KHL's Quebec application

Quebec would have a lot to offer to a league like KHL. In the first place, this would allow KHL to gain a foothold in America, a market it has not yet tackled. By creating this precedent, this could then open the way for several other applications in North America. Quebec could bring a rich hockey tradition to the KHL as well as knowledgeable hockey fans, true hockey lovers and super-enthusiasts. With its new arena, Québec has a first class infrastructure to welcome a professional team. The historic city of Quebec would become one of the most beautiful jewels of the KHL.

Quebec, a rich hockey history

Quebec's bid would be based on a rich hockey experience and a hockey tradition that goes back to the creation of this sport. Quebec was involved in hockey games shortly after the invention of ice hockey. One of the founder cities of the NHL, the city of Quebec has been the host of several historic franchises, such as the Bulldogs, the Remparts and the Nordiques. Recipients of several trophies, including the famous Stanley Cup, Avco Cup and Memorial Cup, Quebec teams have reached the highest honors. Quebec has also hosted several tournaments, including the International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament and Rendez-Vous 87.

This section introduces you to the rich history of Quebec City Hockey, and puts Quebec's unrivaled bid for a professional hockey franchise in context.

The beginnings

Ice hockey was created in Canada. His paternity is often disputed between several cities and regions. The foundation of the modern game as it is known now was held in Montreal on March 3, 1875.

Lord Frederick Stanley, captivated by this sport, created the famous Cup that will bear his name, the Stanley Cup, in 1892, which was designed to reward the best hockey team in Canada. It is now the greatest lust of hockey.

The game quickly spread to the province and Canada, including Quebec City, which hosted several concessions, which played in virtually every hockey league. Here are the hockey teams and tournaments that have most marked the Quebec City region.
Hockey history on Wikipedia Hockey in Quebec City (in french)

Quebec Bulldogs
(1880-1920)

Quebec hosted one of the first concessions in hockey history. An unshakeable passion between the people and this sport was born. The Bulldogs won the Stanley Cup in 1911-1912 and 1912-1913. The Bulldog left Quebec in 1920 after founding the NHL with Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.
Bulldogs history (in french)

Quebec Aces
(1928-1971)

Quebec Aces have played in different leagues in Quebec City. They were champions of the Allan Cup in 1944 and the Alexander Cup in 1951. The Quebec Coliseum was built specifically for the Aces in 1949 while Jean Béliveau played for the team. They joined the American Hockey League in 1959 and became the Philadelphia Flyers AHL Club in 1967. The close ties woven during this association will be precursors to the arrival of the Nordiques in the NHL in 1979.
Quebec Aces on Wikipedia

Remparts
(1969-)

The Quebec Remparts are the Quebec city junior team of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Remparts have lined up a number of players who had an impact in the NHL, such as Guy Lafleur, Real Cloutier, André Savard and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The Remparts won the Memorial Cup a few times, including in 2006 under the leadership of Patrick Roy.
Official website Remparts on Wikipedia

Nordiques (WHA / NHL)
(1972-1995)

The Quebec Nordiques was the hockey franchise that is the most remembered and loved by Quebec city people. Even today, 23 years after their disappearance, many Quebec citizens continue to identify with the Nordiques.

The Quebec Nordiques arrived in 1972 in the defunct WHA (World Hockey Association) and they joined the NHL in 1979. They got a division title (Adams Division) in 1986 and won the Avco Cup (WHA) in 1979. They left Quebec City in 1995 to become the Colorado Avalanche. The people are eagerly awaiting their return.

The Nordiques have aligned the famous 3 Stastny brothers after having organised their escape from Czechoslovakia which was at this time under the soviet iron curtain.
Nordiques history (in french)

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament
(1960-)

Founded in 1960, the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament is still the largest hockey tournament in the world for 11-12 year olds. The tournament has seen several young passionate fans who will one day become great stars, such as Wayne Gretzky, Guy Lafleur and others.
Official website

Rendez-Vous 87
(9 au 13 février 1987)

Rendez-vous 87 was a tournament organized by the Nordiques organization in 1987 and taking place in Quebec City, between the team of the best players of the NHL and the team of the best Soviet players. This tournament was an exceptional replacement for the NHL's traditional star game.

