This really isn’t fair to QC as Houston is blatantly lacking a team and the obvious #1 contender for expansion.
In this case let’s just say the “some people” are not in the NHL’s target demographic.
Texas is like a mini-America with pockets of mind-blowing wealth surrounded by large swaths of rural middle-class and a significant amount of third-world poverty. The NHL doesn’t care that people in Brownsville are miserable, they’re looking for the Dubai-like money to be made in downtown Houston.
Yeah. Uncomfortable truth is, poor people don't spend money on "luxuries" like sporting events. So that demographic doesn't really factor in for the NHL's consideration. They're looking at the demographics of population that has the disposable income to buy season tickets, TV packages, jerseys and merchandise, etc. People who have cars and drive everywhere and can pay for parking at the arena, which is a weird cash cow for places that implement that measure.
And in that sense...Houston is an untapped market with huge potential. The richest and even the medium rich, are there in plenty. Whether they'll latch on to NHL hockey or not is always the question with "non-traditional markets". Which also often just boils down to, "can you ice a competitive team"?
Quebec City has plenty of meat in that demographic as well though. There's way less of the "ultra rich" at the top though. But plenty in the "medium" demographic that are doing well enough to at least buy some tickets and jerseys and stuff.
As a probably completely irrelevant tangent though, maybe not even worth asking but i will anyway...what on earth is "rural middle class"? Truly "Rural" areas tend to have absolutely massive wealth gaps without a lot in the middle. Unless we're just talking about all of Americas sort of "exurb" obsession. With entire bedroom communities of "upper middle class" or whatever fleeing the poverty city and driving hours a day to commute to everything.
The
actually Rural thing is arguably far more of a factor for the Quebec City market. Where a new Nordiques franchise would realistically have to lean a lot on areas of very rural, remote, and "small town" Quebec, and with a few small (non-Montreal area) cities pitching in. It's not necessarily an impossible ask...Oilers derive plenty of support and revenue from remote Northern Alberta and BC. Even the Territories. But it's definitely a factor to consider with the idea of the Nordiques return. They'd have to capitalize similarly on the whole, "Not Montreal" sentiment. Which is ultimately the crux of the issue, where it's likely to be mostly cannibalizing from other teams "market" effectively.
