OT: Which is the next Canadian city to get a professional franchise?

[Stylizer1]

Rumours Over the years had the NFL coming to Toronto

People have said that Halifax/ Maritimes, Quebec City or Saskatoon should get a CFL team

Toronto/Hamilton/Quebec City have been in the running for an NHL team.

MLS was on Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk's radar before he lost out on a bid to build an outdoor stadium to OSEG which led them to bring in an NASL team to play at TD Place along with the RedBlacks.

Finally Montreal is looking at bringing back the Expos and are looking at the NBA as a possible tenant for the Bell Centre with Vancouver maybe too an option for relocation/expansion.

Which City gets your vote for the best place to put a new franchise.

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[edguy]

Quebec City.
Won't happen for a number of years though

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

It's going to be hard with the Cdn dollar set to stay around 75-85 cents US for the foreseeable future.

 

[yogibear]

I can`t see an NBA franchise in Montreal. Baseball or Football but forget basketball.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

Expos will be back in Montreal in less than 2 years. Tampa's lease is up after this season and their city seems to not really care if the Rays stick around or not.

I hope they keep Montreal in the AL East. INSTANT rivalry with Toronto.

 

[Smash88]

Expos will be back in Montreal in less than 2 years. Tampa's lease is up after this season and their city seems to not really care if the Rays stick around or not.

I hope they keep Montreal in the AL East. INSTANT rivalry with Toronto.

Ah man, that will be tough if they do. Expos were my team, but I have really grown to love the Jays.

At least if they are in the NL then it's not so bad to cheer for both.

Your right though, instant rivalries if they take Tampa's spot in the AL East. Would be cool.

 

[LatteLarrys]

Mtl (Expos)

Quebec City (Nords) - could happen sooner than we expect.

 

[BonkTastic]

I hope they keep Montreal in the AL East. INSTANT rivalry with Toronto.

Eww, no.

The Expos are National League through and through. Shift the Nationals to the AL East, and put Montreal back where they are supposed to be.

 

[BonkTastic]

As for the hockey thing, I don't see another Canadian franchise happening for at least another 8-10 years at minimum to be honest, if at all.

Quebec has a long-shot chance at being "the new Winnipeg" - a city that is able to take a floundering franchise on short notice when ownership goes balls-up, but I can't see the NHL putting an expansion franchise there over either of Las Vegas (because it's clear that they have their hearts set on it at this point) and Seattle (which quite frankly is a much better landing spot for a new franchise than Quebec City is from a financial perspective, what with the CDN dollar earning 20% less than it was when the league and Quebec had initial talks about bringing the NHL back there.)

Quebec gets a team if the NHL needs a short-notice ejector-seat landing spot for another franchise, just like Winnipeg was. Otherwise, they're at best 4th on the expansion totem pole. Toronto has a far better chance of getting a 2nd franchise, IMO, and I think the league won't even go there unless they decide to expand to 34 teams.

Hamilton doesn't even get a sniff at a franchise unless they're the ones that decide to brand themselves as "Toronto 2", and like I said, not unless the league decides to go to 34 teams.


... IMO.

 

[bacon25]

The Coyotes should be packing up and moving to QC, but Bettman planned in advance and got LV ready as a back up plan.

 

[Larionov]

I'll definitely go with the Expos. I agree that the Expos thing could happen faster than anyone thinks. The Tampa Bay Rays are poorly supported and in a lousy park. Meanwhile, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is a huge sports fan and really wants to make this happen. Safe to say he will do whatever it takes to get a park built for a reborn Expos team.

 

[jbeck5]

Rumours Over the years had the NFL coming to Toronto

People have said that Halifax/ Maritimes, Quebec City or Regina should get a CFL team

Toronto/Hamilton/Quebec City have been in the running for an NHL team.

MLS was on Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk's radar before he lost out on a bid to build an outdoor stadium to OSEG which led them to bring in an NASL team to play at TD Place along with the RedBlacks.

Finally Montreal is looking at bringing back the Expos and are looking at the NBA as a possible tenant for the Bell Centre with Vancouver maybe too an option for relocation/expansion.

Which City gets your vote for the best place to put a new franchise.

Am I missing a joke?

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Expos will be back in Montreal in less than 2 years. Tampa's lease is up after this season and their city seems to not really care if the Rays stick around or not.

I hope they keep Montreal in the AL East. INSTANT rivalry with Toronto.

If it happens........they'd better damned well name them the Expos.

And retire #8 & 10.

