Happy 150th! “Hello, Canada and Newfoundland.”
Happy birthday to America’s northern neighborhood, Canada. Today is Canada’s 150th 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 Quebec City and a Major League Baseball team in Montreal. The National Hockey League did not give Canadians an early 150th birthday present, a franchise in Quebec City in 2017, although there may be a small number of people in Quebec proper that don’t even want to be part of Canada. Quebec City, Quebec’s capital and Montreal, the financial center of the province of Quebec are still on the outside looking in. Quebec City has a state of the art arena and there could be a decent TV deal available but Quebec City is a government town with few limited corporate support and even though there is an arena and a better TV opportunity, there are limited loonies available.
There is some talk that Calgary might be interested in hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics. There will be a joint bid between the United States, Mexico and Canada for the 2026 World Cup. Calgary Flames ownership wants a new arena. For all the wants, the problem remains the Canadian dollar’s weakness. The 2016 NHL rejection of Quebec City as an expansion franchise was based on part because of the sluggish Canadian loonie which hangs around 75 and 76 cents US. There were those in Montreal who seemed to get excited with the possibility of the return of Major League Baseball to town. It is possible Major League Baseball could expand but there is no timetable to add teams. Montreal is in the mix if a new ballpark is built. Montreal has a large market but all of the corporate money goes to the NHL’s Canadiens. Happy 150th birthday Canada.
Happy Birthday from your southern neighbors.
