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Post by WHA on Feb 28, 2011 1:29:15 GMT -5
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
Guy Lafleur ends playing days with Quebec City game; By: The Canadian Press
Retired NHL hockey star Guy Lafleur salutes the crowd at the end of his last game of old-timers hockey in Quebec City on Sunday. The Nordiques won 6-5. (CLEMENT ALLARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS) QUEBEC - On the day Guy Lafleur played his last game, another NHL great spoke about the league's possible return to Quebec City.
Lafleur was overcome with emotion Sunday as he took one final lap around the Pepsi Colisee after an alumni game between Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques.
Quebec City was the final stop on the Hall of Fame right-winger's farewell tour.
"You have been a source of encouragement and motivation for me," Lafleur told the crowd. "And that is very important in the career of a player."
More than 11,000 fans were on hand to bid Lafleur adieu at a game that also featured Quebec Nordiques greats Peter, Anton and Marion Stasny, as well as Joe Sakic.
Sakic used the setting to make the case for the return of NHL hockey to the city.
"I hope it will work," he said. "Quebec is a great city and I hope it gets a team from the National Hockey League. It certainly deserves to have a new arena. When it is built, it will be a great place to play hockey."
Earlier this month, Quebec City announced it will move ahead with construction of a new NHL-style hockey arena — with or without any involvement from the federal government or private industry.
While the NHL has given no guarantee a team will return to the city, the provincial government and the city are proceeding with 50-50 funding arrangement to build the arena at a cost of $400 million.
Lafleur told the crowd his hockey days are over but that he will not disappear from public view.
Lafleur, who enjoyed his best years with the Montreal Canadiens but finished his career with the Nordiques, played for both teams Sunday.
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Post by shtinky on Feb 28, 2011 12:59:12 GMT -5
Good for Sakic. It's nice to see the Quebec community getting on board. I look forward to them having a team again... AFTER we get ours first
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DrGui
Veteran Member
Posts: 227
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Post by DrGui on Feb 28, 2011 17:21:15 GMT -5
I wish them luck. (just not OUR luck!!)
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Post by tsmof on Mar 1, 2011 0:00:26 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise?
These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so...
Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently".
Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come"....
Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come.
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Post by mrconfusion87 on Mar 1, 2011 1:22:56 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise? These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so... Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently". Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come".... Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come. Good point!
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Post by 14pac03 on Mar 1, 2011 9:30:06 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise? These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so... Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently". Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come".... Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come. The city want the arena public, its why quebecor dont give money on construction. The private will be there on the name of arena, beer/food etc..
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Post by matrix on Mar 1, 2011 10:24:50 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise? These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so... Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently". Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come".... Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come. That's bulls*** a new 400 millions arena is far more attractive for the league than your MTS Center. Your only advantage is that your building is already built. The NHL doesn't care where the money come from for the construction...
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Post by jetsorbust on Mar 1, 2011 10:59:08 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise? These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so... Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently". Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come".... Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come. That's bulls*** a new 400 millions arena is far more attractive for the league than your MTS Center. Your only advantage is that your building is already built. The NHL doesn't care where the money come from for the construction... I don't think you really got the main point of tsmof's post. The point is, obviously a $400 Million arena is going to be very nice and have the ability to generate a lot of revenue for a team playing in it. But, arena revenue doesn't go to the league, just the team. What I mean is, it's important to the team to draw in as much revenue from their arena as possible, but for the league this really doesn't matter. Winnipeg, Quebec and Hartford are all still small markets and so in this sense none is really all that attractive to the NHL as none will be seen as helping them to get a lucrative US TV deal. All 3 offer the same thing for the NHL - the chance to put a struggling team into a well-supported but small NHL market. So really, since arena/ticket revenues don't go to the NHL, the size of arena does nothing to put Quebec ahead of Winnipeg, any revenues driven from that arena will only help the owners of the specific Quebec team. And the point being made was that TNSE has much experience in owning and operating a hockey team, while at this point, Quebecor does not have any experience. It is a whole different skill set to run a newspaper vs a hockey team, not to say they can't do it, but one is proven and one is completely inexperienced. We probably all agree that we'd like to see Winnipeg, Quebec and hell why not, Hartford as well get a team. It sure beats watching Southern cities host a team in an empty arena. But we all also hope for our own city to be rewarded first. Arguements can be made for any one, but in the end the NHL does not really care how nice the arena is as that does not affect their bottom line or that of other NHL teams, only league wide revenues matter from their perspective. So by Winnipeg having a long relationship with the NHL and proven track record at managing a professional hockey team, that does give us a step up, in my opinion and that of most people on this board.
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Post by matrix on Mar 1, 2011 11:11:54 GMT -5
nice post jetsorbust, I agree
However I don't think there is any problem with Quebecor experience to manage a team. Yeah TNSE has an advantage. However Quebecor is not only newspaper but TV channels ,cable internet provider, cell phones and a big market for TV. etc. It is a big asset for the league to have an owner who can generate profit from outside the building.
