Winnipeg or Quebec City: Who's more deserving of the return of the NHL? (ticket, league)
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Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
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While there are other similiar threads about team relocation or expansion, I'm talking about these 2 cities only....
Check this out in Quebec City yesterday (think it drew as many as Glenn Beck's rally in August)......
I don't think Winnipeg would get a crowd that big, maybe 10k-20k, but not 50k....
The NHL would make a big mistake, if they went back to Winnipeg, if you ask me, I think there a chance (not a great chance, like Seattle or Hamilton/Toronto) but still a reasonable chance that it would work in Quebec City.
The arena that the potential team would play in Winnipeg, is actually 200 to 300 seats smaller, than Colisee Pepsi, which Quebec could use while a new arena is being made.....
Opinions? Focus on just, Winnipeg and Quebec City in this thread...
I'd have to go with QC on this one; I believe their CSA population's around a couple million.. where as for Winnipeg, the entire province of Manitoba's only half that. Going on sheer numbers... QC.
I'd have to go with QC on this one; I believe their CSA population's around a couple million.. where as for Winnipeg, the entire province of Manitoba's only half that. Going on sheer numbers... QC.
Quebec City and Winnipeg metros have almost the exact same populations: about 750,000 each. But you reach one million people in a circular radius much faster branching out from Quebec City than you do from Winnipeg.
Also the population rises much faster as you radiate out from Quebec City. Quebec City is closer to major population bases like southwestern Quebec (Montreal), southern Ontario and the northeastern US. It also gets way more tourists than Winnipeg does, and tourists are potential ticket buyers.
To answer the original question, neither city is more deserving. Both have advantages the other does not have.
In spite of what has been said here, Winnipeg is more advantaged on the facilities side. Its arena is new, has more luxury boxes and though it is a bit small may be able to do the trick for the NHL.
Quebec City's arena is totally antiquated and until the shovel is in the ground for a new one, it is all just talk there.
Quebec City offers a similar-sized immediate market but a much larger extended market than Winnipeg.
Winnipeg has a bigger private sector base than Quebec City does. Both are capitals of their provinces but since Quebec is a bigger province than Manitoba, Quebec City tends to be more of government town than Winnipeg since the provincial administration is much bigger.
Although another factor is that the fact that Quebec City is in a much bigger province opens up opportunities for corporate support, but outside the city. Especially among corporations who cannot get into the Montreal Canadiens' fold. When the Nordiques were in the league, one of their major sponsors was O'Keefe breweries. O'Keefe was based in Montreal but they were locked out of the Habs by Molson's stranglehold, so they went with the Nords.
Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
5,152 posts, read 8,527,286 times
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Again, the regional population and tourist appeal, that Quebec City has, would make that have a lot more sense, than Winnipeg would. The only way I could see Winnipeg having a little chance is, if, you put just about all the games on weekends. They would really have to depend on a regional population, say, from towns like Brandon and Grand Forks, which is maybe 1.2 million at the most (4hour drive or less) to come for games, who wants to do something like that on Sun thru Thurs night? Quebec's 4 hour drive population is more like 6 million, more likely to get out of town fans there during the week, than you would in Winnipeg.
IMO, huge mistake, putting a team in Winnipeg again.
To answer the original question, neither city is more deserving. Both have advantages the other does not have.
In spite of what has been said here, Winnipeg is more advantaged on the facilities side. Its arena is new, has more luxury boxes and though it is a bit small may be able to do the trick for the NHL.
Quebec City's arena is totally antiquated and until the shovel is in the ground for a new one, it is all just talk there.
Quebec City offers a similar-sized immediate market but a much larger extended market than Winnipeg.
Winnipeg has a bigger private sector base than Quebec City does. Both are capitals of their provinces but since Quebec is a bigger province than Manitoba, Quebec City tends to be more of government town than Winnipeg since the provincial administration is much bigger.
Although another factor is that the fact that Quebec City is in a much bigger province opens up opportunities for corporate support, but outside the city. Especially among corporations who cannot get into the Montreal Canadiens' fold. When the Nordiques were in the league, one of their major sponsors was O'Keefe breweries. O'Keefe was based in Montreal but they were locked out of the Habs by Molson's stranglehold, so they went with the Nords.
There's no question Quebec will have to construct a new arena.. so we may not see a team there for the next 2-3 years.. (they also have to come up with the money). If the "bottom 5" so happen to be in such dire financial trouble there may be a chance for Winnipeg to dive in and relocate one this off season since they have the facility to support it. But that said, even Hamilton could be a contender; a much better one at that.
There's no question Quebec will have to construct a new arena.. so we may not see a team there for the next 2-3 years.. (they also have to come up with the money). If the "bottom 5" so happen to be in such dire financial trouble there may be a chance for Winnipeg to dive in and relocate one this off season since they have the facility to support it. But that said, even Hamilton could be a contender; a much better one at that.
In spite of what has been said here, Winnipeg is more advantaged on the facilities side. Its arena is new, has more luxury boxes and though it is a bit small may be able to do the trick for the NHL.
it will not do the trick, the NHL has a minimum seating requirement for NHL arenas and theirs is about 3,000 too short, they'd need to re-modify and I'm not sure how they could do that and get enough seats in. And they aren't going to build a brand new one either.
I could see QC playing in the old area for a few years even though capacity is small , kind of like an NFL team moving ot L.A. and playing in the Colliseum or Rose Bowl for a few years until a new stadium is built.
I'm not sure how feasable re-modeling Winterpegs arena would be but in reality both cities could support franchises better than PHX, ATL, TB, MIA, CAR.
QC vs. Montreal : the French Canadian Derby. Talk about intense rivalry
QC vs. Montreal : the French Canadian Derby. Talk about intense rivalry
Ah yes... the mid-80s. Those were the days!
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