Quebec politicians will meet with the heads of the National Hockey League in January, but it is unclear what influence the government may have in the league or if the team owners have any interest in bringing the Nordics back to the league. provincial capital.
Meanwhile, local fans are not holding their breath, after a series of disappointments, and say they are not so sure that the government’s latest move is anything more than a public relations stunt.
Prime Minister François Legault opened the door for such reflections in November, professing an interest in seeing professional hockey return to Quebec City and announcing that a senior minister had been appointed to support the effort.
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“I tell myself that if Ottawa and Winnipeg can have a team, we should be able to have a team in Quebec,” Legault told reporters at the time, adding that his government was looking for partners to help fund the estimated $ 1. billion cost of a franchise.
The Nordiques left Quebec City after the 1994-95 NHL season, and moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup in the new team’s first season.
Quebec City fans were optimistic about bringing back an NHL team a decade ago, but they are much less so now, says Vince Cauchon, a Quebec City sports radio host who co-founded Nordiques Nation, a group of reinforcement that included 100,000 members at its peak. He says the recent news landed with a thud.
“We were looking for the fire behind the smoke, and it is a rare case of smoke without fire,” Cauchon said in a recent interview about Legault’s stated ambitions. “If it’s something that was politically motivated to unite the population, it had the effect of a sword cutting through the water. The reaction was negligible, even bad. “
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed a January meeting with “someone of high rank” from Quebec, but said he knew nothing about what was on the agenda and tempered expectations, noting that neither team was looking to relocate. and that there were no expansion plans. .
A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Eric Girard, a Quebec emissary for the meeting, declined to comment until later, but said he has been working on the file since the summer.
About a decade ago, the possible comeback of NHL hockey caused locals to salivate as it lured a struggling American team back across the border. Fans dressed in Nordiques merchandise traveled by bus to different stadiums across the United States and even gathered on the Plains of Abraham for a massive rally in October 2010.
But Cauchon said hopes of expansion were soon dashed. The league welcomed a new team to Las Vegas in 2016, but deferred the application for Quebec City. The capital of Quebec was not considered when Seattle was awarded an expansion team in 2018. There was never talk of moving teams from North Carolina and Arizona.
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“Heartbroken,” Cauchon said, describing the sentiment among NHL fans in Quebec City. “I think people will believe it when they see it and I understand their feelings.”
Retired Nordiques winger Alain Cote said he’s happy the Legault government is pushing for a new team, but says he has doubts the league will allow it.
“I find it really funny that the prime minister is introducing this,” said Cote, a popular winger who now owns auto parts stores in the capital.
“We have a super nice stadium here in Quebec City, a modern building, so it would be fun to use it for an NHL team,” he said of the Videotron Center, which opened in 2015.
Cote says he believes a lot has changed since the city’s pro-city club left: an NHL salary cap, a new arena and a loyal fan base.
But what Quebec City doesn’t have is the league’s interest. Cote says he believes the NHL views Quebec City as part of the Montreal market, served by the Canadiens.
“There has to be a will, and I don’t see any of the league, absolutely none,” Cote said.
Cauchon said it is unclear which group would spearhead a bid for a new team and win the support of the league’s 32 owners. The previous tender was conducted by Quebecor, the telecommunications company that received a 25-year contract to manage the Videotron Center.
Concordia University sports economist Moshe Lander said billionaires with deep pockets are scarce in the province. Seattle and Las Vegas paid $ 600 million expansion fees and built multi-billion dollar stages in their markets. The other issue involves looking to the future to ensure long-term viability, he said.
“That’s the kind of thing the NHL will worry about – if you want a toy to play with, you have to make sure that what keeps a franchise growing is that the next person in line pays more than the last,” Lander . saying. “Isn’t it just a current problem, is it an ongoing problem? the question of who will be next. “
Francois Emond, who operates a family-owned furniture business in Alma, Que., Says he wholeheartedly supports the Legault government’s efforts.
“The government is doing the right thing by getting involved in the archive, not financially, but it certainly shows some leadership,” Emond said.
He said he remembers getting on the bus from the Saguenay region to watch the Nordics play. Buses heading to the old Colisee stadium in Quebec City used to be a common sight in many parts of eastern Quebec.
“I can understand people’s disappointment,” Emond said. “That we’re even talking about it, I think it’s a positive thing.”
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