Senators, NCC continue down the long and winding road to arena deal at LeBreton Flats

OTTAWA — Being a fan of a hockey team requires a certain leap of faith. 

Presumably, there is belief that the organization is doing everything in its power to deliver a contender — if not today, then certainly down the road. 

For fans of the Ottawa Senators, there are two main storylines firing pulses this season. 

1. The rollercoaster ride that is the push to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2017. (There has been an equal mix of jubilation, angst, anguish. But oh, the 2-0 weekend!)

2. The quest for a new arena, closer to the downtown core. 

Midway through the season, the hockey story is taking shape — a playoff spot is reachable for a team that is showing the kind of play it takes to be in the top eight of the conference. 

That second storyline, the arena dream, tends to simmer on a back burner. There’s not a lot to say about such a long-term project except when certain milestones are reached or roadblocks appear. 

When Senators majority owner Michael Andlauer made cryptic comments during a regional Senators-Sabres broadcast in Ottawa last week, it raised red flags that there may be a few boulders along the path to LeBreton Flats, the chosen site for a new NHL venue. 

Andlauer, wearing a "613" cap on his head and his heart on his sleeve, more or less grumbled aloud to TSN reporter Claire Hanna. 

“First, it’s a process,” Andlauer said, sighing, after being asked if progress was being made toward a sale of National Capital Commission land to the Senators. 

“I was told that dealing with the NCC was going to be difficult, it was. It took a whole year to get this deal (an agreement in principle, last September) done. I’m optimistic, but I’m cautious as well.”

And then the tiny bombshell. 

“There were terms in our agreement that talked about ‘fair market value,’ which I’m totally for and that’s what I want — what’s fair. Let’s just hope the NCC doesn’t change the rules at the last second.”

Ouch. 

That’s a pretty clear signal that the two sides are far apart on arriving at a land sale figure that represents “fair market value” to both sides. As for the “change the rules” suspicion, that seems like a preemptive strike against potential curve balls from the NCC. A warning, perhaps, about not playing too hard to get. 

It could be that the two sides subscribe to a different set of rules. 

Since Andlauer’s televised comment, I have contacted multiple parties with intimate knowledge of this negotiation as well as experience dealing with the NCC. 

The biggest takeaway: the NCC’s concept of “fair market value” can vary drastically from what two private enterprises may deem fair market to be. 

In past agreements involving their land, the NCC has been guided by what it terms “highest and best use.” In other words, aim high, hang tough. When the City of Ottawa was in talks with the NCC because certain LRT lines were running through some NCC property, the city did not receive special treatment — it paid top dollar to traverse NCC territory. 

One insider told me that if the NCC decided to allow two massive apartment towers on that parcel of land, instead of the Senators’ rink, it would maximize that land sale. 

The Senators might be getting the sense they are being treated as though they were any other developer, not a high-profile community asset and ace in the hole for the LeBreton site. 

We are about to discover how much flexibility there is on both sides.

Devil is in the details

Andlauer has been in business a long time but he hasn’t dealt with a bureaucratic entity like the NCC. In private business, deals get done fast, by entrepreneurs who play the give-and-take game with all the flair of an elite NHL power play. They take pride in the art of closing the deal. 

In contrast, the NCC has been sitting on this vacant land for twice as long as the Senators have been in existence. This Crown corporation does not rush to solutions, to put it mildly, although it has shown more willingness to develop the Flats in recent months than it has in years. 

Still, there are always more layers to the onion, more things to resolve. Hurdles to leap. 

And that can wear on a private businessman such as Andlauer. 

That this 10-acre tract of land involves serious and expensive contamination to be disposed of, and is historic Algonquin territory, only adds to the complexity of a deal. 

For all of the challenges, it doesn’t appear that the Senators are close to giving up in favour of a different site. 

One of the key negotiators on behalf of the Senators told Sportsnet.ca that the ongoing discussions are just part of the “ebb and flow of a long negotiation process.”

Andlauer himself said he remains optimistic about LeBreton, even if he is clearly frustrated at how much more difficult this is than a normal land sale between interested parties. 

Asked to comment on Andlauer’s public message, the NCC sent me this statement: “We continue our negotiations with the Ottawa Senators to bring a major events centre to LeBreton Flats. Both parties are working hard to reach an agreement.”

So there. Both sides seem to feel they can get there. 

Surely the NCC recognizes that a green light on a massive attraction like an NHL arena (plus added amenities) would heighten development interest in LeBreton. Spark a renewal of empty lands there, and link perfectly with the nearby national library and war museum. 

If and when the Sens and NCC agree on terms, the land sale is just the first major step.  

Financing the project will be the greatest hurdle, considering we are talking about an event centre that could cost $1.5 billion or more. 

The arena projects in Edmonton and Calgary relied on government money to a large extent, especially from the province of Alberta and the respective cities. But these were built (or are being built, in Calgary’s case) on municipal land. 

Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe has offered to help where he can but in a more creative way, not by handing over millions of taxpayer dollars. 

And what about provincial and federal money in this case? 

We don’t know what Ontario might do, but we can surmise that with the prospects of a new federal government forming in 2025, funding a new hockey rink will not be top of mind. 

Conservative Pierre Poilievre, should he be elected, is notoriously anti-government. As one political insider said — Poilievre wouldn’t provide financial support to a rink like this anywhere, but especially not in Ottawa, the very symbol of government. 

It is going to take some creative thinking to put the financing in place for this project. 

Luckily, the Senators still have a decent arena in Kanata, which the organization continues to upgrade for fans and players alike. Other than the location, it’s not an awful venue to use until the bricks fall into place at LeBreton — or some other site, if this tentative agreement were to collapse. As Andlauer has said, it has to make sense to move. There has to be value in it for the team and its fans. 

That "613" hat Andlauer was wearing on TV was meant to symbolize his pledge to keep the AHL Senators in Belleville. 

One big happy Ontario family. 

The 613 could also represent the area code of a new, central arena for the Senators. 

One of these years, a leap of faith finally rewarded.