Expansion Teams

[SOLR]

I was not there as a tourist but rather for work. My contacts were from Laval University so I had a sense that they had some feel for the place. Still I am glad
that you called me on this. I was actually going to post a more positive
follow-up but unfortunately never got around to it. After my post I did a little more digging and was pleasantly surprised about the diversification in the economy. I also notice that Canadian Business named QC the best city in Canada to do business.
The median family income was also higher than I expected.

Can you back up the claim of Silicon Valley of the north. I found quite a number of
high tech firms with offices in Quebec City. However, most all of these were
either very small or they had branches offices in Quebec with their
corporate offices in Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa. I would be rather surprise
for example if the high tech sector in Quebec employed anywhere near the
numbers of a town like Waterloo or if the number of companies in that sector
with sufficient revenues to have a substantial corporate impact on an NHL team
rivals that of the KW region. You are obviously much closer to
the Quebec corporate scene than I am so if you have information to the contrary
I would love to see it. (There are a few very good high tech research centers in QC but collectively they only employ a few hundred people).

I still stand by my conclusion that an NHL franchise could be a
hard to sell in Quebec particularly given the cost of a new arena, and the
relatively small population. However, I would be happy to be proven wrong.

PS.
The best summary breakdown I could find in one place on the employment by sector
was here.
http://www.innovationstrategy.gc.ca/gol/innovation/site.nsf/en/in02002.html
However it is five years old so I am sure things have changed. Do you have
a more up to date picture of the employment demographics.

http://www.pole-qca.ca/nouveau/english/innovative.php

My job is basically marketing, so I have clients from Quebec to Winnipeg, I'm about to launch my Alberta sales, BC should follow the year after.(I already have a big BC client, just need to diversify a bit)

 

[SOLR]

Thanks for the quick reply. I took a look at the website. It has some interesting nformation but did not seem to have the info I was looking for. By the way,
do you have a sense of the relative size of the high tech community. I would be
interested not only with respect to the topic of this thread but also for my work.

In what field exactly?

Software
Bio-medical
Photonics

Size in terms of valuation etc? number of employees?

etc.

 

[SOLR]

Software and Bio-medical would be great. I know a little about the
Photonics. Revenue and number of employees would be wonderful.

Very hard to find specific numbers without falling into documents with NDAs.

Interesting read on the subject:
http://www.desjardins.com/en/a_propos/etudes_economiques/previsions/en_perspective/pe_0507a.pdf

*Of note: As usual Desjardins is toning down the city potential.(Its a decease of the baby boomer generation it seems here.)

However, most business people in 1999-2000 predicted the boom and we don't think theres any end in sight amongst the new generation. Economic vitality, brings demographic growth, as long as the city will be more productive than Montreal, it will grow at a faster rate.(And we might have at least 10 years before the productivity level slide to Montreal levels.) Since 2006, theres a reported baby boom happening, most experts are saying it will last 4 to 5 years.

 

[Fugu]

Pssst.... SOLR, Fourier. Please PM each other if you wish to continue the exchange on economic data sources. Thanks.

 

[SOLR]

Pssst.... SOLR, Fourier. Please PM each other if you wish to continue the exchange on economic data sources. Thanks.

Cool. Fourier me mailbox is wide openz!

 

[Fourier]

Pssst.... SOLR, Fourier. Please PM each other if you wish to continue the exchange on economic data sources. Thanks.

Sorry Fugu,
My curiosity does stem from the area's potential to support an NHL team but I can see we've gotten off topic.

 

[Fugu]

Sorry Fugu,
My curiosity does stem from the area's potential to support an NHL team but I can see we've gotten off topic.

I suppose someone could start their own thread about this very aspect, then include this type of info. Thanks, guys.

 

[DaveKC]

Can any1 explain to me about the love for KC? I've never been there but it just doesn't ring 'Hockey' to me.

First word... Brand new arena.
Second, no winter sports competition (ie, no NBA team).

It's a good size market with some hockey history, (IHL Blades were successful before the league collapsed). You've also got AEG managing the arena, and a potential owner in place right now.

For a bit of history of AEG, their president Tim Liewiki (sp?) got his big break in making the MISL (indoor soccer) Kansas City Comets a smashing success. So, I think that Liewiki believes that Kansas City is a great potential sports market.

So, he sees this as an opportunity, and sits on the Board of Governors. His owner, Boots Del Biaggio is a part owner of the Sharks now, and wants to own a team in KC as well.

So those are some of the reasons.

