Why put a team in small market Quebec when the jets aren't doing well attendance wise? Winnipeg is a bigger market too. Move on Quebec.
Quebec City trying to keep the flame alive
- Thread starter GordonGraham
- Start date
-
Work is still on-going to rebuild the site styling and features. Please report any issues you may experience so we can look into it. Click Here for Updates
They need to grow for sure otherwise 30 years from now hockey will be even more niche than it is now. There is a lack of diversity in players (yes it's a big issue in 2023) and the costs are so prohibited to enter into hockey. Even in Canada you are starting to see other sports make in-roads like basketball where it's just so much more accessible and mainstream that the NBA is actually taking notice and mentioning potential expansion at some point to Vancouver and Montreal.
Quebec city does NOTHING for the league outside of attendance and that will only last so long. I hate to offend any Quebec city natives but It actually makes the league look minor league having teams in places like Quebec city. A lot of American fans and international fans (which is where the potential growth is) haven't even heard of Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg.
Final Baton
Registered User
I disagree : it definitely does something for the canadian TV deal : that's 82 more canadian games broadcasted on TVA Sport(who's associated with Sportsnet on the TV deal front. These two share some of their broadcast revenues with each other).
That's an increase of 14% of canadian teams's broadcasted games, that's certainly not insignificant.
But yeah as I said on the first page of this thread : I don't believe we'll ever get a team back regardless.
Last edited:
No Fun Shogun
34-38-61-10-13-15
People that poo-poo QC's viability and attractiveness confuse me. They're a wealthy Canadian market with a significant hockey history. They'd make a lot of money.
But their shortcoming is still their size. QC would be tiny all things considered, which gives them less breathing room than could be the case as a second or third or fourth fiddle in a major market.
So, from the NHL's perspective, they look like a low ceiling but high floor landing spot, and that apparently trumps all, unfortunately. I stand by my opinion that the NHL wants to keep QC as a Winnipeg redux option, where if a team's finances and ownership interest completely ruins dry and they have to move a team on an at-most offseason's notice.
But their shortcoming is still their size. QC would be tiny all things considered, which gives them less breathing room than could be the case as a second or third or fourth fiddle in a major market.
So, from the NHL's perspective, they look like a low ceiling but high floor landing spot, and that apparently trumps all, unfortunately. I stand by my opinion that the NHL wants to keep QC as a Winnipeg redux option, where if a team's finances and ownership interest completely ruins dry and they have to move a team on an at-most offseason's notice.
Stumbledore
Registered User
I agree with your points about Quebec City, but I cringe at the idea of making decisions based on what American fans know or don't know of geography outside of their own country.
Tired: The NHL having teams in the sunbelt is stupid because no one there likes hockey.
Wired: The NHL having teams in Canada is stupid because everyone there already likes hockey.
Inspired: The NHL having teams in Canada is stupid because Joe Sportsfan doesn't own a Atlas.
Wired: The NHL having teams in Canada is stupid because everyone there already likes hockey.
Inspired: The NHL having teams in Canada is stupid because Joe Sportsfan doesn't own a Atlas.
BKIslandersFan
F*** off
I actually agree with Stumbledore for once. How many people outside US heard of Columbus or Raleigh? If Columbus didn't have NHL team I doubt even Canadians would know where it was. Unless they like college football.
Stumbledore
Registered User
Not just sports fans and not stupid. But certainly geographically challenged.
In one recent survey, 92% of Americans could not point to Lithuania on a map.
Back in the day of the Great Plains Challenge quiz show, all contestants on the Canadian team could name all 50 states and more than 40 of the state capitols.
None of the American contestants could name all 10 provinces and not one person could name all provincial capitols.
I can't imagine having trouble locating Lithuania on a map is limited to Americans. Outside of Europe I'm thinking the success rate is going to be really low regardless.
Stumbledore
Registered User
Perhaps. I've not see any reliable data. But I've read countless international opinions about the focus of education in various countries around the world. One conclusion that many authors in many countries have reached is that Americans care little for geography outside of their own borders. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing -- or even of any importance -- I'll leave up to you.
Guilty as charged as the only reason I can point to where Lithuania is is because some guys called Danius Zubrus and Jonas Valanciunas played on their national teams - and they say funding national teams does nothing for a country! At least people can now find you on a map!
It'd be more eyebrow raising if you said most Americans couldn't point to where Japan or Germany are on a map (and I really think some adults couldn't) but asking where Lithuania is is like asking where Djibouti or the Federated States of Micronesia are.
