Recently in the past few weeks Bettman opened the expansion process to bids. He only ended up with two offers from Las Vegas and Quebecor, on behalf of Quebec. There was significant interest from other parties in places such as Seattle but in the end a number of reasons meant they didn't bid. Partly the $500m cost, partly not having a plan for an arena.
Las Vegas has been known for a while and is basically a foregone conclusion. Daly, the NHL's deputy commissioner gave the green light for a ticket drive earlier in the year. The aim to see how many season tickets they would sell. So far they have sold over 13,000 tickets already.
Quebec is a different. Quebec has had hockey running through it's veins since the early years of the NHL itself with the Quebec Athletics in 1919. Before that amateur hockey had been a key part of the cities make-up. Quebec did have an NHL team in the Nordiques, after they transferred from the WHA but the plunging Canadian dollar in a smaller market put paid to that. The team was sold to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche.
The Nordiques had a fabled rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens, their less French neighbours. A rivalry labelled the "Battle of Quebec". When Quebec came into the league they were not the best and struggled whilst Montreal were the flag bearers of the league. The chance to be a giant-killer was infectious. The rivalry did spill into Politics due to a difference in ownership and linguistic culture. Having this rivalry back in the league would be superb.
However, despite this storied rivalry and history the NHL does have reservations. Quebec isn't the largest market and if it joined would be second smallest ahead of Winnipeg. The NHL tends to look long-term for growth and it would be harder in Quebec. Especially if you have got places in the USA that have larger populations and have shown interest in expansion but aren't ready yet. It could prompt them to wait.
Another reason is that the team that is leading the charge for Quebec's return is Quebecor. Quebecor owns the regional TV network that games would be shown on meaning the league can't get a good TV deal. Quebec is also a major French speaking area and it is unlikely to have English speaking channels to sell the game on.
Lastly, the biggest risk is the Canadian dollar. The teams are paid in the national currency but teams in Canada pay their players salaries in the American dollar. This means that if the CD$ drops you have less revenue coming in making it harder to pay. With a small market this is a bigger risk.
Personally, I hope that the league does expand and includes Quebec in that. It needs to return. The league is in a much healthier position than it was when Quebec left in the mid-90's that I think any problem with the Canadian dollar wouldn't be as much as a risk. There would also be a new generation to tap into who would get to experience the Montreal - Quebec rivalry for the first time, like me.
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