I'm sure Winnipeg will be first (or at the same time) to get a team. However most of people on this forum underestimate Qc City to get a team soon
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Post by The Winning Pegs on Mar 1, 2011 11:23:30 GMT -5
Good For Sakic... Although, I support Quebec's return... they have a lot to learn yet. They really are driving on the wrong side of the road to get back into the NHL. Building a $400M arena with no anchor tennant, using public money??? If the Quebecor group can't finance the arena on their own finances, will they ask for public money in the purchase of a franchise? These guys don't own an AHL team, or have any experience or management offciials in place to do so... Quite honestly, the way the CT Whale have been run and branded this year, with some descent fan support I might add... I would think Hartford seems to be a more attractive stop on the NHL Calendar than Quebec does.... "Currently". Quebec can do it, no doubt... but they need to really put a "sound" plan together first.... This isn't field of Dreams... "If you build it, they will come".... Have a look at what TNSE has done here in Winnipeg, take a few notes, do your homework, and make the necessary adjustments... and it will come. That's bulls*** a new 400 millions arena is far more attractive for the league than your MTS Center. Your only advantage is that your building is already built. The NHL doesn't care where the money come from for the construction... I should hope that the league has learned from the pheonix deal that there can be major problems with 100% public arenas
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Post by matrix on Mar 1, 2011 12:11:16 GMT -5
That's bulls*** a new 400 millions arena is far more attractive for the league than your MTS Center. Your only advantage is that your building is already built. The NHL doesn't care where the money come from for the construction... I should hope that the league has learned from the pheonix deal that there can be major problems with 100% public arenas 100% publics but private investment is coming now...
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Post by matrix on Mar 1, 2011 15:36:41 GMT -5
You see ? :-)
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Post by tsmof on Mar 1, 2011 23:29:09 GMT -5
Matrix, I think your missing the point.
1. $400M is an over-spend. You need to build an arena that fits your market. $400M and an arena that is 18 or 19,000 doesn't fit in Quebec. And the revenue that you would generate on your extra 3,000 seats than we have would fall well short in comparison to the SHED revenue being built here. That being said, Quebec is investing a lot of public money in a building that has no tennant (not even the IHL's Quebec Rafael wanted to hang around). Compare it to the Phoenix situation to some degree... granted Quebec is a much better market for hockey... but still will boast an expensive empty arena.
2. If Quebecor is the suitor, which is the news we are hearing... why aren't they stepping up to the plate to fund this venture? Why is it falling on the shoulders of the public? Will Quebecor call on Charest an Co. again when he needs to sign a $170 or 180M cheque? I'm not calling into question their bankroll, but their involvement in this process.
3. Quebecor may be a media giant, and may have the experience on that side of the business... but they have never run a hockey team. TNSE's bread and butter is their ability to run a great hockey organization. We ice a competitive team every year, and are 2nd in the league in attendance. Its a well-run hockey team. The failure of many of these expansions in the last 15 years was that the owners weren't prepared to be HOCKEY owners.
4. I'd love to see Quebec back in the NHL... I think it would be a great move on the NHL's part... and the NHL needs to realise that lucrative TV deal is never coming... so get the TV deal with TSN and CBC... get the deal with Tim Hortons... How about that new deal with Molson/Coors? I wonder how much of an increase they pocketed over the previous deal with Labbats? There are plenty of lucrative marketing ploys to exploit... its choosing your avenues that counts... and so far, Quebec is on the wrong road...
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Post by 14pac03 on Mar 1, 2011 23:56:53 GMT -5
1. its the cost of 2011, inflation of other arena build earlier 2. The city want this arena public, its why no private give money on construction, the private gave money on naming right, location etc 3.Quebecor can be with pepole who can run a franchise Molson is prepared to be hockey owner??? Pegula(new sabres owner)
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Post by tsmof on Mar 2, 2011 0:15:41 GMT -5
Cost of inflation? give me a break... I worked on quoting the new Winnipeg football club stadium.... $215M (likely finish) for a much largere venue.
MTS Centre in 2003 wouldn't triple with inflation... And labour comes cheap in Quebec in comparison to Ontario, Alberta, BC.
The city wants a public arena??? so how come the province is paying for it? I think it was a political stunt more than anything... and judging by your post, you sound like your from Quebec... so your going to be paying for it yourself. Look, I am all for public-private partnerships....and public spending on infrastructure. However, I don't think anyone is Quebec is aware of the risk being taken here. It just seems like everyone has their eyes on the "end goal" and is willing to bet the farm to get there. Thats a dangerous game... Ask our friends in Glendale.
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Post by 14pac03 on Mar 2, 2011 1:18:40 GMT -5
we need a new arena anyway!!!!!!!! our 61 years old arena cant have show because its a ruin
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