There are several questions looming around the long-term health of the Ottawa Senators franchise, both on and off the ice, and perhaps the biggest concern revolves around a new downtown arena.
Team owner Eugene Melnyk angered Sens fans ahead of the NHL 100 Classic in December when he said the team staying in Kanata isn’t necessarily a bad thing then suggested he’d be open to relocating the franchise entirely.
Ottawa mayor Jim Watson likes the idea of the team moving downtown since it would be a boon to the city’s economy but not if it’s on the municipal government’s dime.
“We should not be using property tax dollars to subsidize an NHL team,” Watson told Jon Willing of the Ottawa Citizen. “That’s not the role of a municipal government, in my opinion.”
The Senators have been in discussions to redevelop LeBreton Flats near the city centre.
“I’m not sure downtown is necessary,” Melnyk told reporters on Parliament Hill prior to a Senators alumni game one day before the NHL 100 Classic. “All those Kanata people, are they going to come downtown? Are you just moving an arena closer to [civil service] people who can’t get tickets? We have options for us, that’s the main thing. A lot of options. I don’t bluff.”
Those comments bothered Watson.
“It was not helpful when Eugene blurted out that maybe (the Senators) don’t have to move downtown because that’s exactly at odds with what he and (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman have been telling me going back four years, that the arena has to be in the downtown core,” Watson said. “I fully support that. I think it would be great for the west end of the downtown. It would help us in ridership in term of getting people on the LRT. It would help with the Quebec market and the Orléans market to be more central.
“I’m hoping he misspoke and is not casting doubt on all of the work we’re putting in to getting the arena and the whole site revitalized in the downtown.”
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