NHL-Canadian company bids to bring NHL back to Quebec City

July 20 (Reuters) - Canadian telecom and media conglomerate Quebecor Inc submitted a formal expansion application to the National Hockey League on Monday in an effort to return a team to Quebec City. The Montreal-based company had been widely expected to make a bid as part of its efforts to bring the NHL back to a city that has not had a team since the Nordiques left for Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. "We confirm that we submitted our candidacy for the #NHL expansion process in order to bring the #Nordiques back to #Québec City," the company said on its Twitter account. The NHL set Monday as the deadline for potential expansion team owners to submit their bids which, according to multiple reports, must include a $10 million down payment. Interested parties also face an Aug. 10 deadline for forwarding financial and arena details. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last month the league would open an expansion review process to consider adding new franchises to the 30-team league. Bettman also indicated at the time that an expansion fee would be at least $500 million and that Las Vegas, Seattle and Quebec City had expressed the most serious interest. The NHL has not expanded since adding its 29th and 30th teams, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, in 2000. According to a survey released by Forbes last November, the average NHL team was worth an all-time high of $490 million, an 18.6 percent increase from the previous year. (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Gene Cherry)