Pros and Cons of Las Vegas and Quebec City as NHL Expansion Destinations

The NHL’s official expansion consideration deadline was Monday night, and Tuesday morning, the league issued a press release revealing potential ownership groups from just two cities had put forward applications.

Media giant Quebecor applied for a team in Quebec City. Bill Foley, the chairman of real estate services giant Fidelity National Financial, did the same on behalf of Las Vegas. What does each city bring to the table for the NHL, both on the positive and negative side of the equation?

Pro (both): Well-heeled ownership

Even if the reputations of the two ownership groups didn’t precede them, the NHL’s financial demands just to be considered for a franchise make it obvious that neither team will lack for money. As TSN’s Frank Seravalli reported after the deadline passed, the league wanted serious money from any candidate hoping to be considered.

“To engage only serious inquiries, the NHL set the application fee for prospective ownership groups at $10 million,” wrote Seravalli, “with only $8 million of that being refundable should a bid not receive one of the league’s next franchises.”

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Con (Quebec): The falling Canadian dollar

The story of the Nordiques is a tragic one, and since the departure of the team, fans in Quebec City have hoped for the return of the NHL. It’s odd the possibility exists at the same time the Canadian dollar is in a major slump.

According to UBC’s Sauder School of Business, the Canadian dollar had an average value of 72.8 American cents in 1995, when the Nordiques relocated. As of July 21, the dollar wasn’t quite that low, but the Bank of Canada had it valued at 77.2 cents against the U.S. dollar.

The NHL has to be nervous about the ability of a small-market Canadian team that pays its players in U.S. dollars to survive that kind of fall.

Pro (both): Arenas 

Videotron Centre in Quebec City is a brand-new $400 million facility that hasn’t even opened yet and was explicitly built with the intention of attracting an NHL franchise. Meanwhile, a similarly new $350 million arena in Las Vegas—one built to both NHL and NBA specifications, according to Alan Snel of the Las Vegas Review-Journal—is set to open early in 2016.

Almost more than anything else, the success of any pro sports franchise depends largely on having a suitable facility for a team to play in (and the owner to make money off). Both Las Vegas and Quebec City meet that requirement splendidly.

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Con (Las Vegas): Sports gambling

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly made it clear he opposes sports gambling, and he reiterated that stance in an interview with Sportsnet in June.

“You don't want people rooting for anything other than the team that they love and the players that they think the world of to win,” he told radio hosts Greg Brady and Andrew Walker. “We don't want there to be another agenda.”

That viewpoint may be naive or wrongheaded, but it has been repeated over and over again, and it is hard to square that objection to gambling with the awarding of a franchise to a city so intricately connected to betting.

Pro (both): The only game in town

An NHL franchise in either city would lack competition from another major league rival.

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Las Vegas has been mentioned as a potential landing site for any number of teams, but to date, no professional sports franchise plays in the city. The Las Vegas 51s, a minor league baseball team, is currently the highest-level pro franchise in the city.

Quebec City, meanwhile, lacks even that level of professional franchise. The city’s most important team might be the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, a junior hockey team that would quickly and totally be eclipsed by an NHL club.

Con (both): Small markets 

One of the big reasons both Quebec City and Las Vegas lack major league teams is that both cities are pretty small for such a club.

The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau puts the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area at less than 2 million people. Las Vegas is also a non-traditional market for hockey, and a disproportionate percentage of the population is employed in the hospitality industry, where the hours could make attending games difficult.

Quebec City lacks the unique circumstances of Las Vegas and is very much a traditional market for the sport, but population is an issue. Statistics Canada currently estimates the population of the metropolitan area at less than 800,000.

There are numerous other items we could consider that are beyond the scope of this short article, but those are some of the key factors.

Both hypothetical teams would benefit from having modern facilities, strong ownership groups and playing in untapped markets. The downside to both markets is that they’re small, with Las Vegas having some unique issues and Quebec City being a counterintuitive choice when set against the falling Canadian dollar.

Despite the weaknesses, both cities are strong candidates for teams, as shown by the willingness of rich owners to pledge $10 million just for the right to be considered. Not even billionaires bet that kind of money lightly. In each case, committed groups have backed their belief in these markets with serious cash.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.