Is Quebec City ready to welcome back the Nordiques?
Fred Poulin | Jul 07, 2010 | Comments 16
Fifteen years ago, in 1995, Marcel Aubut sold the Quebec Nordiques to Denver investors after the consortium of owners asked the various levels of governments for help with the team, which they refused. The economy was stagnant, the exchange rate was atrocious, the Nordiques had an old facility (Le Colisée Pepsi ironically), and they were lacking many of the revenue schemes enjoyed by American teams. A lack of corporate suites and only a capacity of about 15,000 seats all but doomed the Nordiques’ future in Quebec City.
In 1995 they were sold to the COMSAT Entertainment Group and moved to Denver, Colorado, where they won the first Stanley Cup of the franchise history in 1996 thanks to talented players like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Owen Nolan, Adam Foote and the newly-acquired all-star goaltender Patrick Roy.
My long-time childhood idol, Joe Sakic, who turns 41 years old today, was the face of the franchise from 1988 to 2006, during which he played 1,237 games scoring 574 goals and adding 915 assists for 1,489 points.
Joe Sakic donning the Quebec Nordiques jersey
But 15 years later things have changed in Quebec City and elsewhere in Canada, in places such as Winnipeg and Southern Ontario. To fuel speculation even more, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has recently indicated that leaving traditional places like Quebec City and Winnipeg was a bad idea, so why not make it right? With struggling franchises in the south of the United States such as Atlanta, Florida, Dallas and Phoenix, it seems appropriate to transfer one of these franchises to a more profitable market.
The Atlanta Thrashers have officially been put on sale recently by Atlanta Spirit, the group that controls the team (and the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA). The Thrashers lost about $30 million in the last 12 month according to figures compiled by the Spirit. The situation is not brighter in Phoenix where the Coyotes are bleeding money on a daily basis and have been under the control on the NHL for about a year now.
Quebec’s economy has diversified over the past 15 years and its unemployment rate ranks among the lowest in North America. The NHL’s decision to return would hinge on the success of a campaign for a new publicly funded $400-million arena, championed by Quebec City’s mayor Regis Labeaume. How passionate is the business community? The 70 corporate suites for the nonexistent building have already been sold out by J’ai Ma Place, a group lead by Francois Moreau and Mario Bedard. Former owner Marcel Aubut is also part of the project as a counselor. The seating capacity would be around 20,000 seats and the building would be able to welcome music concerts and sports events.
Le Nouveau Colisée
Being able to control salaries has completely changed the look of the NHL, which is why former Quebec Nordiques President and CEO Marcel Aubut pushed for a salary cap during negotiations in 1994. It eventually failed, but things have changed after the lock-out and now that we live in a salary-cap era, it has made things much easier for smaller markets to survive and succeed.
Media giant Quebecor, led by CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, wants to own the franchise and keep the name Les Nordiques de Quebec. A major player in the communications world in Canada, Quebecor owns TVA, the largest private French-language broadcaster in North America, and Videotron, the largest cable services provider in Quebec, the third largest in Canada. Quebecor also owns a plethora of newspapers, magazines and specialty publications.
“This businessman is the ideal candidate to acquire a team,” said Pat Brisson, considered one of the top 10 most influential agents in sports. Canadian teams account for 33% of NHL revenue, said Brisson, and the agent explained that new teams in Quebec City and Winnipeg would have a positive impact on those numbers. Canada would have a hard time to support ten sustainable franchises, but it can certainly support eight healthy teams.
Quebec City Mayor is ready for the return of the Nordiques
This week, a joint Globe and Mail/TSN project led by journalist Dave Naylor, which studied four Canadian markets with the goal of determining which would be most realistic for an NHL franchise is airing on TSN every night. Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg and Quebec City’s viability as a hockey market will all be rated successively. Quebec City is slotted to air on TSN Friday and it will be possible to see the results on their Website as well. So far, Winnipeg received a B and Hamilton a D+. Toronto will be featured tonight.
Finally, Ernst & Young was to deliver today at the latest its feasibility study on a multi-functional arena to Team Quebec’s president, Claude Rousseau. The expected report will not be released until next week. Rousseau wants to develop a number of recommendations, and discuss with its board of directors early next week, before returning it to the regional Minister Sam Hamad. The latter will decide the time of its publication.
I will provide you with more details in the upcoming days as I gain access to the Ernst & Young study and to the TSN results.
Caricature by Patrick Laramée
Sources: Cyberpresse, Canoe Slam, TSN, Globe and Mail
Filed Under: Dallas Stars • Featured • Florida Panthers • NHL • Phoenix Coyotes • Winnipeg Jets
Bel effort, Fred!
Québec is a hockey market that is fuelled by a passion that drives people to spend a disproportionate amount relative to their income.
It will be, no doubt, interesting to see if the economic studies commissioned by the engaged parties support the perception.
Peladeau’s vocal advocacy, backed by the considerable means at his disposal, and his deliberate adherence to the NHL’s requisite process, puts the city in good posture to be a leading candidate.
Add to that, meetings with Bill Daly over the past year, and the declaration by Gary Bettman that a franchise in Quebec City is high on the league’s agenda, and it seems the return of Les Nordiques is a matter of when, not ‘if’.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BDGallof. BDGallof said: RT @FredPoulin98: Is Quebec City ready to welcome back the Nordiques? -> http://bit.ly/aq3lcj [...]
