Québecor confirmed on Monday that the media company has filed the paperwork to bring a NHL expansion team to Québec City. They also appear to be angling, as expected, to follow the lead set in Winnipeg, by naming the team the Nordiques, after the team that once resided there and became the Colorado Avalanche.
Monday is the league’s deadline for prospective expansion cities to file their bid for a team. Québec City ranked among the three most talked about destination for an expansion franchise, but discussions don’t equal reality with the application costing $10 million, $2 million of which is non-refundable, according to multiple reported sources close to the process.
We confirm that we submitted our candidacy for the #NHL expansion process in order to bring the #Nordiques back to #Québec City.
— Québecor (@Quebecor) July 20, 2015
The other two locations considered favorites are Las Vegas and Seattle. Vegas is well underway with construction on a stadium and was given the go-ahead by the league to do a test sale of season tickets to gauge interest.
Seattle, however, is unlikely to be a part of the expansion process, despite being considered a frontrunner. There were many obstacles that would need to be overcome in order to bring the NHL to Seattle including a series of stadium issues that were never fully resolved. A downtown stadium could be used, but there were requirements where the owners desired basketball to return first before hockey. Another option included a Seattle suburb.
One potential owner in Seattle was Victor Coleman, but he will not be submitting a big, according to Chris Daniels of King 5 News. The absence of Coleman in the process does not preclude another potential owner from stepping up a placing an application for Seattle, but it does take one of the major players out of the game.
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