I want to talk about this considerable antics announced by the Quebec government, these 5 to 7 million in tax money dedicated to bringing the Los Angeles Kings to play at the Videotron Center in Quebec for two games… preseason.
Published at 1:50 a.m. Updated at 5:00 a.m.
But first, allow a detour by exploring the CV of Eric Girard, our Minister of Finance.
Mr. Girard completed a baccalaureate and a master’s degree in economics. He was an economist at the Bank of Canada. He was vice-president of the National Bank. In short, it is not for nothing that he is Minister of Finance, and I say this without irony.
Reading suggestion for Mr. Girard, when he has a second. This is an American website called Field of Schemes1, by American journalist Neil deMause, which has for years documented the scandal of public financing of professional sports leagues.
Neil deMause has given himself a mission: to enlighten the public on the fool’s game of public financing of professional sports teams. Because across North America, leagues are trying to siphon off public funds to finance stadium construction or renovations.
Soccer, basketball, baseball, hockey, football: the modus operandi is always the same, or almost. Club owners blackmail the move or dangle a move to extract the maximum amount of public funds for their stadiums.
It is a scandal on two counts.
One, spectator sports are a hyper-lucrative business. The NFL raked in $18.6 billion in revenue last year. Major baseball: 10 billion. The NBA: 10.6 billion.
The NHL: $6 billion.
In short, these teams have enough income to afford stadiums and renovate them. And the Kings have the means to come and play in Quebec without receiving public money.
That doesn’t stop local authorities from diverting tax revenues for the stadium gods: Nevada has just given US 380 million for the Oakland A’s to come play baseball in Las Vegas.
Second scandal: subsidizing professional sport is never a good idea. This is the deafening consensus among economists who study the spectator sports industry. The consequences ” ? It is a convenient mirage invented by billionaires who want to play their millionaires in stadiums paid for by the middle class.
I repeat the name of the site, which would be excellent reading for Mr. Girard: Field of Schemes. There we find both these scientific studies that I mentioned and the daily chronicle of all the stratagems (hence the word schemes) professional teams in North America to siphon public money.
OK, I conclude this little detour with a cry from the heart, if I may…
I am tired of this fiction which justifies all kinds of antics in our latitudes, so allow me to say it loud and clear: The Nordics will never come back.
The NHL has had several opportunities to return to Quebec. On every occasion she said Fuck you in Quebec.
When the Charest government agreed to finance an NHL-caliber arena in Quebec, Commissioner Gary Bettman was clear: No matter how much you build it, there is no guarantee that you will have a club.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
When the NHL began looking for two markets to expand its staff and only two cities volunteered – Las Vegas and Quebec – the league finally decided to select only one city… Which was not Quebec.
Then the NHL decided to grant a franchise without a call for applications to Seattle. The Kraken was thus born.
The Coyotes have a thousand problems putting down roots in Arizona. They were ousted from their arena: the NHL preferred to let the Coyotes play in a 5,000-seat arena… rather than move the team to Quebec.
All this is known.
Hoping for the return of the Nordiques, at this point, is like a guy who hopes that his wife who left him for another man in 1995 will eventually come back to him… While said ex-spouse is now in couple with a woman.
But the proverbial “return of the Nordiques” is invoked by Prime Minister Legault himself to justify this considerable antics which is the public financing of a stopover of two pre-season games of the Los Angeles Kings at the Videotron Center in Quebec.
I quote François Legault, Friday: “It is time for the NHL to agree to give a franchise to Quebec, therefore to have the return of the Nordiques. […] We hope that Mr. Bettman will come visit us for these games-To be. »
The PM is not an idiot.
The PM knows how to count.
The PM has (already had) political flair.
Based on these three observations, we cannot think that François Legault is serious when he makes a link between these 5 to 7 million given to Quebecor (which administers the Videotron Center) and the beginning of a wave of enthusiasm within the NHL which will culminate miraculously with the triumphant return of the Blues to Quebec.
Gary Bettman can be criticized for many things. But I believe that the NHL commissioner has never taken Quebecers for idiots. He has always been brutally honest about Quebec’s chances of regaining his NHL club, lost in 1995.
But there is someone who takes Quebecers for idiots in this “return of the Nordics” issue.
Who is it ?
An index…
He is the one who uttered the following sentence on Friday: “It is also important to invest in leisure. »
It was François Legault who said these words.
2023-11-19 10:18:50
#Born #puck
