Why did Quebec not get a team?

[nilan30]

This is an honest question. And I'm not a super angry Canadian who thinks the NHL hates us. I'm just honestly confused because I thought they had an NHL ready arena and some super rich dude that was willing to pony up. Was it simply the East vs West thing needing to be worked out? Or were there other reasons. The NHL has shown it's willingness to go back to former Canadian markets so I have to believe that isn't it. As a Habs fan I kinda hoped it would happen because that was a damn good rivalry back in the day.

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[Viqsi]

My guesses would be (in presumed priority order, most to least):
1) Considered to be less of a growth opportunity than Seattle (much smaller market that's arguably already saturated)
2) Ownership in Seattle in stronger financial position
3) The east versus west thing

 

[Pizza the Hutt]

Seattle is a better business case because the NHL knows it can flip the Quebec switch whenever they want. Expand into new territory now, and when a one of the existing teams gets into a truly untenable situation, it will be moved to Quebec.

They make more money this way.

 

[RogerRoger]

When the process began, the Hurricane ownership was up in the air (it's fine now), Ottawa is in a bit of a weird place, Florida is losing money and there's an opt out clause in 2025 and the lease is done in 2028, Arizona is up in the air as well. So having a city ready with an arena and an owner is valuable for the NHL. It's the best backup plan if shit hit the fan quickly for any team.

On top of that add the growth of hockey and the East-West

 

[Bounces R Way]

Quebec City has a population of ~800,000 while Seattle has a greater metro area population of ~4 000,000. Pretty clear choice if you're the NHL BoG. Plus Quebec City already had a team, they might be a candidate for relocation but I doubt expansion is in the cards for them.

 

[blankall]

Quebec City has a population of ~800,000 while Seattle has a greater metro area population of ~4 000,000. Pretty clear choice if you're the NHL BoG. Plus Quebec City already had a team.

Seattle will also draw crowds from Portland. Portland loves the Winterhawks and is a big hockey town.

 

[ffh]

easy why they didn't. the league wants 16 and 16 in the conferences not 15 and 17. they were never getting an expansion team.

 

[MrThomas]

There are cities like Alabama, West Virgiana and Wyoming before NHL goes to Qepec. But its interesting to see new markets coming!

 

[Doctor No]

There are cities like Alabama, West Virgiana and Wyoming

Good cities.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

NHL is waiting for Melnyk to completely crap out and move the Sens to Quebec City.

 

[MessierII]

Bettman sees Canada as a safety net for relocation not an expansion opportunity.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

because the NHL is trying to look like a major sports league.

 

[Shwag33]

This many posts and no one mentioned corporate dollars within the city?

 

[Beezeral]

Quebec is given opportunities to show they want a team every year during the preseason and they draw under 10k most of the time.


As @Shwag33 said, not enough corporate money, etc. plenty of reasons Quebec keeps getting left out.

 

[TOGuy14]

Cost has to be a factor at this point.

Vegas paid 500M USD for their team

Seattle will surely pay more (550-650M?)

By the time you do currency conversion you’d be looking at nearly a billion Canadian dollars before the arena even gets built.

 

[MrThomas]

Good cities.

Yeah Alabama Sweet Homies especially!

 

[Tifosi]

The potential to make more money in Seattle is far far more than QC.

 

[member 157595]

Quebec is given opportunities to show they want a team every year during the preseason and they draw under 10k most of the time.

You...do understand why they're doing that, right?

 

[These Are The Days]

Long story short

-brand new untapped revenue stream that will have full support of both the immediate and surrounding areas and a B.I.G big, f***ing ginormous TV deal

Or

-far smaller but traditional hockey market that will make a lot of money but will not have the full support of the province due to the Canadiens eating a big piece of the pie and not make as much money on TV deals

The idea is to grow the game and make money and Seattle is a much better opportunity to do both. I'm not dissing QC either it's just that these are the kind of things that are looked at when deciding expansion.

I hope to see the Nords come back. By rights they're next

 

[iamjs]

This many posts and no one mentioned corporate dollars within the city?

it was in the second post of this thread.

 

[Snakepit]

Atlanta will get another expansion team in 2027, move to Quebec in 2035

 

[Cellee]

Good cities.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Two things spring to mind for me:
(1) Quebec is east. Conferences are already imbalanced in that direction.
(2) Putting a team in Quebec isn't making any new hockey/NHL fans. Lacks upside from both a monetary and a "growing the sport" perspective.
And a possible third:
(3) Quebec may have an arena, but does it have an ownership group?

 

[Cellee]

Cost has to be a factor at this point.

Vegas paid 500M USD for their team

Seattle will surely pay more (550-650M?)

By the time you do currency conversion you’d be looking at nearly a billion Canadian dollars before the arena even gets built.

Yup.

Plus QC is trying to strong arm getting a team back and are too vocal. They are only going to be a relocation option, they need to shut up, and sit tight.

Winnipeg did everything the right way.

 

[GrantLemons]

Similar case to Winnipeg. Expand into the big markets ($$), relocate to the smaller, niche markets (WPG, QBC etc) is the logical thing for the NHL to do. The smaller markets may have a hard time coughing up the expansion fee, where as it's likely no big deal for a groups like in Vegas and Seattle.

As long as Quebec is ready on the sidelines, they will almost certainly get the next relocation. It's just a matter of who, and when.