This tournament also included 1 week of festivities and his own cup.
Le Soleil column (in french) Wikipedia

The Quebec offer

What would be the advantages of a city like Quebec for the KHL?
  • In the first place, the support of hockey fans in Quebec is incredible
    • The Remparts
      • The Quebec junior hockey team, the Remparts, is getting much better support from fans than any other Canadian junior team. Canadian attendance records are held by Quebec. On several occasions, the Videotron Center has been filled to full capacity, a notable feat in a junior hockey context.
    • La marche bleue
      • In October 2010, Mario Roy created a mega-gathering of hockey fans in Quebec, calling for the return of professional hockey and the legendary Nordiques franchise. 60,000 hockey fans attended the rally, as well as several well-known personalities, including Peter Stastny, a former Nordiques star.

    • La Nordique Nation
      • La Nordique Nation, the Nordiques fan club, organized trips to several US cities in the NHL where thousands of people from Quebec moved to see hockey games. At its peak, this club had 75,000 members.
    • J'ai ma place
      • The goal of J'ai Ma Place was to initiate a movement and popular funding for the construction of a new arena in Quebec City (now known as Vidéotron Center). The concept was to sell the seats and lodges of the future arena and the amounts collected were used to help finance the construction of the building. As such, J'ai Ma Place successfully sold 5000 seats for a total of $18,5 millions.
    • People of Quebec City are completely crazy about hockey and are dying to look forward to supporting their local professional hockey team. The slightest rumor is enough to ignite the population and social networks.
  • A new modern arena of international class (Vidéotron Center)
    • Since 2015, Québec have a magnificent state-of-the-art arena to accommodate 18,259 spectators. The construction of this multi-purpose arena, whose project was initiated in 2011, has as main objective to host a professional hockey franchise. To this day, he is always available for this purpose.
    • This arena replaces the old Colisée, which had been in operation since 1949 and could accommodate 15,534 hockey spectators.
    • The Vidéotron Center hosts nearly 50 show-related events each year, in addition to the 41 local games of the Quebec Remparts and is considered the fourth busiest amphitheater in Canada.
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  • Hockey expertise
    • Quebec has a long tradition of hockey (see above, section on the history of hockey in Quebec City) and includes many hockey experts and former experienced players. The arrival of a new professional franchise would greatly benefit from such expertise. Many coaches, players, are waiting for opportunities, which are quite rare in professional hockey.
    • The media are already connoisseurs of hockey and would integrate brilliantly the coverage of a new professional team.
  • Quebec City, an incomparable city
    • European city in America, Quebec City is a beautiful city with undeniable charm, producing breathtaking images on television networks. Quebec would undoubtedly become one of the favorite cities of the KHL.
    • Quebec is the epicenter of Canadian tourism, attracting many Americans, Europeans and many tourists from Asia. The tourist influence of Quebec would be transposed in the interest of a KHL concession, which would become an additional part in the tourism offer of Quebec City.
    • Quebec is an entertainment and cultural jewel. With a rich selection of entertainment, adding Quebec to the KHL would add a popular city to all visiting teams.
    • For all these reasons, Quebec would add an invaluable luster to the KHL as well as help to increase the reputation of the league.

The Quebec team,
a new identity

What names, colors, logo and jersey could take the KHL franchise from Quebec?

The people of Quebec are particularly fond of the Nordiques, with its name, logo and jersey. People identifies with it deeply. Unfortunately, this logo and name are trademarks of the NHL, registered with the Canadian trademark office. It is very unlikely that the NHL will agree to divest and transfer them to a concession from KHL, a competing league.

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to reuse the name "Nordiques" or the famous logo.

Starting from this premise, the first thought is to keep the name "Nordiques", but to change the writing (Nordik, Nordic, Nordikes, Nordeeques, etc ...). The problem with this proposal is that the introduction of a misspelling to circumvent the problem of rights makes the identity defective. How to be proud to wear a jersey with a misspelling as your identity? But even more, "Nordik" is not really "Nordiques", which means that people will not manage to integrate this identity well, which becomes a defective copycat of the original.

The solution lies elsewhere and is obligatory: choose a new identity.

The Nordiques, a new logo, a new jersey:

During all these years of waiting, many inspired fans and designers submitted a multitude of proposals for new logos and new uniform for the Nordiques. Many of these ideas are very inspiring and could serve as a basis for a new identity:




Here is our proposal for the new identity of the Quebec team:


QUEBEC NATIONAL

The proposal for the name of the Quebec KHL team could be "National". This name is already known to the Quebec public and is associated with a fictional Quebec team, through the television series Lance & Compte (the rights would need to be negotiated).