Then I'll become a baseball fan again.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

If it happens........they'd better damned well name them the Expos.

And retire #8 & 10.

Then I'll become a baseball fan again.

It would totally be the Expos. Like the "Jets", the MLB "owns" the copyright for the name and logo. So if/when Montreal returns, the league would then hand it back over to them.

It's why you can still buy Expos gear. I got a sweet jersey last year.

 

[Dick Whitman]

The CFL REALLY needs a 10th team. Having an odd number of football teams is a scheduling nightmare, so I'll go with Halifax or Quebec City.

 

[tony d]

Yeah, should be Quebec and the NHL, why Bettman wants to go to Las Vegas ahead of a market that would be successful in Quebec City is beyond me.

 

[BonkTastic]

why Bettman wants to go to Las Vegas ahead of a market that would be successful in Quebec City is beyond me.

 

[Shanny]

Quebec City will have a state of the art NHL ready arena in a few months, have to believe that if Arizona does move...it will be to Vegas though, let Seattle and QC pay the big expansion fees in 2 years. Conference alignment wise that makes the most sense as well.

Montreal needs to secure funding to build a ballpark first and foremost before they can even start talking the Expos return.

Halifax should and will get a CFL franchise eventually, hopefully sooner rather then later.

In short, The Nordiques will be the next Canadian professional sports franchise. Unless something crazy happens and Vancouver gets an NBA team again.

 

[BonkTastic]

have to believe that if Arizona does move...it will be to Vegas though, let Seattle and QC pay the big expansion fees in 2 years.

Vegas might have an NHL team by as soon as this June.

Odds are they are getting a team before the whole Coyotes situation sorts itself out.

 

[Chrass]

None.

The salary cap will keep falling.
If anything, the league will lose teams.

 

[BonkTastic]

IMO, Quebec's ideal scenario to get a team ASAP is if the city of Glendale decides to void the arena lease with the Coyotes within the next month, and Bettman needs to find them a home in the span of like a month or two, and MGM Arena in Las Vegas gets delayed.

Assuming Quebec can get their arena done by the end of calendar year 2015 (which shouldn't be a huge issue), they could be the beneficiaries of another Atlanta-Winnipeg scenario. Without a building to play in, the Coyotes are for sure done in Arizona.

 

[BonkTastic]

The salary cap will keep falling.

The salary cap has not fallen yet, and there are no plans for it to fall any time soon. The cap is projected to go up to ~$71-72mil next season, and that's even accounting for the low CDN dollar.

If anything, the cap stays stagnant in the $71-74 mil range for the next couple of years, and then starts to go up again once the CDN dollar recovers.


The only way the cap goes down is if the CDN dollar tanks lower than it is right now, AND the NHLPA decline to use their cap escalator (which they have never done, ever).

 

[Shanny]

IMO, Quebec's ideal scenario to get a team ASAP is if the city of Glendale decides to void the arena lease with the Coyotes within the next month, and Bettman needs to find them a home in the span of like a month or two, and MGM Arena in Las Vegas gets delayed.

Assuming Quebec can get their arena done by the end of calendar year 2015 (which shouldn't be a huge issue), they could be the beneficiaries of another Atlanta-Winnipeg scenario. Without a building to play in, the Coyotes are for sure done in Arizona.

QC's new arena will be finished by the end of September at the latest....heck they could've had it ready this weekend for the Memorial Cup if they rushed construction earlier on.

 

[BonkTastic]

QC's new arena will be finished by the end of September at the latest....heck they could've had it ready this weekend for the Memorial Cup if they rushed construction earlier on.

I put the caveat in there because construction in the province of Quebec is never a sure thing. Ever.

I'm sure Bettman wouldn't mind them playing in Le Colisee for a couple of months though, if an "unexpected construction stoppage" (ie: too many grubby hands trying to fit in the cookie jar) were to occur.

 

[muskratBear]

Quebec City will have a state of the art NHL ready arena in a few months, have to believe that if Arizona does move...it will be to Vegas though, let Seattle and QC pay the big expansion fees in 2 years. Conference alignment wise that makes the most sense as well.

Montreal needs to secure funding to build a ballpark first and foremost before they can even start talking the Expos return.

Halifax should and will get a CFL franchise eventually, hopefully sooner rather then later.

In short, The Nordiques will be the next Canadian professional sports franchise. Unless something crazy happens and Vancouver gets an NBA team again.

I always thought Moncton would get a cfl team before Halifax... They have been hosting exhibition games for the last couple of years right?