Quebec City NHL expansion bid



Quebec City has been home to two NHL hockey teams. The first, the Quebec Bulldogs, lasted from 1878 to 1920, after which they moved to Hamilton, Ontario. The second, the Quebec Nordiques, called Quebec City their home from 1972 to 1979 in the World Hockey Association, and from 1979 to 1995 as a National Hockey League team, at which point they moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche. Part of the challenge for both the Bulldogs and Nordiques was that Quebec City was by far the smallest market in the NHL. According to the Television Bureau of Canada, a prospective Quebec City team would now be in the league's second-smallest market, ahead of only Winnipeg. However, Silver's analysis suggested that the Quebec City market was comparable to the U.S. markets of Buffalo and Washington, D.C. in terms of avid hockey fans.

In 2009, Alexander Medvedev, founder and president of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, stated his interest in purchasing an NHL team for Quebec City, saying that it was "very strange" there was no NHL team there. Medvedev later shelved plans to buy a North American team after NHL representatives told him that the league would never allow him to own one of its clubs. In October 2009, Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume spoke with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and former Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut regarding a team. Bettman stated that Quebec City could be considered as a candidate for an NHL team provided it built a new arena and a team were for sale.

In May 2011, Labeaume stated that Pierre Karl Péladeau, then-president and CEO of Quebecor, was in talks with the NHL regarding a franchise in Quebec City. He later became a politician for the Parti Québécois, a sovereignist political party in the province. In September 2012, then-Quebec premier Jean Charest (a member of the rival Liberal Party and whose government had invested in the new arena) claimed that the political aspect might hinder Quebec City's chances of getting the Nordiques back, saying that Bettman might be less likely to allow a team to move if sovereignists were in power. According to Sports Illustrated, the league is wary of the Quebec sovereignty movement because of concerns that it could destabilize the Canadian dollar. However, Mayor Labeaume insists that Péladeau's involvement in politics will hinder neither the management of the new arena nor the negotiations over the return of the Nordiques.

Prior to the 2011–12 NHL season, an exhibition game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning was played at the Colisée Pepsi, the former home of the Nordiques. The Canadiens were well received despite being from rival Montreal, and the designated away team of the game. Montreal was also scheduled to host the Carolina Hurricanes at the Colisée Pepsi in 2012; however, that game was canceled due to the lockout. In September 2012, construction started on an 18,000-seat arena in Quebec City that would eventually become known as Centre Vidéotron, the cost of which (C$400 million) was split equally between the provincial and municipal governments. The arena opened on September 12, 2015.

In July 2013, ex-Nordiques coach Michel Bergeron accused Bettman of arranging a Glendale City Council vote concerning the relocation of the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes, although the team would have more likely moved to Seattle. Bergeron called it "an obvious lack of respect and I find it disgusting," and claimed that Bettman is averse to moving teams out of the United States. In March 2014, news broke that former Canadian prime minister and vice-chairman of Quebecor Brian Mulroney was also involved with negotiations. Labeaume pointed out that Mulroney and Bettman had been negotiating directly for some time, and that "Mr. Bettman is a businessman. The Quebec sovereignty project will not bother him."

On June 24, 2015, Quebecor announced that it planned to apply for an NHL expansion franchise, with the aim of bringing the Nordiques back to Quebec City. Nearly a month later, on July 20, 2015, Quebecor formally announced it had submitted an application to the NHL for an expansion franchise. On July 21, 2015, the NHL confirmed it had received an application from Quebecor. On August 5, 2015, it was announced that Quebec had moved on to Phase II of the expansion process. The bid subsequently advanced to Phase III, which ended on September 4.

Centre Vidéotron hosted a neutral-site preseason game between the Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins on September 28, 2015. The following day in New York City, Quebecor and the Las Vegas ownership group presented their bids to the NHL's executive committee. However, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated in a press conference after the NHL's Board of Governors meeting that though the league continued to explore the possibility of expansion, no deadline had been established for a decision. Commissioner Bettman also said that expansion requires a three-quarters affirmative vote from the Board of Governors, but the members of the executive committee would first have to make a recommendation to the group.

Quebec City's 2015 bid on an expansion team, while not entirely ruled out, was significantly weakened after the Canadian dollar declined in value against its U.S. counterpart. As of June 2016, the Quebec City bid was said to be still being seriously considered, but not yet decided. The league ultimately decided to "defer" the Quebec bid until a later time. Centre Vidéotron was awarded some exhibition games leading into the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, an international tournament operated by the NHL, as well as a pair of NHL preseason games in successive years; on October 4, 2016 and September 18, 2017, between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. In announcing the Seattle expansion team in December 2018, commissioner Gary Bettman stated that no further expansion teams would be considered for the foreseeable future, effectively rejecting the dormant Quebec City bid.

Status as of start of the 2021-22 NHL season
Based on the current league size of 32 teams as of the start of the 2021-22 season, the most likely possibility for Quebec City to get a team is the relocation of a struggling existing team. Most likely either the Arizona Coyotes or Florida Panthers as both teams have had issues with either attendance or arenas. However, the league would likely only allow the relocation of either of these teams as a last resort as Miami is the 7th largest media market in the United States and Phoenix is the 10th largest media market in the United States (both areas would only drop one spot if the US and Canada were combined). Quebec City would be the 7th largest media market in Canada and about the 80th largest in Canada and the US combined Other cities such as Houston (5th US and 5th Can/US), Kansas City (31st US/34th Can/US), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (40 US/43rd Can/US), and Portland, Oregon (25th US and 28th Can/US) would also be in contention for a relocated team. All of which are in much larger television markets and also have arenas that are pretty much well in move in condition for an NHL team. The city of San Diego (17th/19th) may also be a not too distant future candidate for a team as the city has begun efforts to replace the aging Pechanga Arena depending on the size of arena that the city decides on as the city presently has an American Hockey League team playing in the arena and an arena of 10,000 to 12,000 capacity may suit the needs of the city.

The city's best hope to land a team would be if the NHL decides on further expansion to either 34 or 36 teams as a result of financial losses and additional expenses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professional sports leagues have often expanded when a quick influx of money is needed due to financial losses such as large legal obligations such as when Major League Baseball added teams in the early 1960's and 1990's to either prevent lawsuits or to pay for lost lawsuits such as when the National Football League added a single team in Cleveland when the league was sued over the Browns relocating to Baltimore.