Also good to remember that KC lies along the same east-west interstate as Denver, St. Louis, Columbus, and Washington, D.C.

 

[ColoradoCam]

I just got back from Vegas and for some reason I can see Blue Hairs from Washington state going to hockey games as long as there are slot machines outside the bathrooms

In all seriousness, do you think a city that is based almost completely on tourism could get a fanbase? I mean the Strip was packed, but how many of those people would be Las Vegas fans that would A) Go to games, B) Watch the team on TV (which is what all American sports commenters care about), and C) but merchandise. At first glance I thought they would, but now I am starting to rethink my position.
I mean from what I saw, I dont even think they broadcast NHL hockey in Japan.

 

[Fugu]

I just got back from Vegas and for some reason I can see Blue Hairs from Washington state going to hockey games as long as there are slot machines outside the bathrooms

In all seriousness, do you think a city that is based almost completely on tourism could get a fanbase? I mean the Strip was packed, but how many of those people would be Las Vegas fans that would A) Go to games, B) Watch the team on TV (which is what all American sports commenters care about), and C) but merchandise. At first glance I thought they would, but now I am starting to rethink my position.
I mean from what I saw, I dont even think they broadcast NHL hockey in Japan.

Unless it isn't aimed at the blue hairs. One of our frequent posters here pointed out what the motivating factor was for one of the potential buyers of the Preds, after seeing it in an article I posted. The concern was for the greater community and that it give the appearance of being a "big time" city, capable of attracting and retaining national brands, such as professional sports team.

There are thousands of movers and shakers who visit Las Vegas as a place to do some business, while having some local attractions around. A pro sports team can become part of the package, a place that offers several venues to entertain corporate clients, one more big show for the big wheelers and dealers. Without the corporate backing and interest, a team would certainly fail anyway.

 

[southerncross116]

Please, no more expansion, the talent pool is diluted now enough as it is.

Exactly- who needs more borderline guys playing in the league?

There shouldn't be a big clamor to bring back the trap - which is exactly what you'd get by adding a load of guys that probably never would have made it to the NHL otherwise, the league already is hurting because of its product - not because there are not enough teams.

Kansas City would be an awful idea, mostly for the reasons provided above.

The Blades were not a success, despite spin to the contrary (spin from the team in the Kansas City Star over the years) - so much so that the Amway guy that owned the Blades and the Griffins -had a choice to make when the IHL merged with the AHL -to keep one team -and he went with the team from that megalopolis as Grand Rapids, instead of that alleged hockey hotbed of Kansas City. That guy was willing to sell the team, but no one stepped forward - it was not because they assumed they'd have to move out of the way for a hypothetical future NHL franchise, it had to be that no one recognized the area as a good investment.

In fact every professional team ever to be located in Kansas City has folded

The Kansas City Komets, correct me if I am wrong, but they did actually fold due to lack of interest, using an indoor soccer team as an example is generally going to be considered an act of desperation , using a defunct indoor soccer team as an example is somewhat more than that.

Now granted there is an AP story about this posted to the SI page.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/hockey/nhl/08/01/bc.hkn.sprintcenter.ap/index.html

But can you really go by an interview of the manager of an ice rink ( the Pepsi Center being located to the South end of KC -and of course that rink is more popular than King Louie -they place was the only indoor rink in town when I first moved there- and that place was a hole -with a nice leaky roof that would produce nice little cement patches ready to blow out your knee. 300,000 people go through the Pepsi Center every year? Yes and no doubt the vast majority of them are people skating at a public session -sometimes multiple times per week. But how many hockey players do you regularly see? I know at Line Creek you could have times when you might not have 10 guys per side on a week night -and don't hold your breath for a goalie necessarily, either. I do believe that tales of "die hard hockey interest" by some invisible majority -just dying to throw money at some phantom team promoted by AEG. has in fact, been overblown.

But who really cares? I could care less if KC got a hockey team, and if it happened to fail, well - all that would do would show that this entire "KC" marketing campaign had no basis in reality -but the lasting effect it could have is to give guys a shot at the NHL that ordinarily would never have been considered....

I mean everyone out there wants to see more guys like Keith Gretzky or Alexander Daigle don't they? I mean that surely has to be what saves the NHL -- by getting more of the less talented guys playing ... God knows I love watching the guys that might get lucky to crack the 10 goal mark in a season ... ooh now that is really a crowd pleaser.

What the (censored) are the thinking??? Expansion now?! - That's plain nuts.

:Signed: A Frustrated Fan.