Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume confirmed Saturday that he met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman along with former Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut.
The mayor said the talks between him, Aubut and Bettman in New York on Friday were “fruitful.”
“It was very welcoming, very profitable, very worthwhile,” Labeaume said.
“But we'll get back to you in a few days — we still have work to do.”
Several Quebec City media outlets are also reporting that a new arena for the city will be announced next week.
Bettman said earlier this month he would consider Quebec City as a possible home to an NHL team if it went through with plans to build a cutting-edge arena and if a team were up for sale.
But it may not even be the current team up for sale through bankruptcy...
It might be a match race for Atlanta's Thrashers...
Remember, those of us at OSG HQ told you a while back about a Winnipeg group now interested in a franchise- supposedly the Thrash.
We now have a name to tie to it...from the Winnipeg Free Press...
Toronto billionaire David Thomson...
He's the 24th richest man in the world, and Thomson is also the very quiet part-owner of the MTS Centre ((pictured, thanks to the MTS Centre's website)), the Portage Avenue land upon which it sits and the team that plays in it, the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose.
Officially, Thomson is described as a "minority owner" through Osmington Inc. -- Thomson's real estate company -- of True North Sports and Entertainment. While True North is a privately run company and little is known about the company's finer details, it is known that Thomson and Mark Chipman, chairman of True North, have quietly bought out other True North owners over the years, to the point where they jointly own almost the entire company.
While officially a "minority owner," it's understood Thomson, through underlings at Osmington, does have a major say in True North decisions -- and maybe even a decisive say himself in some major aspects of the operation.
And that would presumably include any venture as bold as the purchase of a struggling NHL franchise in Atlanta and moving it to Winnipeg.
The Thrash are losing, on average, about US$6-million and are about to lose their revenue sharing dollars because the city's population is about to exceed the NHL's limit for receiving those benefits.
Something to keep an eye on...
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