Quote:
Originally Posted by SaskScraper
I'm curious to know what extra corporate support Quebec city has more than province of Saskatchewan?
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You need to keep in mind that a team in Quebec City won't be just the team of that metro area. It will be the second team of the province of Quebec which has over 8 million people.
They will never eclipse the Habs of course but back in the old days of the Nordiques close to one third of the hockey fans in the entire province of Quebec supported the Nordiques, not the Canadiens.
That's a lot more people than simply being the preferred team of 99% of fans in a core market of 800k-1m people, with little support or interest outside of that.
One third of Quebec is 2.75 million people. Admittedly these people are not all within reach of the Centre Vidétron for a weeknight game, but they are eyeballs that sponsors can reach, consumers who buy merchandise, and they may make trips to see games a few times a season.
Bus tours from various regions of Quebec (and even NW NB) to see the Nordiques were a big thing in the 80s and 90s.
Still with this angle, the Nordiques 2.0 also won't be limited to Quebec City's corporate base. They'll dip into Montreal's as well. As in the old days when the Habs were Molson and the Nordiques were O'Keeffe, even if the latter was based in Montreal.
Vidéotron and TVA are Montreal-based media giants, but they will likely own the Nordiques if they return.
Maybe one dépanneur or grocery chain will sponsor the Habs, and another will sponsor the Nordiques. It doesn't matter where these companies have their Quebec base of operations. There will be lots of interest in the Nordiques province-wide, and especially lots of interest in the rekindled Habs-Nords rivalry. If you're a corporate sponsor and want to be there (and are shut out of the Habs sphere), you'll give your money to the Nords and your brand will be visible too.