The Battle of Quebec Renewed?

For the last two years, numerous rumors flying around the inner circle of the National Hockey League say that the return of a team to Quebec City seems more and more likely. Mayor Régis Labeaume and a group of local businessmen called "J'ai ma place" are currently working on a plan to provide the city with a new arena while media mogul Pierre-Karl Péladeau clearly showed his interest in buying a team and moving it to Québec City; some rumors went as far as pretending that Péladeau already had a deal in place to buy the Atlanta Thrashers. Montreal Canadiens president Pierre Boivin even said that his team would support Quebec's bid for an NHL team. When hearing that, many Montreal fans are skeptical and fear that a new team in Quebec City would be bad omen for their team. On the contrary, I believe that the return of the highest level of professional hockey to "La Vieille Capitale" would benefit the Montreal Canadiens and the city of Montreal greatly. In fact, Montreal and its hockey team would gain economical, marketing and sports related benefits.

Economically, the city of Montreal would benefit from the return of the Quebec Nordiques because the new revenue streams created in Quebec City would, indirectly, impact in Montreal. The arrival of millionaires in the province will bring tons of money in via income taxes and since Montreal is the biggest city in the province a good chunk of this money will be used there. Every time a big business flourishes in the province, its biggest city will surely benefit. People opposed to the project say that the government will never make back the money it would invest in the arena and that no new revenue would be created by the arrival of a new professional sports team in Quebec City.  They say that people will spend money to go the hockey games and buy merchandise instead of spending their money in other recreational products therefore there will be no new money pumped into the system. Those people could be right on the surface, but they underestimate the fact that tons of new jobs will be created with the team's arrival. The new arena will need a maintenance team and the team will have executives and different professionals working with the players. All those people will pay income taxes to the province of Quebec and like I mentioned before since Montreal is the biggest city in the province, a good amount of this money will go to Montreal.

The renewed rivalry will also create a buzz which should help both markets attract new fans. Plenty of people stopped watching hockey after the Nordiques left town in 1995. Hockey wasn't a passion for them; the rivalry between the two teams was.  Bringing back the rivalry would surely bring back at least some of those fans. New fans mean new money and new money is good for both Montreal and Quebec. One might think that the arrival of a new team in a small market will only split the profits between the two franchises and make the previously existing franchise weaker.  Tickets in Montreal are basically impossible to get, so the arrival of a new team will only give the people of Montreal another alternative to see hockey games live. With Quebec and Ottawa both 200 miles away, the Montreal faithful have options to go see game and spend some money which is good for the economy. Giving hockey-crazy Montreal citizens a new option and both them and the league benefit.

Marketing wise, even though the Montreal Canadiens do an incredible job, a new rival team will make it easier to market the team. Since the identification process is so important in sports, it is vital for a hockey franchise not to only sell itself to its public but also to use their rivals in order to reinforce its fans' identification with the team.  In sports, just like in movies the stronger the villain, the easier identifying with the hero becomes. Sure, one could say that Montreal already has Toronto and Boston as rivals but none of them constitutes a rival as natural as Quebec City. Quebec City and Montreal have a rivalry that goes beyond sports. Using that natural rivalry to sell hockey to the people in Montreal would surely help create new fans. It could especially help the Habs brass attract immigrants to the game of hockey. There is nothing like a good, strong rivalry to draw someone to sports.

 

Before 2009-2010, the Habs endured a period of mediocrity that lasted almost fifteen year. Since they traded Patrick Roy in 1995, the team only reached the second round of the playoffs three times. Before their Cinderella run in 2010 they had not reached the Conference final since their last Cup win in 1993. Management never seemed to be concerned about the lack of results on the ice because the team never ceased to attract fans at the arena. With the arrival of another team in Quebec, the Habs brass won't have any other choice than to build a competitive team.  Some could think that Montreal should be responsible for the team they put on the ice no matter what but the presence of a rival certainly forces management into being better team. The stronger the concurrence, the stronger you have to be in order to prevail. Having a team so close to you forces you to make better personal moves and build a stronger team if you do not want to lose some fans.

Since 1993 the number of francophone players playing for the Montreal Canadiens has steadily declined, in fact, nowadays, there are only four French speaking players on the team: Maxim Lapierre, Benoit Pouliot, Alexandre Picard and Mathieu Darche. In 1993, fifteen French Canadian players played at least a game with the team. That steady decline has raised some anger in the fan base since many people feel like they can't really identify with foreigners. The arrival of a team in Quebec City would certainly force the Montreal Canadiens to address this issue as they did in the 1980s when the Nordiques tried to have as many French Canadians as possible. In order not to lose fans the Habs would have to respond by acquiring French Canadians players of their own. This new concurrence will only benefit the Habs faithful since it will be easier for them to feel close to their players.  Some player might argue that as long as the team wins people won't care where players are from and that most Habs fans won't care if Quebec City dresses more French speaking player than them. Those people might even argue that with Quebec City returning Montreal will focus too much on acquiring Québécois player which will make the team weaker. This couldn't be further from the truth; as long as management concentrates at getting the best players they can then fill some hole with quality Québécois players the team will be as strong as it could be and people will identify the players more easily.  Having Quebec City in the league to force Montreal to get more French speaking players makes the identification process drawing new fans to the Bell Center therefore creating more revenue sources for the team.

Finally, it appears obvious that Montreal would benefit greatly, in many ways, from the return of the Quebec Nordiques to the National Hockey League. Economically, it will create new hockey fans that might choose the Habs and spend their money on them; marketing wise, it will make the team easier to sell to the fan base and sports wise it will force the Habs brass to field a competitive team with more francophone players year after year.  So, basically, not only should hockey fans in Quebec City be excited about the potential return of the NHL to their city but people from Montreal should be enthusiastic too.

Other sources

Les Canadiens de Montréal, Montreal Canadiens official website [online] : http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/opponent/Quebec-Nordiques

J'ai ma place, J'ai ma Place [online]: http://www.jaimaplace.com/en/page/new-spectator-sports-complex-quebec-city

World Hockey, The Stastny Brothers [online]: http://www.goironpigs.com/?p=4164

Roarke, Shawn P, Stastnys remain an inspiration: Brothers inspired today's European stars, NHL Impact the online magazine [online]: http://www.nhl.com/intheslot/read/impact/april/euro_bros.html

Hockey DB, The Hockey Database [online]: http://www.hockeydb.com

Chung, Andrew, The Battle of Québec part II, The Toronto Star, 2010 [online]: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/748710--it-s-battle-of-quebec-part-deux

Wikipedia, Wikipedia the only Encyclopedia, [online]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Nordiques