Kings in Quebec City: Luc Robitaille believes it could end up costing less than $5-7 M

In recent weeks, there’s been a big story in Quebec, and not just in the sports world.

Millions of dollars will be paid to a National Hockey League team, the Los Angeles Kings, to come and play two preparatory games in Quebec City at the Centre Vidéotron.

Without context, it sounds pretty exciting to know that three professional NHL teams (given that the Kings’ two opponents will be the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers) will be coming to Quebec City.

However, it’s the amount of money spent on all this in the current context that’s creating a huge controversy in Quebec right now.

To give an NHL team five to seven million dollars for two preparatory games, while the public sector is on strike for better working conditions and, above all, better wages, is, let’s just say, quite insulting.

Let’s just say that this large sum of money, which comes from a fund for Quebec City NPOs, could have been used to settle the conflict between the public sector and the government.

So the timing of this announcement really isn’t the best, as Phillip Danault thinks.

However, coming back to the amount the government is likely to spend – five to seven million – well, Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille believes it could cost less than that.

Indeed, Luc Robitaille asserted last night during the Canadiens-Kings game in an interview with Jean-François Chaumont of Journal de Montréal and Alexandre Gascon of Radio-Canada Sports that the amount made public will not be the same after all this.

“From a money point of view, we’ve made our agreement with Quebecor. The amount that everyone is hearing, it won’t be the amount at the end because there are tickets that sell, there are sponsorships, there are a lot of things that will mean that they will perhaps make money after paying the transportation costs of the other teams.” – Luc Robitaille

So it’s understandable that, according to the Los Angeles Kings’ president, Quebec could benefit from some economic spinoffs, and ultimately spend less than five to seven million dollars.

On the other hand, let’s not forget that all the Kings’, Panthers’ and Bruins’ expenses will be paid for.

This means that the potential amount of money to be pocketed by Quebec will not be comparable to the expenses incurred.

Ticket sales and sponsorships will certainly bring in money, but it remains to be seen exactly how much.

It will be far less profitable than, say,the Summer Festival.

In his interview, Robitaille also stated that the Kings were obliged to leave Los Angeles during the five-day period they’ll be in Quebec, as their arena, the Crypto.com Arena, will be undergoing some renovations.

So, during these five days in Quebec, the Kings will be organizing events to get closer to the fans.

Of course, Phillip Danault and Pierre-Luc Dubois, the two Quebecers headlining in Los Angeles, will play an important role in these events.

In short, it’s a situation that continues to generate a lot of ink and a lot of talk, and that’s not likely to change any time soon.

To find out more, here is Jean-François Chaumont’s excellent article.

In the air

– The Bruins are struggling defensively.

– A fine goal from Shane Wright yesterday in the American League.

Wright gets us started pic.twitter.com/IbqpSJTmlh

– Coachella Valley Firebirds (@Firebirds) November 26, 2023

– Read more.