Here’s something that is widely understood within the province of Quebec but far less so beyond its borders: The Canadian Football League’s efforts to bring a 10th franchise to Quebec City are real.
So real that business and civic leaders are working hard to put together the missing piece that will turn the key on making this a reality – the financing and construction of a new 25,000-seat stadium.
That’s what I confirmed during my two-day trip to Quebec City leading up to Grey Cup Week, where I got to meet with Mayor Bruno Marchand, Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Frederik Boisvert, Laval University head football coach Glen Constantin, and others.
You can watch my sit-down interview with the mayor here, in which he told me the city is “all in” on CFL expansion.
The story of serious potential for a Quebec City franchise begins with William Trudel, a Quebec City real estate developer and former police officer who invited Montreal Alouettes general manager Danny Macioicia to give a leadership talk to the managers of his company in the fall of 2024.
That conversation apparently sparked an idea, and days later Trudel made his first inquiry to the league.
That file was picked up by the league’s new commissioner, Stewart Johnston, when he started in April of 2025.
Things moved along so quickly that the CFL’s board of governors had conditionally approved Trudel by that September, pending the financing and construction of a new stadium.
It’s a deal that includes a $25 million franchise fee, the promise of hosting two Grey Cup games within the franchise’s first 10 years and that and that the French language will be prominent in the marketing and identity of the team.
Getting projects like this across the finish line tends to come down to a few things, most notably timing and willingness of political and business leaders to come on board.
Plus, there’s the issue of having the right point person at the centre of it all.
Those essential components all appear to be in place in Quebec City.
As far as timing, Quebec City is on an upswing, economically and when it comes to tourism or population growth in a metro area of roughly 900,000.
When I spoke to Boisvert, the president and CEO of the Quebec City Chamber of Commerce, he repeatedly used the term “coming of age” to describe what the arrival of a CFL team would mean for his city.
But the timing element has a strong practical quality to it as well.
The Quebec Colisee, the hockey arena that was home to the NHL’s Nordiques until 1996, is slated for demolition next year and the city needs a solution for that land that sits not far from its historic downtown.
The vision right now includes a 25,000-seat outdoor stadium at the heart of what will be a multi-use site that will also include a residential component.
Marchand wants it to happen and is calling on provincial and federal levels of government to join the conversation and ante up.
It is those two pieces that will determine if this project happens.
There appears to be support at the provincial level as newly elected premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has publicly expressed a willingness to participate in the project.
With such a prime piece of land available for development, this is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.
As the mayor told me, they aren’t seeking a new vision for that property in 10 or 15 years - they want it now.
And they have a willing and ready partner in Trudel, the self-made real estate developer who worked in policing until 2018 while he was building his business, which he began by buying and renting his first apartment when he was 23.
Today, there are Trudel projects all over the city, particularly around the area of the proposed stadium, both residential and commercial. The company specializes in the redevelopment of aging shopping centres into mixed-development neighbourhoods.
The most prominent of Trudel’s projects is the redevelopment of the Fleur de Lys shopping centre, a project valued at $2 billion that sits not far from the old Colisee.
You can see cranes around the area emblazoned with “Trudel” that speak to his presence in the market, where his community projects include the housing and support of a food bank that serves 1,600 families a week.
I asked Boisvert how important Trudel’s involvement in the CFL expansion project was to making it a reality.
“He has the business community behind him,” Boisvert told me. “Without his involvement we wouldn’t be talking about this … it’s about the seriousness of the guy behind this project.”
Something else I learned during my time in Quebec City is that the success and popularity of the Laval University Rouge et Or football program is not seen as an impediment to the CFL.
Quite the contrary, the city’s pride over Laval football is regarded as a sign of its love of a sport that has blossomed within the city and beyond at youth and CEGEP levels.
“One feeds the other,” Boisvert told me. “It’s a different price point and level of game.”
Constantin concurred.
“It’s a positive,” he told me. “This city has an appetite for pro sports, and the NHL is not going to happen.”
Quebec City is a great sports town, currently demonstrating strong support for the QMJHL’s Remparts, the Rouge et Or as well as the Quebec Capitals, a highly successful independent baseball franchise.
The CFL would be the crown jewel in a growing market and there are a lot of reasons to believe it can happen.