The Key To An NHL Future in Quebec City: Find More Investors

Quebec City might be much farther advanced in its quest to get back the Nordiques and return to the NHL, if it stopped being financially lazy and made real efforts to secure enough financing for both a new arena and a franchise bid.

Quebecor, headed by media mogul, Pierre-Karl Peladeau, has publicly become the up-front bidder for a returned Nordiques after failing to buy the Montreal Canadiens.

Quebec rightly believes that it needs a new modern 18,000 seat arena in order to be a stable, long term franchise.

Failure to build such an arena cost the city their team in the 1990s.

Quebecor is a first class investor which will make a fine owner.  Unlike Jim Balsillie, they already have the blessing of NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman.

There's just one problem:  Quebecor doesn't have enough money to finance both an arena and a franchise bid.

A new arena is expected to cost approximately $400 million.  There has been no sports project undertaken like this in Quebec City history.

Currently, further advances await the report of a feasibility study and the release of a credible business plan.

Most of the current Canadian NHL franchises have arenas that have been built completely from private funds.  To build an arena, Quebecor needs partners.

But instead of recruiting more private investment, Quebecor is hoping for government handouts.

The Quebec City municipal government has pledged $50 million towards a new arena.

The provincial government, headed by Jean Charest, who also talked to Commissioner Bettman, is semi-committed to advancing one half of the remaining sum, $175 million.

The remaining $175 million is expected to come from the federal government.

There was a recent article in the Montreal Gazette speculating that the ruling federal Conservative party could gain as many as eleven more seats in an upcoming federal election if they pledged the money.

What the article didn't say is the possible backlash from the rest of Canada.

In view of the fickleness of sports franchise owners who move teams and blackmail cities for more funds for new facilities if they don't get their way, and the astronomical costs of such places like the Skydome in Toronto, and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canadians have adopted an attitude of no government funding for sports facilities unless they are connected with major international competitions like the Olympics, the Commonwealth, or Pan Am Games.

To get around this, Quebec is claiming that a new arena is necessary for a 2022 Winter Olympic bid.

That claim is nothing but a smokescreen to get funding for an NHL team.

No government spends money on new sports facilities until AFTER a successful bid is made.

To pledge money to build a new arena for Quebec before even advancing a bid could bring serious negative political consequences for both the ruling parties of the federal and provincial governments.

To begin with, there would be a backlash against any government trying to violate the unofficial policy, stated above.

Just as serious, would be the reaction of other cities with new sports facilities in mind.

For starters, Hamilton and Winnipeg, both with NHL ambitions, would be lining up at the government's door and asking,  "Why not us too?"

Then there would be the CFL and any Canadian town or city that wants to stage minor international sports events.

The most sensible, non-politically explosive solution for Quebec to do, is for Quebecor to recruit more partners to build the arena and front the bid.

If they had done that in first place, there wouldn't have been any need for a "feasibility study".

Quite possibly, the business plan would have been laid out by now and the shovels already in the ground.

That might mean, accepting investors from "English" Canada and the United States, something French dominated Quebec City has always shunned.

But that way may be the only way.

There are many such investors across Canada, who are interested in owning an NHL franchise.

Quebec, with a proper arena and credible owners, would be a certifiable winner.

Private funding is the way to go, not being lazy and hoping for government grants.

Quebecor has got to swallow its pride and recruit more partners.

Or perhaps wait, like Godot, for something that will never happen.