Location of Ottawa's NHL Arena

[steve81]

I'm not from Ottawa (lived in the region for 4 months several years ago and would love to return), but I'm amazed how far away the Scotiabank Place is from downtown. Got this from Wikipedia:

Although widely acknowledged as a well-designed arena, it has been criticized in the years since construction for being difficult to reach. It is located in the far west-end of Ottawa, which puts it at a fair distance from some parts of the National Capital Region, especially from the east-end of Ottawa or from the Outaouais region. Difficulties are compounded by frequent traffic congestion at game time. Another problem is the isolation of the arena from many restaurants and bars, which makes it difficult for celebrations to continue naturally after the game as in many other more centrally located arenas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotiabank_Place

Here is what I would have proposed instead:



The current arena was built in 1996, so it is quite recent. But should Ottawa think about moving the NHL arena downtown in the future? What do you think?

[waterloowarrior]

you can read about some of the background in these links

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...7-a91c72ac7327

http://dramatispersonae.org/MoreOnPo...dBusiness.html



this was what they wanted to put there at first...


in the next while the area will be developed



http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa...V-POL-0011.htm

http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/cit...M-APR-0003.htm



http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/cit...M-POL-0032.htm

[raisethehammer]

it's brutal. right up there with jersey meadowlands.
Go Sabres!!

[Berklon]

From a year ago:



Don't know if it's changed much since, but I can imagine how pissed people are to travel to the boonies to attend the games.

[401_King]

lol...too bad

[AuxTown]

It is too bad how far away the arena is from downtown; but do you know what else would be too bad??....If we didn't have a team at all. The Ottawa Senators were born in the early 90's, a time in the NHL when small markets were losing their teams and only the oldest, most storied, and most popular teams were turning a profit. Many different locations were studied as a possiblilty for the new NHL arena but none, as it turned out, were financially or practically feasible. For many of the downtown sites there wasn't enough roads or infrastructure servicing the site. It would have cost in the ballpark of a billion dollars to expropriate lands and build some kind of expressway to get there. While the arena location is not ideal, I think that if owners were facing any more debt than they already were in the late 1990's (when the Sens had a bit of a crisis and almost left town), I'll bet the team would have left for good. With the Sens up 2-0 on Buffalo and coming home for games 2 and 3, I can't help but imagine what may have happened if short-sighted people had their way, and Ottawa made the mistake of building a downtown arena. We are a much smaller market than Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver, we don't have the benefit of facilities and infrastructure that Calgary has from hosting the Olympics in '88, and we don't have a second rate arena like Edmonton. I, for one, have no problem driving the 21 minutes from downtown Ottawa to Kanata for a game and will continue to support the Senators and their suburban arena.

[steve81]

I guess the context of the early 1990's explains it well. Still, it could have been closer, maybe not downtown, but closer. An arena downtown would be a good thing for downtown Ottawa, if they can provide enough parking. But yes, it would cost a lot. So it's not for now, but could be something to think about for the future.

[401_King]

boo sens, nobody likes you, even downtown ottawa wants to be as far away from you as possible!

but seriously, look at that picture. thats sad. theres an arena in the middle of nowhere, literally, theres nothing!!!!!!! i see a couple of farms and some roads and a cornfield...LOL...and as most of you know, in other cities with arenas downtown, a lot of ppl leave the game and mingle into the street life, go to bars for a drink, do touristy things if your making it a day trip for downtown.....i sure hope parking is free at that arena.... from that pic it looks like people have no choice but to drive to the game, and drive wherever they are going. its really too bad. it makes me appreciate the ACC and skydome a million times more.

[WZ1]

401_king..

Where are the leafs again? Golfing? Probably loosing at that as well mind you.. oh and last i checked hockey was about winning, not where the arena is.. the leafs sure havent benefited on the score board by playing on Bay and Lakeshore..

[401_King]

Originally Posted by WZ1

401_king..

