Moncton loses 2028 Memorial Cup bid to Québec City

Moncton has lost its bid to host the 2028 Memorial Cup, with the Canadian Hockey League choosing the Québec Remparts and Québec City to stage junior hockey’s national championship.

The CHL announced on Thursday, Oct. 22, that the tournament will be held at Vidéotron Centre in the spring of 2028, with dates to come. The Remparts and the Moncton Wildcats were named finalists in July.

CHL president Dan MacKenzie told Radio-Canada the decision was “extremely close.” “If Québec City was 10 out of 10, Moncton was a 9.9. It was that close,” he said, according to CBC News.

Moncton’s bid centred on the 8,800-seat Avenir Centre and its place in the downtown core. Vidéotron Centre holds 18,529 fans. An independent five-member committee scored the bids on business operations, local atmosphere and community engagement, event logistics and hockey operations after written bids, presentations and site visits, the league said.

Wildcats president R.J. Irving said the team was “very disappointed” but believed strongly in its bid. He said the effort was also meant to honour the legacy of his late father, Robert K. Irving, and thanked Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview and southeast New Brunswick for their support. “We did not get the decision we wanted, but that will never take away from what our community accomplished,” he said.

Moncton Mayor Shawn Crossman said in a statement that his word for the day was “disappointed,” given how strongly the community rallied behind the bid.

QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini congratulated the Wildcats on “their excellent bid.” Moncton last hosted the tournament 20 years ago. Québec City last hosted in 2015, and the Remparts are the most recent QMJHL team to win the Memorial Cup, in 2023.

The four-team tournament brings together the host club and the champions of the QMJHL, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.

For more on the city, see our Fredericton and Moncton coverage and sports news.

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