Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominion301
Having said that, I think a lot of francophones will come over to the Sens with a move to Lebreton as I have always thought the Senators a) aren't within reach of the majority of the region's francophones being located in one of the most English parts of the NCR and b) the organization as a whole isn't French enough. Being at Lebreton, they're literally within 1 km of 85% francophone downtown Hull. Think of all the folks from that part of Hull that can jump on a 5 minute shuttle bus to the game or even walk or bike to the game on a nice day. The REDBLACKS have converted a lot of former Alouettes fans in Gatineau as they actually go after folks on the other side of the river (e.g. STO shuttles to games). I remember reading during the dreadful Renegades era that of the entire season ticket base, less than 30 came from the Quebec side of the river. That definitely is not the case nowadays.
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It's not so much "francophones" as it is the Outaouais Québécois.
I've got family and lots of friends and acquaintances on both sides of the river, and francophones who live in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario have already massively switched over to the Sens (years ago). There are a few stragglers that still cheer for the Habs but by and large the Franco-Ontarian market in the 613 area code has been won over by the Senators. It could be that this does not translate into that many ticket sales due in part to the location of the arena, but if you go to Orleans, Embrun, Rockland, etc. that's all Senators territory by a wide margin.
You probably need to go as far as Hawkesbury to see the Habs dig into that.
Gatineau is another story as has been stated a gazillion times before. Interestingly enough I was at Sports Experts at Les Promenades Gatineau last night and right when you walked in was a large display with replica Sens and Habs jerseys. I thought to myself "that's not something you see every day in Gatineau: a store giving equal billing to the Sens alongside the Habs".
Well, there was a twist: it was a special promo for the outdoor game at Lansdowne this weekend.
Just metres away was the store's main window display, which as usual was filled only with Habs' jerseys: Price, Drouin, Pacioretty, etc.
I agree with you about the Redblacks. That team has squared the circle and done what many thought was impossible: they've gotten Gatineau and the Outaouais excited about an Ottawa sports team.