Confrontation of the 4 nations | Quebec gives another subsidy to the NHL

The Los Angeles Kings’ two preparatory games in Quebec will not be the only NHL games that will be subsidized by Quebec taxpayers this season.

The Legault government has granted a subsidy of $480,000 for the National Hockey League (NHL) to compete in February in Montreal in the new 4 Nations Confrontation (Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland), we have learned The Press.

The first four games of the Showdown will be played at the Bell Center and the last three, including the final, in Boston, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), co-organizers of the tournament, announced in June.

The Showdown replaces the NHL All-Star weekend¹which took place in Toronto last season. The event was not subsidized by the province of Ontario nor the City of Toronto, both levels of government confirmed. In 2009, Montreal hosted the All-Star weekend without public funds.

This year, the money was advanced by Quebec through a support program for one-off tourist events from the Ministry of Tourism. (The Government of Canada and the City of Montreal have not provided public funds for the 4 Nations Showdown.)

“My goal is to have major international sporting events, particularly American ones, to attract American tourists,” explains Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx in an interview. I can’t afford a promotional campaign worth billions to position Quebec. At $480,000, I have an extraordinary image advertisement in Montreal. »

Minister Caroline Proulx estimates the economic benefits generated by the event at $20 to $30 million. Tourisme Montréal estimates them at 30 million.

These hoped-for benefits and Toronto’s interest in the event justified the subsidy request, according to Tourisme Montréal. “We [ne] wouldn’t have had it [sans subvention] », Supports Manuela Goya, vice-president, destination development and public affairs.

“We saw an opportunity for the product [touristique] winter, continues M^me Goya. Yes, there is Igloofest and Montreal in the spotlight, but the month of February can sometimes be quite gloomy. We jumped at the chance. »

“It is a common approach for major cities to work with international event organizers for the appeal of their destination,” the NHL and the NHLPA argued by email in a joint statement. “When a city is chosen to host a major international sporting event, the city and region benefit not only from the exposure, but also from the boost the event will bring to their economy through tourism and other related income. »

Collectively, the 32 NHL teams generated profits of US$1.6 billion on revenues of US$6.4 billion in 2022-2023 according to Forbes. The average player salary was US$3.2 million.

Tourisme Montréal did not mention the subsidy in its press release in June which announced the event was coming to Montreal.

No public funds from the State of Massachusetts

Tourisme Montréal maintains that the public funds allocated to the NHL in Boston “are triple” those granted by Quebec. “What we put in the agreements with the NHL is very advantageous for Montreal [par rapport à Boston] “, says Manuela Goya, of Tourisme Montréal. The organization says it relied on what the NHL told it during their negotiations.

However, the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston confirmed by email that they had not provided financial assistance for the 4 Nations Showdown. “We are not aware of any public funds [pour cet évènement] “, indicated the office of the governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey. “The City of Boston has not provided any funding for this event,” added the office of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Minister Caroline Proulx said she did not know how much public funds Massachusetts was investing in the event.

The vice-president of Tourisme Montréal, Manuela Goya, said she was surprised to learn that Massachusetts was not investing public funds. “In general, it’s not done for free,” she says.

Does the private non-profit organization Meet Boston, the equivalent of Tourisme Montréal, provide funds to the NHL? “We support the organization of events in the city (also providing assistance with services, marketing, public relations and social media), but I would not talk about subsidies, because we are not a public entity” , responds a spokesperson for Meet Boston, one of whose priorities is to attract sporting events.

In Massachusetts (like Quebec), a lodging tax on hotel nights (up to 2% of the bill) is used to help the tourism industry. A significant part of this tax is redistributed by the State to tourist associations such as Meet Boston and Tourisme Montréal, which derive approximately 70% of their budget from this tax paid by tourists at the hotel. This tax is not considered government funds.

The NHL and NHLPA did not respond to questions from The Press on the amount of public funds obtained by the 4 Nations Confrontation for its part in Boston.

Montreal Tourism as an intermediary

It was Tourisme Montréal, and not the NHL, which obtained the subsidy from the Quebec government for the 4 Nations Showdown. Tourisme Montréal will then pay the money to the NHL.

This was the first time that Tourisme Montréal requested a subsidy for a foreign organizer as part of a tourism subsidy program.

Foreign companies are not eligible for the Ministry of Tourism’s subsidy program, reserved for Quebec or Canadian companies. The NHL is an American company.

The Quebec program allows funding of up to $750,000 per event, if the project generates additional tourism revenue and increases Quebec’s influence.

Over the past two years, nine events have been subsidized by this program, including six sporting events. The Women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup in Mont-Tremblant in 2023 ($750,000), the Memorial Cup in Rimouski in 2025 ($750,000) and the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal in 2024 ($500,000) got more money than the 4 Nations Showdown.

Financial assistance cannot exceed 25% of the event budget. For the 4 Nations Showdown, the subsidy represents 3% of the total costs, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

30 million in economic benefits, really?

Tourisme Montréal estimates the potential economic benefits of the 4 Nations Showdown in Montreal at $30 million.

“At $480,000 for 20 to 30 million spinoffs, honestly, I say absolutely yes. This positions Montreal and Quebec to attract events of this magnitude,” said Minister Caroline Proulx.

However, it is with the tax benefits – and not with the economic benefits – that we measure the profitability of a subsidy for the government, recalls economist Philippe Barla.

“From a public finance point of view, the subsidy is profitable if it brings in more than its cost in tax benefits,” says the professor at Laval University.

Tourisme Montréal and the Ministry of Tourism were not able to provide us with an estimate of the tax benefits.

Economic fallout is also defined by economists as the impact of an event on Quebec’s GDP. These 30 million correspond rather to the total of tourist expenses, organizational expenses and ticketing, confirms Tourisme Montréal.

The figure of 30 million for total expenses is also possibly overestimated, because in its estimate, Tourisme Montréal included the price of tickets for spectators from the Montreal region. “Local ticketing should not be counted,” says Philippe Barla.

Tourisme Montréal did not respect the methodological guide of the Quebec Ministry of Tourism, which asks promoters of festivals and events to exclude expenses from local visitors (less than 40 kilometers from the event) because we assumes that Montrealers would have spent this money in Montreal anyway.

Tourisme Montréal estimated that 25% of spectators would come from outside a 100-kilometer radius of Montreal.

Groupe CH, owner of the Montreal Canadiens, is not involved in the 4 Nations Showdown.

1. However, there will be four matches of the 4 Nations Showdown in Montreal rather than two sessions (the skills competition and the All-Star game) for the All-Star weekend.