Where are the leafs again? Golfing? Probably loosing at that as well mind you.. oh and last i checked hockey was about winning, not where the arena is.. the leafs sure havent benefited on the score board by playing on Bay and Lakeshore..

yea we've never benefited for sure, we only knocked out the sens, like what, 4 times in the playoffs while playing at ACC???? can you clarify this for me, oh so great suburban senator fan? thanks for trying ! anyways your attempt to rationalize the (bad) location of the arena is by bashing the leafs is so funny. im trying to argue that the location kills post game culture in downtown areas, i could care less if the sport is hockey or curling or whatever. your trying to get personal with the leafs and be like "hockey is about winning", "golfing" and make that your argument....think about what ur saying...so funny!

oh wait ur from hamilton...LOL...yo, get an NHL team first, then you can start being a hater!

[matt602]

Hamilton has a hockey team. It is in the playoffs and has already destroyed one team. The next one looks like it's gonna go the same way (I think the series is being lead 3-0). Our AHL team is doing better than the Leafs have done in many years.

Now of course, this isn't really a thread to debate who's hockey team is better. It's about how Ottawa's arena is in a stupid place

[401_King]

you Hamiltonians crack me up!!!!!11

[BCTed]

Originally Posted by matt602

Hamilton has a hockey team. It is in the playoffs and has already destroyed one team. The next one looks like it's gonna go the same way (I think the series is being lead 3-0). Our AHL team is doing better than the Leafs have done in many years.

The current series is tied 2-2.

[WZ1]

Born and raised in Ottawa 19 Years, moved to Toronto, 5 years, moved to Hamilton, 3 months.. if that makes me a Hamiltonian, or of less significance.. than you are dumber than I thought..

P.S. leaf fans need to stop clinging on the past.. i mean your speaking about history here.. the last time the leafs won the cup you wernt even a cum stain on your mothers dress.

[BCTed]

Originally Posted by WZ1

than your dumber than I thought..

then you're

WZ1, you definitely fit in well as an honourary Hamiltonian.

[401_King]

Originally Posted by WZ1

Born and raised in Ottawa 19 Years, moved to Toronto, 5 years, moved to Hamilton, 3 months.. if that makes me a Hamiltonian, or of less significance.. than you are dumber than I thought..

P.S. leaf fans need to stop clinging on the past.. i mean your speaking about history here.. the last time the leafs won the cup you wernt even a cum stain on your mothers dress.

and the last time the sens won a cup was....NEVER! who cares! its not like im losing sleep over the leafs!

lol i love how you just changed ur grammar to sound less stupid than you already are. yo, this thread is about ottawa's NHL arena... look what u started bringing the leafs into this! i tried to explain to you, that you are trying to justify that ottawa's arena location is good because a team which happens to play there wins, and downtown locations are overrated (north america wide) because one team in all of pro sports (which you pointed out as the sole basis of your argument) in north america called "leafs" (only one of the 4 teams that play at ACC's location) haven't won in a while . thats what you said, no? i dont think location and wins are correlated. i think locations and street life ARE correlated! from a 24 year old, i would expect better than this crap!...

thats also typical ppl only exposed to 1 sport for you..always bringing up hockey to base their arguments when they have nothing else to watch. the ACC has other sports too you know!


ok BACK to topic. when was that arena built and where did the sens play before?

[upinottawa]

The Senators' temporary home was the Civic Centre at Landsdowne Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Civic_Centre

Ottawa last won the Stanley Cup in 1927. I believe Ottawa has won the cup eight times.

[TheMeltyMan]

Can't you just blow up the Rideau Centre and put the new stadium up there?

[BlackRedGold]

Originally Posted by Berklon

From a year ago:



Don't know if it's changed much since, but I can imagine how pissed people are to travel to the boonies to attend the games.

That image is kind of misleading since it shows the area west of the arena and not east.

Since the rink was built Palladium Drive has had plenty of development on it and the streets that run off it. Several huge high tech manufacturing plants, multiple high rise office buildings, big box stores and auto dealerships have all shown up since then. And development is underway on large housing developments to the north and south of it.

As well, the land directly to the east of it has the Carp River running through and is basically a marsh. One guy who tried to walk from the nearby Home Depot to the rink through the "field" had to be rescued when he got trapped in the wetland.

[shappy]

it's certainly a poor choice of location... tough to argue against that.