Quebec's mayor vows to 'demolish' historic Colisee, as QMJHL's Remparts set to move

Quebecor Arena, that monument to the privatization of public money, is virtually in the same parking lot as the fabled Colisée in Quebec City.

So it is not surprising to learn that the city said earlier this week it will "demolish" the old arena some time after the Quebec Remparts host the Memorial Cup tournament in May. At the same time, there is no ignoring the shame that an arena of such historical significance — where the late Jean Béliveau starred before moving on to Montreal, where a 19-year-old Guy Lafleur had a 130-goal season, where Wayne Gretzky and countless future pros shone at the Quebec peewee tournament and where the Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens engaged in some memorably tense playoff series in the 1980s — can just go by the wayside under the guise of progress, or before determining whether it can be preserved and re-purposed.

That appears to be the case, barring an 11th-hour miracle. Quebec City mayor Régis Lebeaume stated Tuesday "there is no appetite" for using the Colisée, which opened in 1949.

The building will not have a main tenant once the Remparts move across the parking lot. Tearing down an old arena in order to limit competition and artificially raise demand is also typically part of the deal when governments subsidize new arenas.

Yet Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and the Forum in Montreal didn't meet the wrecking ball immediately after their NHL tenants moved into modern arenas opened in those cities in the 1990s. Each was eventually redeveloped and had its useful life extended; the Gardens structure now houses the sports complex for Ryerson University, while there's a movie theatre inside the Forum. And along the way, history, a sense of something shared that spans generations, was kept alive.

That makes it seem odd that city council in Quebec would move so quickly to raze an arena, especially since it adds to the cost of the Quebecor Arena project. (One real estate developer who's interested in the property is on the record that he wouldn't tear down the Colisée.) Public opinion is also running 60-40 against not at least having some debate on the matter.

Presumably, the ends will justify the means if the NHL returns to the city, but that's far from a sure thing. One of hockey's few existing meccas — it's not for nothing many QMJHL players name the Colisée as their favourite road arena — could be lost, for no reason other than to to add to an arena boondoggle.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Sports Canada. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.