LATEST NEWS ON QC EXPANSION

I just came across this article in the Montreal Gazette today, with the respected Als and CFL writer
Herb Z.
Let's all hope there is something to this story.

[url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=c9fcdf52-c27f-49dd-9e18-37a949362880]http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/n ... a949362880[/url]
Although Quebec doesn't have a CFL-size facility, a plan has been submitted to the provincial government that would see between $70 million and $100 million allocated to Laval to improve its facilities. That would include increasing seating at PEPS Stadium to 25,000
how much did the BMO field in toronto cost?...wasnt it $65M or something like that?

imagine what they can do to laval with $100M!!!

Precisely, why renovate when you could build new?
There is plenty of room on the University grounds.
I get the impression though how the money mentioned maybe the entire budget for improving sports at U of L.

if they remove the track, theres PLENTY of room for 25K seats.

Plus, they can build a second teer just like the Als are doing. And it looks like it can be done on both sides.
There is all kinds of potential here.

Holy crap!

Who woulda thought quiet ol' QC might beat out Ottawa and Halifax for the 9th franchise?

Bring on Les Vingt-Deux!

Hey beerbaron, I told you so. :wink:

This is indeed a positive development. Let's hope that something comes from this. Quebec City is the next logical choice to expand as football is very popular there and also there is something to work with in terms of a stadium. Also the population of QC is significant.
If this ever comes to reality I think it would greatly help any return in Ottawa as well. Perhaps both could join the CFL in the same year.
I for one would love to see that day anyhow.

lol Pigseye, you nor I saw this coming,lol
But as I said befor, lets not count our chickens until they are hatched.

a CFL team could survive very nicely in Quebec, the key thing there is the cap being successfully and low stadium costs(for the team)

And if they play out of PEPS hopefully the University would be nice to the team and not force them to pay a huge "usage/rental" fee.

10 teams = 1.6M in TV revenues + ~.2M from other things

Total would be 1.8M per team from the league(with the 2006 Sponsorship + TV deal increase)
League money would cover 15% of Football expenses(going with 12M expenses and no revenue sharing/tax money)

I'm suprised to hear the Als have lost 10M in their first 10 years, but considering their first years would have been bad that does make sense. To think their losing 1M per year now.. wouldn't think so.
I'd think those losses would be back when the Als were upgraded Molson from a ugly 17K seat stadium to the now 20K+ stadium.(3K seats = 30K fans per year = 600K per year)

Think of how the change for CFL football in quebec could look soon, from no teams in 1995 to 2 teams in say 2009, 2 teams who are still on the rise.

5K more seats in Molson in 2008(I'm expeting sell-outs from them ever game so 48-50K fans every year or just under 1M$)

Put a Similar plan in Quebec, get strong corporate support from the city + surrounding area.

GO FIGHTING BEAVERS! haha.

Good advice. How many posts were there in which it was assumed that Halifax would have a new stadium towards the end of the decade?

[quote="drummer_god"]if they remove the track, theres PLENTY of room for 25K seats.

Lowering the playing field and putting seats on top of the track would only add about 2500 seats bringing the actual capacity at Peps up to near 13000. It would probably be better to demolish the existing stadium and rebuild on the site. The stadium could be replaced one sideline at a time, so that Laval would still have a place to play.

When Ottawa returned to the CFL in 2002, Beavers was one of the nicknames fans had to choose from. It is a good nickname for a team (in an english-speaking city). After all, who wouldn’t want Beaver Fever?

The Als vs. QC rivalry will be even bigger then the Habs vs. Nords.

Les Castors anyone?

Renegades is a decent name. Too bad they had to play in a crap stadium.

Been there often?

Yes actually. I lived in Ottawa for several years. It was crap then and I'm sure it's still crap unless they completely tore it down and rebuilt it.

Sweet news ... but I agree about not jumping to conclusions!

At least there's clearly SOME interest in QC about a team.

Beavers ... lol. How about Voyageurs or Voltigeurs?

Or how about confirming the stadium first? :wink: (I agree - why renovate if you can start from scratch?)

Probably because they can rent a small stadium for now and gauge the local interest.

If they build a 25,000 seat stadium now, and they get enough interest to fill a 30-35K stadium, they would miss out on the revenue those 10K per game would bring in each year. This way, they get a free 25,000 seat stadium, and if interest is huge, they can build a 35K one in the future.

Voyageurs makes them sound like bus drivers :lol: The Volts isn’t bad!