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Posted Jan 25, 2015, 9:57 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 28,933
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Quote:
Originally Posted by c_speed3108
The timelines for the Sens is really interesting. The Canadian Tire Centre is about 5 years away from needing a major overhaul.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/01/24/sens-serious-about-lebreton
Some interesting quotes:
"That's where we wanted to be in the first place with Bruce Firestone back in 1990," Leeder said.
"We'll have the LRT there. It'll be the main hub: East, West, North and South will connect there."
"We showed that we were serious. It wasn't just, 'We're the Ottawa Senators and we'd like to build a rink.' It was a full plan for what we, and the rest of our team, thought should be developed on the site."
"We'll be 20 years old this time next year. At year 25 you've got to make some decisions as to whether you're going to make a major re-investment in the building.
We're going to need in the next five years: A new ice plant, new roof, new seats, new windows, new doors, the structure is the only thing you leave in place, everything has to come out and you replace it. It's probably about five years ahead of the process for us." |
Full article.
Quote:
Sens 'serious' about Lebreton
By Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Saturday, January 24, 2015 10:23 PM EST | Updated: Saturday, January 24, 2015 10:43 PM EST
COLUMBUS - The Senators are confident if they build it, they will come.
A quarter-century after being granted an expansion franchise, the Senators are ready to take a serious run at the vacant land owned by the National Capital Commission just outside of downtown at Lebreton Flats and they're confident this is the right move long-term.
Speaking in an interview after the NHL's board of governors meetings during the All-Star weekend, Senators president Cyril Leeder told the Sun Saturday the location was where founder Bruce Firestone wanted to be initially and owner Eugene Melnyk is ready to give it another shot.
After being turned down by the NCC, Firestone decided to build the Canadian Tire Centre on land his company owned in Kanata, but Melnyk submitted a proposal to build a new rink on the site because the Senators believe it'll be good for the long-term future.
"That's where we wanted to be in the first place with Bruce Firestone back in 1990," Leeder said.
"Bruce's first thought was Lebreton Flats would be a great spot for an arena and it wasn't the right time at that point.
"I think now it's worth looking into and having that community discussion about, 'Is this the right thing for the community long-term?' We'll have the LRT there. It'll be the main hub: East, West, North and South will connect there. Am I worried about going through that process again? I think it's a good process to have now. The team has been around 25 years.
"Let's have the discussion: 'What's the right spot for this team if you cast your minds eye down the road?' Fifty years from now, where should this team be? Let's have that discussion."
Leeder said he isn't worried about the debate.
"Do I get hee-bee-gee-bees when I start thinking about that?," Leeder said with a smile.
"No, I think we're past that now as a community and a city. We've got pretty good leadership at different levels of government that would be required to deal with this.
"We're feeling a lot better than I would have 20 years ago when we had to go through it the first time."
The Senators believe the reaction will be positive. That's why they were one of five groups to submit a proposal for an arena to the NCC in late-December.
The contents of that bid are sealed and the only detail Leeder could confirm was that the club wants to build a new rink.
Beyond that, he was tight-lipped and he has to be because the NCC doesn't want this process to become a public debate until they've settled on their finalists and have decide what direction with they want to take with the valuable land that has countless possibilities.
Leeder said the proposal they made to the NCC -- which is called a request for qualifications (RFQ) -- was comprehensive.
"'Who are you and what is this about?'
The NCC asked for a little more detail as to what type of plan would you propose?," said Leeder.
"We showed that we were serious. It wasn't just, 'We're the Ottawa Senators and we'd like to build a rink.'
"It was a full plan for what we, and the rest of our team, thought should be developed on the site."
This process is coming a bit earlier than the Senators would actually like.
Canadian Tire Centre will be 20 years old next January and the Senators are going ahead with extensive renovations this summer on the Club Level to build new seating/loge areas.
"In our planning, time-wise, yes (it is earlier than they expected)," said Leeder.
"We'll be 20 years old this time next year. At year 25 you've got to make some decisions as to whether you're going to make a major re-investment in the building.
"We're going to need in the next five years: A new ice plant, new roof, new seats, new windows, new doors, the structure is the only thing you leave in place, everything has to come out and you replace it. It's probably about five years ahead of the process for us.
"We would have been looking at what are we going to do for the next generation in five years."
The next step for the Senators is to find out if they've been short-listed and if that's the case they'll submit a final bid.
"The process is now laid out by the NCC. They're going to review the five submissions they've got and prepare a shortlist for early in March. If you make the shortlist, you'll be required to give a full proposal that will be due late summer or early fall," Leeder said.
Until then, the Senators will have to wait.
LOOKING FOR MORE FANS
Senators president Cyril Leeder wasn't allowed to discuss what took place in the board of governors meeting but did touch on these other local issues:
THE CANADIAN DOLLAR
With it trading at 81 cents and most of the business in the NHL done in U.S. dollars, teams are taking a hit. Leeder said the Senators are in good shape this year and will have to study what route to take for next season.
"Our planning for this year is locked in," Leeder said.
"It'll be something we'll have to manage through next year and that's the good news. We've got some time to deal with and manage through it. We've already bought our U.S. dollars at a favourable rate. We did that a year ago. We planned out about a year. If the dollar stays low, we'll have to plan. What we're hoping is we can manage our currency so it's not a negative."
ATTENDANCE
This one is ongoing especially after the game against the Leafs failed to sell out. The Senators are averaging 18,272 through 20 games which is up slightly from last year's average of 18,108 in 41 games.
"It's a little better than last year. We've got some weak games. There's games we'd like to have better attendance," he said.
"Overall, we're not unhappy with where we are. It's the area we spend the most time, activity and effort on. Management time and effort is directed at selling tickets. We could be in first place and I could be telling we need to work hard at selling tickets.
"That's the nature of our fan base. It's a small, big city. We've got to work at selling tickets."
Twitter: @sungarrioch
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http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/01/24/sens-serious-about-lebreton
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