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Originally Posted by Acajack
In terms of attracting free agents this would likely be true, but for the rest?
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Teams like Winnipeg and Edmonton already have a tremendously difficult time attracting free agents because of a number of factors - combine that with a city that is very Francophone and you end up with an even more dire situation than what we currently have in other markets. Nobody of any reasonable quality would want to sign in QC as a free agent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
If the hypothetical Nordiques 2.0 limited themselves to simply repeating what the Nordiques 1.0 did in terms of market impact, they'll become the go-to team for between a quarter and a third of hockey fans in the province. They certainly wouldn't be limited to the Greater Quebec City metro.
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Why would the Molsons and Canadiens ok their expansion under these circumstances?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
Another thing they'd have that the Jets don't is for all intents and purposes their "own" sports network. The Jets compete for coverage in higher order sports media with the Leafs, Oilers, Flames, Canucks and Habs.
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Again, why do the Canadiens support the Nordiques taking a very large piece of their current pie?
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Originally Posted by Acajack
If the Nords ever came back, one network out of RDS or TVA Sports would put the Habs front and centre, and the other would put the Nords front and centre.
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Or one would just carry both because I would never assume anything with the state of Canada's sports networks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
They'll also do well in terms of corporate sponsorships. As it stands now there can only be one official beer associated with an NHL team in Quebec, one official bank, one official restaurant chain, one official dépanneur chain, one official snack food, one official insurer, etc.
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All the more reason for the Canadiens to turn down this idea as it would be siphoning from their current corporate support base.
This is only one hurdle but I see it as a pretty big one honestly. That, combined with the lack of potential growth in the fanbase in QC as opposed to other markets, simply makes it less tenable moving forward. The league will continue to use QC and Quebecor as a bargaining chip to raise expansion fees on other hopeful cities.
Other issues with Quebec include its poor growth and the fact that its median age is quite a bit higher than the other NHL cities in Canada, on top of the fact that the NHL does not need another franchise pinned to the weaker Canadian dollar.
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