises in Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.

The franchise formed a five-person committee last November to evaluate its ownership structure due to financial struggles. The team, which has been community-owned since it was founded in 1949, reported a $3.3-million deficit in 2022 and was looking for private investment to stabilize its future.

"We are going to need a capital investment on the club going forward, because it's going to take us a couple of years to get out of these losses we've been accumulating on an annual basis," Rick LeLacheur, the team's interim president and CEO, said at the time.