I agree with Dave Morris. Out of Winnipeg, Hamilton and Quebec City, the latter would be the most viable to once more become an NHL city.
Despite the cost-certainty related to a salary cap, team owners still need a luxury-box equipped arena and it looks like Q.C. will get that.
The only thing that concerns me is what will happen in the future (10-15 yrs from now) if the economy swings back down again or if the Canadian dollar weakens, ticket sales drop, corporate box sales drop, corporate sponsors pull out, TV revenue drops, etc., might we see the same problems that plagued Winnipeg and Q.C. in the mid-90s?
The salary cap goes a long way to helping small-market cities, but as Atlanta and Phoenix show, it doesn’t guarantee financial viability.
That being said, as a Hamilton native, I will welcome the day when a franchise comes back to Hamilton or another Canadian city – and we’ll worry about the money problems later!
Thanks guys, a lot hinges on the feasability study; if it’s positive and the various government levels decide to contribute financially, the new arena project would finally start and allow for a plausible return of an NHL team in Qc City, if it’s negative, I highly doubt anything will ever happen…
I hope teams like Atlanta or Florida ends up somewhere in eastern Canada like Hamilton or Quebec. Someone in Quebec should try to bid for the THrashers right now. Even though the economy was bad in Quebec in 1995, it probably wasn’t as bad the current Thrashers situation.
Fred,
Fantastic write up. I find it almost amazing that they would stay the “Quebec Nordiques” and I hope to god they are back before we know it. Keep them Power Blues as well.
Fantastic read. Almost chill worthy! I can only imagine how quick the Nords/Habs rivalry picks up.
FWIW – Bring back the JETS, and get 2 more teams in CAN. They deserve it, and it is hockey Mecca – that lovely country up north!
:)
Great post. I think Quebec City is an ideal location for an NHL team. It always was and it still is. There is sufficient population, there are hockey fans there, and there is a natural rival in Montreal. If a new building is financially viable and multiple levels of government commit to the project then the future of hockey there starts to look very bright.
I see Canada getting two more teams soon. One through relocation and one through expansion. Quebec City is more likely than Winnipeg for a relocated team in my opinion. And despite the stupidity of adding even more teams, in the near future I really think the NHL will add not one, but two, expansion teams. The league shouldn’t, but the revenue will just be too good to pass up – probably around $10 million for every existing owner for each team. One of the two expansion teams will be Canadian and this is how southern Ontario will get another team.
Wow everyone is ready to cry foul when a team is taken away from Canada, heaven forbid! If the Thrashers move nobody will care. Well all you flamin maple leafs need to know the Thrashers have the second largest fan club in the NHL! Yes I said second!Only the NJ Devils have a larger club, another USA club. So if you Canadians are such fans how come you are not supporting your team by joining their fan clubs. Oh yea that’s right most Canadian NHL teams don’t even have one, because you all are too lazy to even start one. Sorry my bad.
I’m not so sure fan club membership is an accurate measure of the teams actual support. There are certainly hockey fans in Atlanta, good ones that come out an support their team every night, but I don’t think there are enough there to support a team. If there were I don’t think they’d be bleeding money the way they are.
I never said the Thrashers didn’t have any fans, I only said their owners are losing a lot of money in the current situation. But the reality is the Thrashers averaged only 13,607 fans per game in 2009-2010, only the Islanders and the Coyotes fared worse.
Are you seriously equating the size of a team’s “fan club”, whatever that’s even supposed to be, to the popularity of a team? I would imagine TV ratings and attendance are a better measure for those kinds of things. Canadian teams don’t need fan clubs because they don’t need to bribe their fans.
It’s great to see a fan of a southern team that’s passionate about hockey and about his team, but get real dude, hockey in a city like Atlanta is a stretch at best, and that’s been a reality for decades.
You people forget the fact that Bettman himself has said that these tams would more than likely come back to Canada via expansion, not relocation.
And while we’re on the subject of moving sh*tty teams, why not move the SpOilers and the Maple Laughs to Winnipeg and Quebec? Those two suck more than Florida and Atlanta.
Don’t be an idiot. All teams go through up and down periods in terms of on-ice performance. The difference is that even in a down period for both the Oilers and Leafs, both teams are making money hand over fist because they play in markets that are crazy about hockey. Florida and Atlanta may be better right now, but their attendance is a joke and both teams are money losers. The league wants to add markets through expansion rather than relocation because it wants its slice of the expansion money pie, but relocation is more likely as Sun Belt teams continue to lose money.
I would gladly welcome the Oilers and Taylor Hall in Quebec City any day of the week, but whether it’s via relocation or expansion I don’t care, as long as we get the team we deserve in Qc City.
Here’s TSN results for Quebec City: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=327048 The score card: B+
And here’s the Globe And Mail results: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/why-not-quebec-city/article1633783/ The score card: A
[...] Things have recently picked up on the potential return of the Nordiques to Quebec City. Last week, I wrote about the current economic situation in La Vieille Capitale regarding the potential return of professional hockey in Quebec City Is Quebec City ready to welcome back the Nordiques? [...]