The proposal for the jersey is to keep the original fleur-de-lis jersey, which is free of all rights.

The proposal for the logo is a modified version of the logo designed by the marketing company BABOON. This logo is a refreshed and modernized vision of the famous logo, consisting of the letter "n" for "national", a hockey stick and a puck.

This proposal for the identity of the team could therefore make it possible to preserve the maximum possible of the historical identity of the Nordiques for the KHL concession of Quebec while being completely original.

Of course, this identity serves only as a proposition and there is no guarantee that the idea will be taken up by the potential future owner of the KHL franchise in Quebec City.

Challenges

What would be the challenges in the operation or obtaining a KHL franchise for Quebec?

Each of the points stated here are fully valid and currently have no real solution.These points represent challenges or pitfalls concerning the KHL in Quebec, which will have to be addressed in order for the project to be realized. Here are some tentative answers on these points.
  • The distance: Quebec would be very (too) far from the other concessions of the KHL.
    • Challenges:
      • This would make travel expensive for the Quebec team
      • This would make travel expensive for other KHL concessions, which are already struggling with financial problems
      • This would render broadcasting uninteresting (bad hours, lower ratings)
    • Answers:
      • It is true that Quebec would be far from the core of Europe / West Asia of the KHL concessions.
        • Québec/Los Angeles (as comparison basis) : 4155 km
        • Québec/Moscou : 6 833 km
        • Québec/Bratislava : 6 255 km
        • Québec/Helsinki : 5 946 km
        • Québec/Saint-Pétersbourg : 6 210 km
        • Québec/Pékin : 10 355 km
        • Helsinki/Pékin : 6 330 km
        • Moscou/Pékin : 5 801 km
        • Bratislava/Pékin : 7 428 km
        • Moscou/Vladivostok : 6 423 km
        • Helsinki/Vladivostok : 6 774 km
        • Bratislava/Khabarovsk : 7 735 km
        • It is therefore already possible to draw these conclusions, on distances:
          • The distances closest to Quebec remain quite distant.
          • Quebec would not be the furthest town in the league. The KHL is spread over great distances, many of which are more distant than Quebec would be.
          • The KHL is therefore used to long travel distances as well as differences in timezones.
      • Concerning the cost of travel aspects for the Québec team, these points must be considered:
        • Once crossed in Europe / West Asia, where many teams of the KHL are located, travel would be limited, during tours.
        • Quebec will not be the poor relative of KHL and will surely have the means for such trips.
        • The KHL season has about 60 games, resulting in less costs.
      • Regarding the cost of travel for KHL concessions: they already have to deal with comparable trips.
      • Regarding the broadcast of games: a compatible time slot exists between Quebec and Europe / West Asia, afternoon in Quebec is evening in Moscow. So there is a way to reconcile broadcast times in many cases (not all).
  • Vidéotron Center rent
    • Challenge:
      • Reach a rental agreement with the manager, who is also an important partner of the NHL, a competing league.
    • Answers:
      • The arrival of a KHL team would add nearly 30 events to the Videotron Center. A rental on a block of 30 events will be difficult to refuse, considering the profit made to the manager. In addition, considering that the city had to repay the rent to the manager each year, due to an operating deficit, it would not necessarily be appropriate to refuse such an offer.
      • If a KHL franchise were to be established in Quebec City, it would not necessarily be well seen, vis-à-vis its public, for the manager, to refuse a lease. Moreover, if this was also desired by the city council, we could consider that there would be negotiations leading to a positive scenario.
  • KHL support
    • Challenge:
      • The KHL product is unknown to the public of Quebec and businesses
    • Answers:
      • The purpose of this initiative is to publicize the product and develop interest in a KHL concession
      • The more the KHL eventuality is discussed, the more people will discover the product and the more they will be interested in it.
      • Exhibition games may further help to publicize the product
      • The support and interest of the public will lead companies to invest in sponsorship and the purchase of corporate boxes
  • Affiliate club
    • Challenge:
      • Establishment and operation of the affiliate club
    • Answers:
      • In KHL, the affiliate league is the VHL (Major League). It does not make much sense to create a local affiliate team in this league or to have an affiliate team operated in Russia.
      • Could the affiliate team play in the American Hockey League?