Should the big-4 sports move from cities like Green Bay, Buffalo, Salt Lake City and Raleigh too? Lots of international fans have never heard of those places either.
Jets4Life
Registered User
If Bettman were a Commissioner starting in 1981, I am pretty sure he would have convinced NHL owners to expand sooner than 1991. That would ahve been interesting, as in the mid-late 1980s, Milwaukee, the Bay Area, Houston, Hamilton, and Seattle were all front runners for a team.
Hypothetically, if the WHA merger had not gone through, I'm convinced that the league would have expanded into Alberta by 1990 at the latest. Calgary would have probably been ahead of Ottawa to obtain a team, considering the Saddledome was built in 1983, and Ottawa had no NHL ready arena until 1996. It would have been interesting how that would have played out.
That was the Ron Joyce (Tim Hortons) bid, IIRC. Hamilton would ahve made a great addition, as Copps Coliseum was only 5 years old, and they had solid financial backing. Unfortunately the NHL messed that up, since Joyce wanted to do the expansion fees in instalments, while the Ottawa owner conned his way into a franchise (he lied about having the necessary funds, and abck then the NHL was not good at due diligence). Toronto or Buffalo could have also played a role in Hamilton not being granted a team.
Jets4Life
Registered User
Green bay has the advantage of being in a state with over 5,000,000 people who are all Packer fans, willing to drive to Green Bay to see the team. SLC and Raleigh was two of the fastest growing cities in North America for the past couple of decades. Only Buffalo is in trouble, considering they are now, by far, the smallest American market, and have the Bills. It's quite amazing how many NHL cities have leapfrogged Buffalo in population during the past 50 years:
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Ottawa
Raleigh
Las Vegas
Nashville
Miami
Denver
San Jose
Columbus
Phoenix
Tampa Bay
Last edited:
edog37
Registered User
How exactly is Buffalo in trouble? They have one of the richest NHL owners who also owns the Bills. Stop with the gaslighting & worry about your own team. Last I checked, the Jets were having attendance issues.
Jets4Life
Registered User
edog37
Registered User
AtlantaWhaler
Thrash/Preds/Sabres
- Jul 3, 2009
- 20,488
- 3,922
The only way this can be true in QC is if there is an interested billionaire/corporation, with an arena, willing to keep quiet, and wait patiently while all that unfolds. Peg had the perfect storm of a patient billionaire waiting. Plus, the league stayed out of the negotiations. That was all Spirit and True North. It's going to be a lottery ticket to match all of that criteria.
GKJ
Global Moderator
- Feb 27, 2002
- 195,211
- 44,907
Well Buffalo is a small city/metro where hockey in general is already quite popular, so the potential for growth is very limited... Do we want to see the sport/league grow or not?!
I'm glad @OG6ix provided the comment below. Because a few months ago, I did a longwinded post trying to explain how the hurt of the NHL leaving Winnipeg/Quebec City is very very different from that of the NHL leaving Atlanta. And some users got it. But some were angry about it and tried to not only insist they were the same pains but that Quebec hockey fans are big meanies (and in one user's case, straight up said they should "pound sand" and insisted they were xenophobic). But then someone comes along and types....
Quebec City would absolutely be the smallest market in the NHL. And if that's an argument for not going there, that's fine. But the idea that we shouldn't go to a place because "Americans might never have heard of it" and that Quebec City would make the NHL look "minor league" is the ultimate in condescension.
(EDIT: I should clarify, the aforementioned user wasn't @OG6ix who I'm otherwise not quibbling with here).
.....and that person is nowhere to be found to see that this is exactly the type of thing that Canadian markets are supposed to just casually listen to and absorb without taking offense. If I told you that international fans and, in fact, many Canadian fans didn't know nor care where Raleigh or Columbus are, how would that be greeted exactly?
Quebec City would absolutely be the smallest market in the NHL. And if that's an argument for not going there, that's fine. But the idea that we shouldn't go to a place because "Americans might never have heard of it" and that Quebec City would make the NHL look "minor league" is the ultimate in condescension.
(EDIT: I should clarify, the aforementioned user wasn't @OG6ix who I'm otherwise not quibbling with here).
When I look at what they would have had to pay then vs. how much money they would have made and especially how much any new franchise bid has to pay now, I just shake my head vigorously. Penny-pinching over any use of foresight.
I am here, and I stand by my words. The constant mud slinging at non-traditional markets is fueled by xenophobia and insecurity.
Anything negative said about QC or small town Canada is just splash back.
