1996 Montreal Alouettes season
| 1996 Montreal Alouettes season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bob Price |
| Home field | Olympic Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 12–6 |
| Division place | 2nd, East |
| Playoff finish | Lost East Final |
| Uniform | |
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The 1996 Montreal Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division with a 12–6 record in the franchise's first full season in the Canadian Football League since 1986. Unlike the lean years from 1981-86, the revived Alouettes were going to be competitive, especially since most of them had won the Grey Cup in the previous season as the Baltimore Stallions. They had some nice talented offensive players from that team, such as Tracy Ham, Mike Pringle, kick returner Chris Wright, slotback Chris Armstrong, and two great defensive players in Irvin Smith, and Elfrid Payton. After a slow start they rebounded to finish strong and after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they traveled to Toronto, where they were defeated in the East Final by the eventual Grey Cup champions, the Toronto Argonauts.
Starting in the 1993 CFL season, the league began expanding into the United States with hopes of boosting revenues and saw five US-based teams in 1995, including the dominant Baltimore Stallions. Prior to the 1996 NFL season, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell, announced his intentions to move the Browns to Baltimore, meaning there would be two professional football teams in the city. Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that the Stallions could not realistically compete with an NFL team and decided to move the team elsewhere. He looked into moving the team to Houston, Texas, but after a deal could not be resolved, he decided to move the team to Montreal as the third incarnation of the Alouettes.
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