Canada is up to five professional soccer teams, and Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume thinks his town may be the right place for a sixth.
According to a report on Monday in Canadian French-language newspaper La Presse, Labeaume believes Quebec City is capable of supporting a pro soccer team and is hopeful of landing a club in the NASL or a potential Montreal Impact reserve squad.
Labeaume is not personally planning on investing in a team and he has not heard from any potential ownership groups, but thinks the time has come for Quebec City to begin to seriously consider the prospects of having a club of its own.
The mayor is so convinced that Quebec City is ready to host a team that he plans on expressing his idea with Laval University president Denis Briere, with the idea being that any potential team could play at the school's Stade TELUS-Universite Laval. The stadium, which has a seating capacity of 12,750, is part of several of millions spent in recent years on soccer infrastructure by Quebec City.
While Labeaume does rate getting a soccer club as higher priority than a Canadian Football League team, he added that claiming a National Hockey League franchise is most important for Quebec City. There is currently, however, no talk about expansion or relocation in the NHL.
At the professional level, there are currently three Canadian-based clubs in MLS (Montreal, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps) and two in the NASL (FC Edmonton and the Ottawa Fury, who will begin play in 2014).
