[troutman]

Former hockey greats attend Quebec City arena groundbreaking
PQ leader booed by many in crowd

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...-breaking.html

Tens of thousands of Quebec City residents, dressed in blue and wielding blue plastic shovels, turned out for a groundbreaking ceremony Monday to mark the start of construction of a $400M amphitheatre that they hope will one day become home to an NHL team.

Organizers sold 20,000 blue plastic shovels in the lead-up to Monday's event, to give every citizen who wanted one the chance — symbolically, at least — to help break the ground for the new arena.

The stars of the event were Peter Stastny and other four former players for the Quebec Nordiques, including Stasny's brother Marian.

Quebec City Ready to Start Digging for New Arena
http://thehockeywriters.com/quebec-c...for-new-arena/

The new arena is due to open in 2015 and will have a capacity of 18,000 spectators.

The arena will be similar in style to the Consol Energy Center, the home arena of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and will occupy approximately 64,000 square metres of space. A television studio for Quebecor, valued at approximately $40 million, will be constructed within the arena. On March 1, 2011 Quebecor purchased the naming rights and management of the arena.

The progress made in Quebec City seems to please top NHL officials, namely Gary Bettman and Bill Daly. “It is apparent that the overall reaction in Quebec City to Mayor Labeaume’s plan for a new arena is very positive,” said Commissioner Gary Bettman in an e-mail to the Journal de Quebec, a local newspaper. “We will watch the process with interest.”

Daly added that a new arena would go a long way in helping Quebec City securing an NHL team. “We are encouraged by the Mayor’s announcement on the new arena and we believe it will be a very good thing for the City of Quebec,” he confirmed. “While there are no guarantees that an NHL franchise can return, certainly a new arena will enhance those prospects significantly.”