It’s really happening in Quebec City.
Mayor Regis Lebeaume announced today that construction on their new $400 million arena will begin in September with hopes to have it completed by 2015. The only issue left now for Quebec City is to find a NHL team to put in the new place to call it home.
Canadian media giant Quebecor has the exclusive naming rights to the new building and will manage the facility and they also have big ideas about owning a NHL team as well. That kind of arrangement would work well to run a team in the former home of the Quebec Nordiques.
The one team that everyone turns their attention to in these situations is the Phoenix Coyotes and there are many who feel Quebec City should get first shot at bringing the Coyotes to town should the NHL seek to get out of Arizona. With the NHL reportedly looking into “Plan B” for what to do with the ownerless franchise, hopes are sky high in Quebec that their dream of bringing the NHL back to the city will become a reality.
It’s also quite the coincidence that the New York Islanders’ lease with Nassau Coliseum is up in 2015. If the Islanders aren’t forced out of the Coliseum before then by an asbestos investigation, Charles Wang may want to turn his gaze north to Quebec City instead of west to Brooklyn.