” Quebec City has announced its intention to build a modern arena in the hope of bringing back an NHL team, a decade and a half after the city lost its beloved Nordiques.
Mayor Regis Labeaume told a news conference Friday that the city’s longstanding dream of hosting an Olympic Games is also a pipe dream without a new arena.
He said he’s hired engineering firm SNC Lavalin to conduct a feasibility study, and hopes to see the arena built from 2010 to 2012.
Labeaume said he expects the arena to cost about $400 million — and that the city would put up $50 million.”(source-TSN)
15 years after watching their beloved Nordiques go south to Colorado, and win the Stanley Cup the 1st season there, Quebecers might have something to look forward to. This is the proper first step to getting an NHL franchise to relocate to Quebec, and we all know there will be no shortage of candidate franchises in the coming years.
Despite all of Jim Balsillie’s efforts to strong-arm the NHL into selling him a team to relocate to southern Ontario, it makes much more sense to actually build the infrastructure necessary to facilitate an NHL team before trying to get the NHL to allow such a move.
The Nordic fans were always loyal, despite limited success, and as Mayor Regis Labeaume stated “hockey is a religion to Quebecers”.
Hmmm, I wonder what reasons Gary Bettman can conjure up to deny this hockey market. You know he’s looking at Kansas City and Las Vegas. It’s understandable to want to build the game in a huge market like Vegas but how about having a few more self-sufficient cities under your belt before spreading the game even thinner in the southern USA.
Maybe he’ll just repeat what happened to Quebec last time, allowing Quebec fans to nurture the Nordiques through all the growing years and then ripping the franchise away when it finally became competitive.
