The Obstacles to a Return of the Quebec Nordiques

If the nordiques come back I will personally go to Quebec city to see them play

I truly feel for the fans in Quebec. It’s a total hockey city, and they have been waiting an awful long time to get a team. I hope it works out for them..

Crazy how popular the Nordiques are even today. In the Avs team store, you can still buy Nordiques jerseys and gear

I could listen to Shannon read the phone book. His videos help me get through my long days between nursing school and my full-time job as a machinist. I would love to see Quebec City get a NHL team again. 😊

The problem is the disconnect between "growing the game" and profits. Quebec will obviously generate immediate profits, but the nhl is saying they want to grow the game. But when there are constant and distracting ads, blackouts, ignoring fan feedback, and making it prohibitively expensive to go, you're gaining immediate profits at the expense of growing the game. The disconnect is frustrating and is making a less enjoyable product with people who want to see a classic team return feel like they're getting the short end of the stick for no reason

As a Canadiens fan, I admit that I miss the Habs-Nordiques rivalry.

Crazy to think the Flames were bought from Atlanta for only 16 million dollars. And that was a record breaking high price for an NHL team back in 1980! Those days are long gone. I hope Quebec City gets an NHL team back some day but it would cost a lot of money.

Hello from Quebec city :-) I grew up a Nordiques fan. They moved when I was 12. Hockey has never been the same after that. I miss making fun of Habs fans :-) Would be fun to revive the rivalry.

Not only is Peladeau loaded, but conveniently his company, Quebecor is the operator of the Videotron Centre, the new rink in Quebec City.

As a Leaf fan I love the Nordiques logo. Everytime I visit Quebec, I buy a Nordiques hat or toque.

Shannon gave us a better explanation in 1/2 an hr, than the league has given us in decades

There is one thing you didn't mention in your analysis; the Quebec / Montreal rivalry was one of the most intense (if not "the" most intense) in hockey history...in my opinion that has to count for something and at the same time would generate new fans because a lot of those new fans have parents that lived that rivalry and would pass down that knowledge to them...just my 2 cents worth. Great video!...stay safe!

It’s interesting that Seattle has a team now, because I was hearing for years about the threat of the Canucks, especially when John McCaw bought the team, moving there because of the Canadian dollar, coupled with how bad things had gotten for the franchise in general. People think things are bad now for the Canucks and I don’t dispute that, but they were scary for a while in Vancouver just a few years after 1994. Things went from amazing to near disaster fast.

If Quebec city gets a team I will cheer for them. I am planning to move to Quebec City within the next 5 years. Once I'm almost fluent in French I will move.

MOST thoughtful explanation I’ve heard on why NHL return to Quebec is not likely. Well done, sir!

I remember the short lived but well regarded Las Vegas Thunder. They proved (like the Chill in Columbus) that the city could support hockey. Love them or hate them at least the fans have taken to the team and they have generated exposure around the world in non traditional hockey markets.

I grew up following the WHA as well as the NHL. Hated when Quebec left. Cried when Winnipeg left. But this is one of the most level-headed, smart examinations of why the NHL’s not rushing back to Quebec and it’s not Bettman’s fault. Also loved that he explained well why the NHL had interest in Seattle and Vegas being good quickly and how the salary cap helped that happen. The first NFL expansion after 19 years and a salary cap introduction produced Carolina and Jacksonville, which were very good very fast. Also, this isn’t the 1970s or 1980s — you can’t suck your first 8 years or more the way Washington or the Scouts/Rockies/Devils did and expect people to pay modern cost of attendance (tickets, parking, concessions). Even in Canada (except Toronto), if you suck for too long, attendance drops. Suck longer, apathy sets in. With free agency, the cap, and event drafting, that shouldn’t happen but look at Florida until they got their shit together a few years ago. Anyway, great video.

