RobertAM Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 You just have to read this article to understand why Montreal is the logical place for a second Canadian RL team 57000 French nationals live in Montreal - enough potential fans to rival our pack plus we play a derby and both cities would be back n forth like with the Canadiens-Leafs rivalry https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian-soccer-fans-rapt-amidst-world-cup-final-between-france-croatia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ojx Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 In terms of getting a TV contract, Montreal makes a lot of sense. The metropolitan areas of Toronto and Montreal must have about a third of the Canadian population. It also ties in nicely with the French sides in the RFL. If only we could find a rich investor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAM Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 I'd love to see Toronto play Toulouse or Catalans in Montreal after the season is over..bet you'd get a few busloads of WP fans going to Montreal for that fixture..I'd be there like a shot... and wait until the Pack get a gander at Quebecois girls...they'd be emigrating en masse!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 >> 57000 French nationals live in Montreal - enough potential fans to rival our pack plus we play a derby and both cities that sounds great but will they have a few players to join in with any handpicked from the sl/nrl players pool. the product would look better and appeal to more over here if it was what it says on the tin. all the best with it thou as a local derby game on tv should bring in the viewers a plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manu266 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Sorry to ruin the party, but it's not as easy as it sounds. 57000 French nationals in here, iI think it's even more to be honest, I work daily with some of them, I met a lot more these last 4 weeks because of the FIFA WC, talked to a lot of them about rugby, most of them don't know anything about rugby à XIII and only follow the World Cup of rugby à XV. Worse, they follow French soccer but don't really care about the Impact FC, why would they care about a rugby à XIII club? And there is still a lot of work to do in France to promote rugby à XIII vs the other 2 codes. That French win today is not a good news for French rugby. TV contract? what station in Quebec can broadcast a rugby club? Meaning they need reporters and commentators able to do the job properly. They will also have to show some NRL/SL games to start with. I don't see it coming. I don't see Catalans or Toulouse coming here in October/November. A preseason game at Stade Olympique would be nice to test the option for good, but TWP already chose Florida for that kind of features havent they? I don't blame them, I think they really considered Montreal in the initial phase of the project, did their due diligence, didn't see any positive numbers, moved their plans to Hamilton. And on top of that it's the all 2nd North American team thing that has been put on hold now. With TWP not being guaranteed a spot in SL even if they top the Q. A 2nd team going to the painfull process of getting promoted from League One, with all the 64-0 that it involves, not gonna happen. We need to see TWP in SL and make it a success and then we will reopen the 2nd team project. And it will be US first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixiedean Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Van/Vic is a no-brainer. For the French rugby of any flavour is a regional pursuit at best. At least in BC there is a rugby community. One starved of any professional, or even semi-pro presentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayakman Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Toronto, Boston, N.Y ., Montreal, Chicago, Detroit ...it worked before...it can work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Picture Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 On 7/15/2018 at 5:26 PM, RobertAM said: You just have to read this article to understand why Montreal is the logical place for a second Canadian RL team 57000 French nationals live in Montreal - enough potential fans to rival our pack plus we play a derby and both cities would be back n forth like with the Canadiens-Leafs rivalry https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian-soccer-fans-rapt-amidst-world-cup-final-between-france-croatia By then Toulouse will have made it into SL, so a team in Montréal following the Wolfpack model would then be playing in an English league against a bunch of English teams. What makes you think that francophones there will care about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAM Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 29 minutes ago, Big Picture said: By then Toulouse will have made it into SL, so a team in Montréal following the Wolfpack model would then be playing in an English league against a bunch of English teams. What makes you think that francophones there will care about that? If as expected they recruit from French RL the Quebecers will adopt them as their own in the same way Ontarians did, they are easily as fanatical about tough physical sport as is the ROC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Picture Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 25 minutes ago, RobertAM said: If as expected they recruit from French RL the Quebecers will adopt them as their own in the same way Ontarians did, they are easily as fanatical about tough physical sport as is the ROC. They'd be getting third choice of any French players after Toulouse and Catalans which could be a stumbling block given how small the pool of French players is, and unless either of those teams was in the same division all their opponents would be from England. I wouldn't be inclined to invest in that scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAM Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 You can get players from across all codes and geo areas..I wouldn't worry too much about that aspect but we'll put you down as noncommittal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Picture Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 14 hours ago, RobertAM said: You can get players from across all codes and geo areas..I wouldn't worry too much about that aspect but we'll put you down as noncommittal I'd love to see it work, but Montréal is not Toronto, the two cities are very different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianRugger Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I'm not sold on Montreal either. Truth be told, it's not a great sports town considering the size of the city. They lost the Expos, they lost the Alouettes before. Montreal is a fickle little city and Quebecers don't give a ###### about anything outside of hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAM Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 4 hours ago, Big Picture said: I'd love to see it work, but Montréal is not Toronto, the two cities are very different. I'm well aware..I lived in Montreal for 20 years after my family emigrated to Canada, my wife and daughters are Montrealers..then work took me to Toronto.. And I disagree with CR's comment about only caring about hockey - look at the Canadian Grand Prix - it attracts huge crowds every year - why? it's not Nascar and it's not Indycar racing..ie North American auto racing...Montreal only tolerates other "North American" sports but being the most European city outside of Europe it welcomes world sports..and if a RL team was marketed well (promoting the French/Euro element - remember Montreal has a large Italian population and Italians play Rugby) I think it would succeed especially if a rivalry with the WP came into play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Picture Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 1 minute ago, RobertAM said: I'm well aware..I lived in Montreal for 20 years after my family emigrated to Canada, my wife and daughters are Montrealers..then work took me to Toronto.. And I disagree with CR's comment about only caring about hockey - look at the Canadian Grand Prix - it attracts huge crowds every year - why? it's not Nascar and it's not Indycar racing..ie North American auto racing...Montreal only tolerates other "North American" sports but being the most European city outside of Europe it welcomes world sports..and if a RL team was marketed well (promoting the French/Euro element - remember Montreal has a large Italian population and Italians play Rugby) I think it would succeed especially if a rivalry with the WP came into play. The Impact do pretty well there too, and the Alouettes had done well since they were reborn after the failure of the CFL's US expansion, but neither is in an English league largely populated with teams from small towns the size of places like Sherbrooke and Saguenay. I really can't see the latter having great appeal to very many Canadians of Italian or other non-British heritage living in major league sports cities unless they're already into rugby generally, either in Toronto or Montréal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianRugger Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 19 minutes ago, RobertAM said: I'm well aware..I lived in Montreal for 20 years after my family emigrated to Canada, my wife and daughters are Montrealers..then work took me to Toronto.. And I disagree with CR's comment about only caring about hockey - look at the Canadian Grand Prix - it attracts huge crowds every year - why? it's not Nascar and it's not Indycar racing..ie North American auto racing...Montreal only tolerates other "North American" sports but being the most European city outside of Europe it welcomes world sports..and if a RL team was marketed well (promoting the French/Euro element - remember Montreal has a large Italian population and Italians play Rugby) I think it would succeed especially if a rivalry with the WP came into play. The grand prix relies heavily on Government handouts and is a perpetual money loser. It's not a good example that any professional rugby club should emulate: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-bottom-line-on-montreals-grand-prix-is-anything-but-grand/amp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAM Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 1 minute ago, CanadianRugger said: The grand prix relies heavily on Government handouts and is a perpetual money loser. It's not a good example that any professional rugby club should emulate: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-bottom-line-on-montreals-grand-prix-is-anything-but-grand/amp not saying they emulate the business model..strictly pointing out that people come out to see the spectacle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.