The Canadian and Geoff Molson voted for Vegas and decided to postpone Quebec’s candidacy when the NHL established a new franchise in 2016. If the league adds more new markets, will Montreal this time be among the friends or the enemies of the Nordics?
Because that’s where everything could play out.
Last Friday, my colleague Kevin Dubé reported that the NHL is in danger of launching an expansion process, possibly for two new markets, and that the race should be played between Houston and Salt Lake City for a team in the West, but also between Atlanta and Quebec for a team in the East. And all this is without forgetting the situation with the Coyotes, who seem to have exhausted baseness to survive. The team could move to the East.
Quebec therefore returns to the discussion, provided that Quebec decides to join in the dance. And Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau did not hesitate for long when my colleague Renaud Lavoie asked him the question this weekend.
He also mentioned the possibility of allying with partners.
To get a new team, there is no magic recipe. 75% of current clubs must vote in favor of establishing a new concession in the candidate city.
In 2016, out of the 30 clubs, a nice total of zero voted in favor of Quebec. It was unanimous to entrust a club to Vegas and postpone the candidacy of Quebec.
Everything came together to make us look like we’d been invited to an idiot’s dinner: Vegas was a financially promising market for the NHL, and the Canadian didn’t even have to convince the other teams to harm the bid. from Quebec. Vegas was nirvana for the NHL.
Atlanta is not Vegas
But there, if it’s Quebec against Atlanta, we are elsewhere.
Twice the NHL crashed in Atlanta. The question of the famous TV market has less and less importance with the web broadcasting platforms which are getting involved in sport.
Quebec, for its part, doesn’t have much more to offer than in 2016. But it still has everything it needs.
For my Montreal friends who point out to me that Quebec is too small and that we don’t have enough money to support an NHL team for 41 games, I would tell you that I totally disagree.
Or that you need to stop thinking that Quebec is like it was in 1989.
The Quebec region is not awash in wealth, but it is the only major one in Canada to have experienced economic growth for 23 years. From 2001 to 2018, GDP per capita growth was the highest in the country, according to Statistics Canada. It was twice as good as Montreal and three times better than Toronto.
For the entertainment dollar, the Videotron Center is the fourth busiest in Canada, ahead of Ottawa and Vancouver for the number of tickets sold. Yes, there are the Remparts, but they account for approximately 25% of all tickets sold per year.
In short, unlike 2016, it will not be as obvious to NHL team owners that Atlanta is the blatant choice ahead of Quebec.
However, I am announcing to you in great detail that the team that would be chosen, between Atlanta and Quebec, risks winning by a unanimous vote.
In other words, every owner in the league will suddenly have the same opinion.
For what? Because it’s like politics. There will be a powerful lobby behind the scenes working to make it this city and not the other.
A lobby
A host of reasons can inspire this lobby, including the idea that a new team should not come looking for fans in a market monopolized by a neighbor, like the Canadian. And it’s not unhealthy, it’s even logical for a company that wants to make money.
And you understand that this lobby doesn’t care about the passion of a market for hockey.
If this scenario takes shape and there is indeed a race between Atlanta and here, I believe that several owners will be tempted to take an interest in Quebec.
Or rather, that they won’t want to know about going to Atlanta again.
There it will be a big success or a disaster. In Quebec, in terms of the finances of the NHL, it will be a more modest, but safer value.
It won’t help grow the NHL’s brand image in North America.
It’s just a lower risk than Atlanta.
So who will the influencers be? Who will be the owners who will take the leadership to succeed in convincing all the other owners who will end up voting unanimously?
Sure, Gary Bettman will make his recommendation, but it will be influenced by the owners who take control of that decision.
Geoff Molson has always said publicly that he would support a return of the Nordiques. This is where we will see it and where it will play out. He could have a major role with the other owners for the return of hockey to Quebec… or Atlanta.
I have multiplied the cynical columns on the return of the NHL to Quebec. We’re tired of being fooled until it’s serious.
But if rumors of two expansions materialize, it may be Quebec’s last and only real chance.
We are not in utopia. We embark on the universe of possibility, despite all the legs we have been given.