Avalanche fan here since day 1. I am so grateful Denver got graced with this incredible franchise in 1995 and winning the Stanley Cup in 96 and basically those first 7 years were absolutely epic. The success of the Avalanche as a whole is proof that the move was not a mistake, even if we went through our own stretch of misery that very much rivaled the Nord's late 80s/early 90s. Having said that living on the East Coast for some years now has allowed me to visit Quebec City a couple of times already. And man I love every bit of that city! People who haven't been don't realize how quite unique that place is. Quebec reminds me a lot of Prague actually with the citadelle, the old town and all. The fact that they built a bona fide NHL arena and still haven't been awarded a franchise is an absolute crime in my opinion. I get that in the short term, the financials don't speak for Quebec City. But with some 25 years of data, can we say that some of these sunshine state teams have really worked out? Atlanta certainly didn't. Arizona? 1 decent playoff run and they are now playing in a college arena. Is that a success story? Even the Panthers really haven't been all that convincing as a franchise. You said it yourself. The Nordiques have obviously become a bit of a cult with their pijama style uniforms, their lovely postmodern igloo logo. And this is what makes for great marketing today. Great iconography with a mysterious Cold-War era background story. It's like a James Bond wrapped up with an original pair of Jordans. Why Bettman is unwilling to see that is beyond me. Well, it's not beyond me. The NHL leadership is a bunch of old dudes who lack vision...like Jeremy Jacobs. Who cares what an 83 old geezer says who probably can't even use a cell phone.

I’ve been an Oilers fan my whole life, but the only other team I ever truly rooted for was the Nordiques. A lot if it could be because I always liked Stastny and Goulet. And truth be told, I always had a soft spot for the Whalers and Jets too so maybe there’s a WHA connection involved, although I wasn’t even alive when the WHA folded. I could never understand why the Nordiques never came back. I was on the “Bettman Hates Canada” bandwagon, until I remember in 1997 (I think) when Pocklington was wanting to sell my beloved Oilers and some guy from Houston (ironically) wanted to buy the Oilers and move them down there. The Jets and Nordiques were already gone, and it looked like the Oilers, Senators, and Flames could and most likely would be next to head south. Bettman brought in that program for the Oilers, Flames, and Senators where they would receive funding on the conditions that they would hit a percentage of attendance and commit to eventually building new arenas. I guess when you’re just a teenager and you watched teams like the Nordiques and Jets go rather quickly and your favourite team could be next, you just look at the blame at face value. There are some comparatives between the mid/late 90s and today. I’m doing my best to not get political but it does have a lot of bearing in this (believe it or not). Back then, we had a Liberal government in power who overspent badly and took Canada into a recession and a big devaluing of our dollar with a rise in cost of living. Today, we have another Liberal government who has overspent even more so, a larger devaluing of our dollar, and yet a higher cost of living. When your team has to charge so much for tickets, and then charge even more, it’s harder to get to games. When everything else becomes so expensive that you are jostling money around figuring out how to buy the necessities in life and working as much overtime as you can just to get ahead, it’s tough. I live three hours east of Edmonton just an hour into Saskatchewan. In the late 2000s to mid 2010s i would easily go to at least one Oilers game a season. That’s the ticket(s), the petrol to drive there and back, going for lunch, getting a hotel room, beer at the game. Now, I’m seriously considering cutting my television just to eliminate another bill. I’m not trying to get sympathy nor trying to push a political issue, I’m just stating facts. And I totally get why the NHL is bullish on returning to Quebec City at this time. I’m just one example, and all things considered I’m in somewhat decent shape financially compared to a lot of other Canadians.

I am in Quebec City and we still feel the pain of our loss... What about the Winnipeg Jets with a 15k seats building compared to us with a top of the line building of 18 500 in a similar market and in the same country ? Peladeau is a separatist and I don't see the NHL willing to have anything to do with that guy... The Desmarais family (Power Corporation) is the one to get it back imo ... Thanks for speaking about it :)