Alan Thicke and O.J. Simpson Almost Owned A Canadian Football Team In The 90's

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats were up for sale. Hamilton businessman David Braley bought the team in 1989, but the team struggled to make a profit with poor attendance. With Wayne Gretzky and John Candy having recently been a part of a group to buy the Toronto Argonauts, the Hamilton brass turned to Canada’s greatest treasure – Alan Thicke. From TSN:

Thicke said he got support from actor Martin Short, musician and producer David Foster and [O.J.] Simpson to join the venture. Thicke said he felt Simpson was nearby and had the Buffalo experience, so he knew the Toronto and Hamilton market.

It was not to be…

“I rounded up this group and it all disappeared in one day,” Thicke told The Mike Richards Show on TSN Radio 1050 Toronto on Tuesday. “I was going into the studio one day and everybody was watching the television, riveted to the screen. I looked over and (realized) one of my partners is going down the freeway in a Bronco. It was O.J. Simpson. That was as close as I got to ownership.”

All because of one little freeway chase! If only they could have gotten past O.J.’s one little dust-up with the law.

[TSN, Getty]