Québec City and Montréal want to replace teams that moved.
Happy birthday to America’s northern neighbor, Canada. Today is Canada’s 155th birthday and it probably is a good time to take a look at the county and Canadian sports aspirations. The top of the list probably is to add a National Hockey League team in Québec City and a Major League Baseball team in Montréal. The National Hockey League did not give Canadians an early 150th birthday present, a franchise in Québec City in 2017, although there may be a small number of people in Québec proper that don’t even want to be part of Canada. Québec City is Québec’s capital and Montréal is the financial center of the province of Québec and both still are on the outside looking in. Québec City has a state-of-the-art arena and there could be a decent TV deal available but Québec City is a government town with limited corporate support and even though there is an arena and a better TV opportunity, there are limited loonies available. There was a story that the NHL’s Ottawa Senators franchise might play five games in Québec City in 2022-2023 but that is apparently not happening.
There were those in Montréal who seemed to be excited with the possibility of the return of Major League Baseball on a part-time basis to town beginning in 2024. There was a plan to divide Tampa Bay Rays home games between St. Petersburg, Florida and Montréal but MLB killed the notion. It is possible Major League Baseball could expand but there is no timetable to add teams. Montréal is in the mix if a new ballpark is built. Montréal has a large market but most of the local corporate money goes to the NHL’s Canadiens then to the Major League Soccer franchise in town and other sports events. Calgary Flames owners want a new arena. Happy birthday Canada, it’s your 155th.
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