The Los Angeles Kings will settle in and set up camp at the Videotron Center in Quebec next October to wrap up their training camp…
The last two preseason games will be played in Quebec against the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers, two quality games with complete or almost complete rosters…
This is great news for hockey fans in Quebec who, in addition to being numerous, are also passionate.
For the preliminary matches played in the Videotron Center and even in the Coliseum, there was always, with one exception, an excellent audience…
I liked the speech of Gestev’s Martin Tremblay who said at the press briefing this morning that these games are not a test for the National League to give hockey fans in Quebec, but a great celebration of hockey. by or for the city and region of Quebec.
The famous tests are outdated, obsolete… no longer of interest to the world and for a reason.
If the National Hockey League decides to increase the number of teams to 34 – and I believe they will do so within 10 years at the most – Quebec will certainly be in the running.
In the meantime, I think the Old Capital can dream of hosting regular games for certain NHL teams soon.
It’s no longer a secret: During Eugene Melnyk’s lifetime, there was a real plan to have the Ottawa Senators play some of their regular home games at the Videotron Center in Quebec.
This project died at the same time as Mr. Melnyk, may God rest his soul…
The Senators are in Sweden this week for regular season games. The Jaguars and other NFL teams play some of their home games in London or Frankfurt.
Major League Baseball is headed this way too… just like the NBA. I think that Quebec, which has a large capacity to generate income from the presentation of the game, can become a real alternative for certain franchises of the National Hockey League.
A striking example: the Florida Panthers. I would really like to see them play some of their local games at the Videotron Center.
Meanwhile, of course, one cannot mention the Nordiques’ grand comeback project without leaving this little bitter taste in the mouths of precious Quebec hockey fans…
And then there’s commissioner Adam Silver, who mentioned Montreal as a possible destination during the upcoming NBA expansion.
Silver never says anything in vain. This project of a club in Montreal in the best basketball league in the world is very realistic…
It has revived since France’s Margaret Bélanger, the real boss of the Canadian, showed a commendable interest in housing this team at the Bell Center.
The Montreal market can and must support an NBA franchise. It’s the least risky bet in all of Canadian professional sports other than hockey.
The profile of buyers of basketball players is almost completely different from the profile of buyers of hockey players. The overlap is of the order of magnitude of less than 20% of the potential purchasers of seat rights.
I sincerely believe that the NBA would not only be viable in Montreal, but that this project, which Michael Fortier nurtures in absolute discretion, but with great interest and great detail, must and will be realized within a maximum of 5 years.
Add to that the creation of a team in Montreal in what is now the only major professional women’s hockey league, the addition within three years of a rival in Quebec…
A Montreal baseball project that wouldn’t be completely dead to begin with…
A possible club in the Canadian Basketball League in Quebec, and why not soon a club in the Canadian Football League also in Quebec…
There are refreshing perspectives for Quebec sports fans, enough to fuel hope, to allow themselves to dream, but this time with a little less cynicism…
Life passes, the wheel turns.
It looks like it could be Montreal and Quebec’s turn to play in the big leagues again.
