News broke Monday that the Ottawa Senators will have pre-season games at the VideoTron Centre in Quebec City. Quebec City has been wanting an NHL team since the departure of the Quebec Nordiques and VideoTron Centre was built in part to attract a new NHL franchise. Instead the area was passed over by Las Vegas and Seattle in the last round of NHL expansion (not including the Arizona Coyotes relocation/expansion).
Even if it’s not a permanent team, Quebec fans are sure to be excited and fill out the arena. The Hockey News wrote that the NHL should put a few regular season games in Quebec City every year, similar to the NFL’s London games. That’s a great idea, but it also makes more than a world of sense that the Ottawa Senators, who are hosting next seasons two Quebec Games, are permanent participants.
This is much in the same way that the Jacksonville Jaguars hold NFL football games in London every season (the NFL has since included games with other non-Jaguar teams participating). Much like the Senators, the Jaguars were a team with questions about long term feasibility, led by the usual suspects of revenue, fan support and wanting a new arena. The Jaguars long-standing relationship with London has helped stabilize that. Owner Shad Khan has called the presence and games in London a “win-win-win” for all parties involved, including their home market.
An article from "The Athletic" last season said around 10% of the league’s revenue comes from the London games alone. Those numbers aren’t easily translatable to the NHL, since one league plays a 16 game schedule as opposed to an 82 game schedule.
But look at it like this. If the Senators found a way to move some games that fans might not be incredibly interested in (for example, when they play a rebuilding out-of-conference opponent) those games would be much more profitable for the Senators and sell more tickets in Quebec than in Ottawa.
Quebec fans will be happy to have a game at their “home” stadium and will be excited to buy tickets and support
It would be a bold move for new Senators owner Michael Landauer. Bold move can have a big payoff. If a generation of Quebec hockey fans grows up with the Senators being the closest thing they have to a “home” team then that establishes a connection that could lead to more TV viewership, higher merchandise sales, and a bigger fan base all together. The Hockey News article already explained Senators television broadcasts are regularly available in the area.
The Senators are currently the 29th most valuable NHL franchise with one of the smallest revenues and one of the highest “debt as a percentage of value” (to be fair in 2023 they also had the highest sale value of any NHL team in history until the Utah transaction).
The only Canadian team worth less is the Winnipeg Jets, who have slightly higher revenues. Financial problems for the team in Canada’s capital are nothing new so getting another province involved to build a fan base could help increase revenues. That could go a long way in helping the team shed its perception for being too “cheap” under late former owner Eugene Melnyk.
The Jaguars have become heavily involved in the London community with community outreach and youth football clinics. The Senators could do the same in Quebec City. Once again it’s a little different with our NFL example since the league has to “grow the game” in a market where the sport isn’t widely known as opposed to hockey-crazed Canada.
Let’s say the Senators start sponsoring hockey clinics and rinks in the Quebec City area
Maybe some young Quebec City hockey players will ask mom and dad for a Brady Tkachuk jersey and to watch Senators games instead of the fellow francophone-speaking Montreal Canadiens. Who knows? Maybe some Quebec area fans start to return the favor and travel to Ottawa to watch the Senators play more often helping ticket sales there as well?
The Hockey News did note that staying in Ottawa and getting a new stadium remains the Senators focus to shut down any relocation speculation. Maybe an expanded presence in Quebec City puts just a little more pressure on Ottawa area politicians to get an arena deal done?
The Athletic article about the Jaguars went through how the Jaguars were able to secure a much-needed renovated to their home stadium in Jacksonville while continuing and expanding their London presence. Getting a new Ottawa arena has been a mini saga for almost a decade and maybe this can be the thing that finally pushes it over the finish line.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are far from a model NFL franchise (both on and off the field). They have provided a blueprint for successfully having two “home cities” that the Senators should follow. No, they won’t follow in the proposed steps of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays to even split time between two cities.
We’ve even advocated for the NHL to do the same with Hartford, who misses their Hartford Whalers, in the past. Quebec City fans would love to have them, even if it’s for a few games every year. Ottawa’s front office would also love to have Quebec City’s potential revenue.