Rapporter Les Nordiques

[Jay Random]

Right. When I want to look up particular stats, my search terms include ‘hockeydb’ more often than ‘nhl’.

In any case, the viability of an NHL franchise is not determined by the number of people who search for hockey on Google, but by the number who are willing to pony up several grand a year for season tickets.

U.S. teams can flourish with a small population of ‘avid’ fans, in part because of demographics. Hockey may only appeal to 5 percent of the population there, but a large part of that group are affluent and willing to spend. The game appeals to the same demographic group here, but also to enormous numbers of blue-collar people who can't afford tickets.

Joe Sixpack (U.S. edition) has barely heard of hockey, whereas Joe Hoser and J.-S. Poutine yak about it all winter, but all three of them spend approximately the same amount of money on the game. From the NHL's point of view, how ‘avid’ those folks are means very little.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by FBI

Is it just me or is that a dumb way to find avidity? How many of us type NHL into google?
I haven't done that in probably 15 years.

Just ignore it. Troutman throws that out every couple months as if it s an actual trump card in any debate related to Quebec City's viability. Especially when the fact that it is a tiny market is brought up.

"Fan avidity" would matter for nothing if not for the salary cap. The cap, along with a new arena makes the city viable.

[Young_Guns]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Just ignore it. Troutman throws that out every couple months as if it s an actual trump card in any debate related to Quebec City's viability. Especially when the fact that it is a tiny market is brought up.

"Fan avidity" would matter for nothing if not for the salary cap. The cap, along with a new arena makes the city viable.

Winnipeg is a small market, it's working isn't it and probably in the top half of the league I would guess? Calgary and Edmonton weren't much different 15-20 years ago. QC can and will work, as did Minnesota and California (San Jose). Actually, so will LV. Arizona/Phoenix, and Carolina not so much.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Just ignore it. Troutman throws that out every couple months as if it s an actual trump card in any debate related to Quebec City's viability. Especially when the fact that it is a tiny market is brought up.

"Fan avidity" would matter for nothing if not for the salary cap. The cap, along with a new arena makes the city viable.

Right, every couple of months!

I also don't think it is conclusive of anything because it depends how each study defines "avidity". However avidity is defined, we should not be surprised to find a Canadian city will have many more ready made hockey fans than US cities.

Here is an article about how the NHL measures avidity:

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/ar...se-400124/all/

I would agree that avidity is a less significant factor to viability than other factors. It would relate to regional TV ratings and merchandising, and posssibly demand for tickets and ticket prices.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Young_Guns

Winnipeg is a small market, it's working isn't it and probably in the top half of the league I would guess? Calgary and Edmonton weren't much different 15-20 years ago. QC can and will work, as did Minnesota and California (San Jose). Actually, so will LV. Arizona/Phoenix, and Carolina not so much.

Jets are #26 in the NHL by revenue, according to Forbes. They have the league's smallest arena and smallest market, and basically no room to grow. They've been a budget team since they relocated and cannot spend to the cap, and are hit hard by any drop in the Canadian dollar from year to year. That is not a ‘top half of the league’ situation.

Calgary and Edmonton in the 90s were not quite as badly off. They just barely managed to survive until the loonie went up and the salary cap came in – and only by selling off all their high-priced talent and turning into virtual farm teams for the big U.S. markets. That's not a sound business plan. If it hadn't been for the prospect of a cap, they would likely have relocated or folded. Even now, the Flames and Oilers are in the middle of the pack financially.

Minnesota has a metro-area population of 3.5 million. The Bay Area has 4.7 million. Quebec City, under 800,000 – just about the same size as Winnipeg. The revived Nordiques will have all the same difficulties as the Jets, plus the language barrier. It's not a rosy outlook.

[Boreal]

Not to mention the Jets were actually purchased when the Canadian dollar was higher than the US Dollar.

[troutman]

Nords fans reading into things (I'm not sure that is even a Nords logo):

http://www.gonordiques.com/2017/02/0...ociaux-concer/

Maxime Truman from the blog Danslescoulisses has just published a photo that speaks enormously On social networks.

Truman says he received a photo of a recruiter who was present at the Videotron Center on Monday evening for the CHL's top prospects game and this card included the Hurricanes logo and the Quebec Nordiques logo.

It is extremely strange to see that the official card of a recruiter includes the logos of both teams and even more after the recent remarks of Karmanos concerning the possible sale of its franchise.

[FBI]

Can't wait for 32 teams including Seattle and Quebec.

[automaton 3]

Very interesting. Could be some kind of hoax I suppose, mid-season seems quite premature to be putting both logos on anything, in particular a scouting credential worn out in public.

You'd think the NHL would have very tight rules about inadvertently leaking this kind of information.

[Resolute 14]

It's not a hoax, but what Troutman said - people reading what they want to see in things. There is no chance at all the CHL would be doing something like that with scout passes.

[Harry Lime]

Let's go ahead and rename the flames the 'calgary flamberge' and play 5 home games a year in quebec city. Forget the new arena entirely, and pull the nordique fan base into the fold.

Who's down?

The new logo can be a 'c' with a flaming sword through it, making a stylized 'qc'.

[ken0042]

If only the Flames owned a logo that incorporated a flaming Q and a flaming C together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_City_Flames

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by FBI

Can't wait for 32 teams including Seattle and Quebec.

Bring it up to 34 with Houston and Portland.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Tsawwassen

Bring it up to 34 with Houston and Portland.

No no no! No more expansion!

[Hockey Fan #751]

Maybe every pass had the affiliated team's logo and Nordiques logo on it, indicating the home rink for the CHL Top Prospects game.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by ken0042

If only the Flames owned a logo that incorporated a flaming Q and a flaming C together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_City_Flames

I like the flambés better.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Looks like the Quebec Premier and Gary Bettman will meet to discuss the possibility of a Quebec-based NHL team.

“I spoke with [Mr. Bettman], and we have meetings with him in the coming months,” Legault said. “You have to look at who is ready to invest. We have an amphitheater in Quebec that has already been built. We are in the process of making contact with Mr. Bettman. We are looking at what we need to bring back the Nordiques. I think we are capable of having a second team in Quebec.”

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/quebecs...the-nordiques/

[bluejays]

Without even reading the article I imagine it wouldn’t be an expansion franchise but likely the Coyotes relocating there. I can’t believe they could support a franchise without a corporate base but what do I know?

[Reggie Dunlop]

I'm not sure it'll go anywhere, for a myriad of reasons, but then I was wrong about the Jets returning to Winnipeg.

[Flames1217]

......

I've been here in Quebec city for ten years now and the number of times we have been close to getting a team is disheartening.

Quebec city is an absolute hockey hotbed just stop teasing us if it is never going to happen.