Group looking at buying Elks would bring 'passion' to ownership

The Edmonton Elks logo is displayed at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on June 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

The Edmonton Elks have spoken to the Canadian Football League's board of governors regarding its ownership.

The team is not divulging what was said.

The club is possibly looking at private ownership for the first time it was founded in 1949.

A five-person committee has been conducting an ownership review. It will put forward recommendations to the Elks' board of directors, which will then determine the best ownership structure for the club moving forward.

The club has not set a date for when it will release the findings of its special committee.

One group trying to buy the Elks is headed by former offensive tackle Garrick Jones, who played for the Green and Gold from 2008-09 and two other CFL teams along with stints in the NFL.

Jones owns a business that looks into sports acquisitions and entertainment districts.

His group consists of business owners and former players — among those on his the executive board, he says, are former Edmonton personnel such as Damon Allen, Fred Stamps, Calvin McCarty, Adam Rita and Dan Comiskey — something Jones says makes them competitive.

"That's that passion and that fire and that desire that is needed for an ownership group, because if you don't have passion, then it's just transactional," Jones told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

"We're going to see if we can implement some of these practices we've done in our business and see if it works. It's something that we want to put our name on, it's about a legacy.

"We want to be able to have our names etched in stone, but at the same time, we want to bring that innovative format to the table."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg and Craig Ellingson