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Quebec City’s new arena has a name (but no NHL team)

quebec

Some of the tens of thousands of fans hold up signs and fingers during the “Blue March,” as fans asked for an NHL hockey team, 15 years after the Quebec Nordiques left town, Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010, in Quebec City. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jacques Boissinot)

AP

Quebec City’s new arena, set to open in September, will be called the Videotron Centre.

Videotron’s parent company, Quebecor, made the announcement today.

From the release:

As manager of the Videotron Centre for the next 25 years, Quebecor will pay the City of Québec $33,000,000, payable in full upon the opening of the Videotron Centre, planned for September 15, 2015. Should Quebecor become the holder of a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, it will pay the City of Québec a total of $63,500,000.

Quebec City, once considered a favorite to land an NHL team, has since been taken over by the likes of Seattle and Las Vegas, at least in terms of expansion speculation.

The precipitous drop of the Canadian dollar probably hasn’t helped Quebec’s prospects either.

According to the Globe and Mail, “Officials with Quebecor are limiting communication with reporters on the (expansion) issue of late, seemingly in a bid to satisfy the NHL’s insistence on discretion.”

Related: Remparts sold to Quebecor, will move to new Quebec City arena