Quebec City: Pee-Wee players before the World Cup

There's a lot of talk about the upcoming Olympic Games because 1. It's only two months away, 2. we can't wait to find out who will be representing Canada, 3. we're worried about the arena, which isn't ready yet and whose ice surface is three months smaller, and 4. It's the bloody Olympics!

But there will also be a high-level international competition two years after the Olympics, in 2028: the World Cup. And Gary Bettman talked a bit about it earlier this week.

The NHL commissioner and his assistant Bill Daly told us that they will soon be able to name the two cities that will host the competition. Probably after the Milan Cortina Olympics.

A total of 16 cities are in the running: ten in North America and six in Europe. The preliminary round(pool) will be played on two continents (one city per group), but the semi-finals and grand final will be held in North America.

Montreal is one of 10 North American cities to have expressed an interest, and is still in the running for matches. Boston too. The great success of the 4 Nations tournament has left a positive mark on Montreal.

There's no denying that Montreal is a hockey town. Too bad our decision-makers don't realize that it's also a soccer city, but that's another subject.

What about Quebec City?
I was surprised not to see Quebec City's name among the cities that showed interest and were selected for the bid evaluation process. The people of Quebec City are big hockey fans, and the Videotron Centre is hardly ever used.

It all makes sense.

The World Cup, like the Olympic Games, is inserted into the NHL calendar in February. Forget World Cups in September, as in 2016!

And during the month of February, the Videotron Centre is booked annually for the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (usually between February 10 and 25). We agreed that no, two tournaments couldn't be held at the same time at the Videotron Centre.

“Why not skip the Pee-Wee tournament, Max? We're talking about 11- or 12-year-old players vs. NHL players fighting for their nation!”

Listen… I can confirm that the City of Quebec and its partners(hockey / Videotron Centre) analyzed the whole thing and came to the conclusion that they couldn't pack (dates or location) a tournament that returns annually to Quebec City. The Pee-Wee tournament is a tradition that has existed for nearly 70 years!

Even if, at first glance, it doesn't make sense to prioritize a Pee-Wee tournament over a World Cup, when you think about it, you can well understand the City of Quebec's desire to be loyal to its long-standing partners.

At the same time, it's emotional to think that we could have hosted the crème de la crème in the Nation's Capital!

In 2016, Quebec City hosted part of Team Europe's base camp. A preparatory match was even played at the Videotron Centre.

Except that was in September, when the Videotron Centre was available.

Extension

We're still waiting to find out who will broadcast in French the 39 games still unallocated by the NHL and Rogers. Starting with the 2026-27 season, 45 games will be shown on RDS (or Crave).

However, I was told yesterday that RDS has laid off several employees, that they don't seem very interested in getting more games, and that they can't even confirm their ratings within 24 or 48 hours. As a result, Richard Therrien's ratings are released several times a week for all québécois TV stations except RDS.

I contacted a former RDS employee who had his hands in the dough, let's put it that way, and here's what he told me:

“I wouldn't be surprised to hear that RDS is on the market. Massive cuts in staff spending, centralization of major decisions in Toronto, a reduced deal for the Habs rights, Bell's desire to get out of the Canadiens' shareholding, a strategy to increase the coffers at Bell Media, etc. It seems inevitable.

There had been rumors of negotiations between Amazon and Bell Media a few months ago, but with the CRTC being rigid and Amazon having left Quebec (physically), I think we'll have to look elsewhere. But where?

Note that I've also been told that the entire news portion of RDS is expensive, and that the station, unlike TVA Sports, is likely to report another big loss in 2025.

Who would have thought five or ten years ago that in 2025, TVA Sports would be doing better than RDS?