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The Maritime teams are, relatively speaking, often more "dynamic" in terms of attendance and probably stuff like sponsorships, etc. than the average Quebec-based-club. |
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I've even seen them broadcast regular season games between two Maritime clubs, and neither of them was the Titan! Keep mind that all of the Maritime clubs have a strong contingent of Quebec players, and sometimes these can be some of the league's star properties. |
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Obviously there is a self-serving aspect to this too. To run a French-language sports channel in a small corner of North America is hugely challenging in terms of finding talking heads who can spout locker room platitudes about "giving their 110%" in French. Even when covering the Habs there is the risk that you'll have to subtitle most of your post-game interviews. So sports properties that provide lots of talking heads in French are looked upon very favourably by RDS and TVA Sports. Even the Q's Maritime clubs are pretty good in this respect, and it also probably explains why the Quebec sports media have given a lot of coverage to the RSEQ/U Sport football programs like the Laval Rouge et Or and Montréal Carabins. |
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Even for travel purposes it would be easier if some of these teams were relocated to more central areas, namely Trois-Rivieres. |
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Gilles Courteau has been on record as stating he is happy with 18 teams, does not contemplate league expansion, and is happy with the current host cities (no plans for relocation). Times change however, and as you have correctly stated, some shuffling about of franchises within the league may be appropriate. If I recall correctly, Bathurst is the smallest market team in the entire CHL. Even with their recent success, it is hard to imagine the long term viability of this team. They often only get crowds of 1,200 or so out to a game. Baie Comeau is certainly an outlier too. It has to be one of the most isolated CHL teams in the entire country. I don't imagine too many other Q League teams would shed many tears if they relocated. The same might go for both R-N and Val d'Or, but I think these two teams together may have some synergy keeping them both viable. I don't know enough about that area of Quebec though to make any kind of informed comment. I think Cape Breton is safe for the long term. The population of the island may be sinking like a stone, but there are still about 100,000 in the Sydney region. There is natural rivalry with Halifax as well. As for cities that teams could relocate to. The obvious choice in NB would be Fredericton, but arena issues and UNB will likely keep this from happening. I think you're right about Trois Rivieres (Shawinigan might object though). I would hope that a team could flourish on the south shore of Montreal, perhaps in Ste. Hyacinthe. What do you think? |
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It seems like two teams in Abitibi-Témiscamingue are a bit much. I guess the idea was that they'd thrive due to the rivalry between the two cities. That hasn't really turned either of the clubs into dynamic entities with strong attendance game in and game out. Acadie-Bathurst is probably the weakest of the Maritime clubs. Even if they've won a championship. I don't know if I read it here but there were rumours about them going to Rivière-du-Loup but I doubt that will happen. It's not much bigger than Bathurst and it's too close to Rimouski. Yes, the Q should be in Trois-Rivières but we'll see if that happens. Aside from that probably the next-best place for a team would be Granby. They used to have one - Patrick Roy played his junior there. |
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I doubt that if you sacrificed one of them that fans from that city would gravitate to the other team left in the region. |
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Trois-Rivieres, Granby, St-Hyacinthe all make sense to a certain degree. I wouldn't mind seeing Saint-Georges given a shot, too, but most of the arenas in these towns aren't suitable. The Q left these places initially for these reasons. Quote:
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Census Agglomeration Populations, Census 2016 (change from 2011): Cape Breton.....99K (-3%) Rouyn-Noranda 42K (+3%) Moose Jaw .......35K (+2%) Val-d'Or ...........34K (+2%) Owen Sound ....32K (-1%) Bathurst ..........31K (-3%) Baie-Comeau ...28K (-3%) Swift Current ....19K (+6%) Comparatively: Trois-Rivieres ...156K (+2%) Fredericton.........102K (+3%) Granby .............85K (+5%) Sainte-Hyacinthe 60K (+5%) Truro ................46K (-0%) Saint-Georges ....33K (+4%) Truro is an intriguing one. New arena, nearby (en route) to other CHL franchises, large enough market, stable population.... |
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Cape Breton has a new owner, and he seems enthusiastic. He was twisting Gille Courteau's arm the other week about being the Q's nominee to host the Memorial Cup in 2022. I was going to mention Truro. It's a growing community with a CA nearing 50,000 and halfway between Moncton and Halifax on a major divided highway. The arena is new, but the seating is limited (somewhere around 2,500-3,000). If I were to throw out another possibility it would be Edmundston NB. Again, right on the TCH and with a new arena. They relocated the MJHL Dieppe Commandos there the other year and they've been doing very well attendance wise. |
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...1441371241557/
https://i.cbc.ca/1.2991288.142611255...ity-centre.jpg Rath Eastlink Community Centre - Truro (seating 2,500) https://i.cbc.ca/1.3197282.144007163...phitheatre.jpg new arena in Edmundston |
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If there's no boxes in the Truro rink then it becomes much less likely. |
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Shippigan is a stretch but Caraquet and Tracadie would definitely be included in that. |
Quasi-related to this thread: cost of Winnipeg Jets STs will go from a previous yearly increase of 3% to a yearly increase of 5% starting this offseason. According to renewal letters sent out by the team, ticket prices for all categories have cumulatively increased by 26% since 2011.
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Bathurst does have a fairly extensive regional population to feed off of (unlike, say, Baie-Comeau...) but that population in the Acadan Peninsula is also older than most other places in Canada, so the likelihood of these people doing frequent drives to games seems unlikely. It's possible I suppose. |
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The Alouettes will be rebranding their team on Friday. New jersey and new logo.
https://en.montrealalouettes.com/off...treals-launch/ |
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I suspect that this will fly given that the Jets are still doing quite well at the moment and people are willing to pony up for a legitimate cup contender. But at the same time, demand is far softer than it was from, say, 2011-2014. I sell some of my tickets on the secondary market at my cost, which is substantially lower than the box office cost, and there's still no guarantee that the tickets will sell unless it's against a team with a large following here (basically orig. 6 and the Canadian teams). I hope it doesn't happen for a good long while, but it would be interesting to see what happens if the team eventually takes a turn for the worse and misses the playoffs a couple years running. |
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Preliminary images of the new Alouettes colours and jersey look sharp. I hope this gets the other 8 teams interested in better branding. The CFL can't do much to make a 25,000 seat stadium look like a major league 75,000 seat stadium but overhauling branding is something they could easily do. |
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