Quote:
Originally Posted by wingmaker
I am aware that some people would take Philly, Florida, Toronto, etc over Quebec City. But I wouldn't. And I may be in the minority but I don't think the consensus is as strongly against Quebec City as some in this thread claim. And the language barrier is overblown by people in the west.
I also find that people in Canada tend to put American cities on a pedestal. I have visited a lot of them and many aren't that special. Outside of California and the major centres like Chicago and New York, a lot of American cities are way overhyped by Canadians, in my opinion.
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Again, it's not that the cities are special, or that they're inherently superior to Quebec City or anything like that. The cities have no language barrier and have relatively favorable taxes compared to QC. That's it. Factor in the growing pains that an expansion team will go through before it's competitive, and it's pretty easy to see that non-francophones will not be lining up to play there. Sure, there will be occasional signings. It just simply won't be an attractive destination compared to an established, winning team. Or a city with a moderately competitive team with favorable taxation. Or, at first, a losing team where English is the main language.
I mean, you see it in Montreal already. Yes, they sign free agents like Tom Gilbert, or Brandon Prust, or Erik Cole. But they don't land the "big fish" - and they have a competitive team with the most storied history of any team in the league.