🎪 Competition Venues in Quebec: An Honest Look (S3.9)

janie724
Nov 5
2 min read

Episode released on October 28, 2025

🎙️ In this episode of the Kick’s Cheer Podcast, Janie and her team welcome Francine Lewis to discuss a topic that’s rarely explained but often criticized: the cheerleading competition venues in Quebec.

Why are some events held in freezing arenas and others in cramped halls? And above all, why does the perfect venue seem impossible to find? Francine pulls back the curtain on the logistical puzzle that few spectators truly understand.

ÉCOUTER SUR SPOTIFY

🧭 Finding the Perfect Venue: Mission Impossible

Between low ceilings, support columns, ice rinks to cover, and limited space for warm-up zones, event producers have to work with very few options. Large convention centers are often too expensive or booked years in advance, while smaller arenas simply don’t have enough room to host the hundreds of athletes and families who pass through each hour.

💺 Comfort, Flow, and Parking: A Fragile Balance

Every venue involves trade-offs, limited seating, cold or heat issues, long lines… and of course, parking. Some events even rent nearby municipal lots and set up free shuttle services, an expensive but essential solution to keep spectators comfortable.

📶 The Details That Change Everything

Restrooms, Wi-Fi, safety, signage... these seemingly small elements can turn a successful event into a nightmare. “You can have the biggest venue in the world,” Francine notes, “but if there are only three bathrooms, it just doesn’t work.”

🏗️ The Dream: A Cheer-Specific Arena

Between the 4,000- and 14,000-seat venues in Quebec, there’s a gap. What’s missing is a 7,000-seat multi-sport facility designed for floor-based sports like cheer, gymnastics, or volleyball, a space that could host major competitions and help the sport grow sustainably.

🗣️ “I’m Paying for Just 2 Minutes and 30 Seconds?” Really?

Events producers remind everyone: you’re not paying for a two-and-a-half-minute routine — you’re attending a full-scale production. Lights, sound, staging, coordination, and the rotation of dozens of teams… Cheerleading is a show, not a quick performance.

🔁 Understand Before You Complain

Behind every event are years of planning, hundreds of staff, and last-minute challenges handled on the fly. Francine and Janie’s message is clear: before complaining about the venue, try to understand the reality of those working hard to make these competitions happen.