Posted Nov 4, 2016, 8:04 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ottawa
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Quote:
Government rejects plan for NHL game on Parliament Hill in 2017
By Don Butler
First posted: Friday, November 04, 2016 02:45 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, November 04, 2016 03:32 PM EDT
The dream of an outdoor NHL game on Parliament Hill next year has evaporated.
In a statement Friday, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said the government has rejected the idea of staging the Heritage Classic game on the Hill as part of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations.
Pierre-Olivier Herbert, Joly’s press secretary, said the Liberal government had been working closely with public and private sector partners for 18 months to determine the feasibility of staging the outdoor game on Parliament Hill to mark the NHL’s 100th anniversary in the context of Canada 150 celebrations.
However, he said, “In the highly complex environment regarding events on Parliament Hill, including the need for uninterrupted operations of parliamentary business, public access and security, a full-stadium NHL game was deemed not feasible and is no longer one of the options being considered.”
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The idea was to stage the game on Parliament Hill in December 2017 as a memorable exclamation point to the year-long celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday.
Instead, Herbert said the department is exploring other options to close the celebrations, “including a variety of free public events to celebrate Canadians’ love of winter” on Parliament Hill and across Canada.
The Ottawa Senators have been pushing hard for the game on Parliament Hill. Team president Cyril Leeder said in September the Hill was the only location the team and the league were studying.
“That would be a fantastic way to really highlight for (the Senators 25th anniversary season) and to have a national celebration of the game on Parliament Hill would be really exciting,” Leeder said at the time.
While the NHL supported the idea, league commissioner Gary Bettman admitted earlier this year that making it happen would be “complicated and expensive.”
The former Conservative government first approached the NHL and the Senators about staging the Heritage Classic on the Hill, but wanted limited temporary stands with fewer than 10,000 seats.
For the idea to be financially viable, however, the league and the team said a pop-up stadium accommodating 30,00-to-40,000 fans would be required.
Another possible venue in Ottawa for the NHL game is TD Place at Lansdowne Park. The stadium will be will be prepped for the Grey Cup, able to accommodate more than 30,000 fans, in November 2017 — weeks before an outdoor hockey game would take place.
While Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson strongly supported the idea of staging the game on Parliament Hill, he said earlier this year that Lansdowne Park “is the next obvious choice” if the Hill option didn’t work out.
But until now, the Senators have shown little interest in staging the game there. In September said TD Place “is not an option we’ve looked at, at all in any detail, and we’ve been really focused on the Hill.”
dbutler@postmedia.com
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http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/11/04/...t-hill-in-2017
Better get moving on plan "B". Lansdowne makes a lot of sens anyway; additional seating for Grey Cup will already be up, stadium is on top of the modern Sens fist home at the Civic Centre, built for the centennial in 67'. On top of all that, it's a stone'ss throw away from the site of the Sens 1904 Stanley Cup championship, the Aberdeen Pavilion.
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