News Article: Ottawa Senators Organization Actively Considering Building Arena At Lebreton Flats

[LuckyPierre]

"The Death and Life of Great National Capital Regions".

Ha, yeah right, smack a singular highway through downtown and don't create a ringroad. We're the opposite of a Jane Jacobs-inspired urban core.

Regarding the water taxi comment a while back, a Lebreton stadium would be a no-brainer justification to refurbish the Prince of Wales bridge to Gatineau for rail. Would alleviate vehicular congestion on the 5 existing bridges (on game nights and during daily commutes).

 

[alxmrtl]

All for it

 

[Upgrayedd]

Weird how a lot of people look to immediately crap on the idea without putting much thought into especially media types spweing factually incorrect info....change=bad, oh Ottawa please do change for the sake of the children!

 

[jbeck5]

The train will not go to the suburbs! and there will be less LRT stops than bus stops. I'm not sure why it is that you believe people will want to do it any more than they do now.

Buses on the transitway are basically the same as what the LRT will be but just a bit quicker.

All I am saying is it's basically the same. It's far from the bars, transit will be somewhat better but not good enough to change peoples mind about driving to the game.

It is better in the sense that it's more central, so it would be good for anyone in the east or south, than what it is currently.

It's just not this huge gamechanger that people want it to be though.

If its not a game changer you would see more people build their stadiums at the edge of the suburbs because its cheaper...but you don't...because it is a game changer.

 

[Laoghaire]

A downtown arena would be fantastic. If we actually had any semblance of an effective mass transit system serving it.

The arenas in downtown Toronto and Montreal work because there are subway lines that run direct to it from all posts in the city. Our bus system sucks.

There are roughly 200,000 people who commute to downtown every single work day. Why do you think that the additional burden of 20k for a downtown arena would be so difficult to handle?

 

[harvey]

If its not a game changer you would see more people build their stadiums at the edge of the suburbs because its cheaper...but you don't...because it is a game changer.

yes some stadiums are built far from city center, due to cost and transportation capabilities

http://imgur.com/OCrusPz
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--EMZvOU-J--/fummmhmfgapyjfhltgth.png

 

[Proust*]

It will never happen. Melnyk (and possibly other partners) will be looking for big subsidies which they should not get.

 

[jbeck5]

One day when you are older you will understand how budgets work.

One day, when you are of age, and have the ability to perform critical thinking, you would realize there are dozens and dozens of advantages to a rink downtown.

Do you still drive a 1988 Honda civic hatchback because you don't want to spend thousands on a new car? Melnyk is that you?

 

[jbeck5]

All I have to say is if you've been to a Redblack game you'll realize how good having a stadium with bars within walking distance is. Redblack, CFL!, sells out every game and will continue to do so because of this. I don't know if any of you have studied business but one of the main rules to being successful is, location..location..location. Bring on Lebreton!

I have a business degree and 100% know this but according to another poster I have to wait till I'm middle aged to understand a budget...and how revenue can increase big time with a central location. But my age of 25 and business degree isn't sufficient enough to understand this.

 

[jbeck5]

Crazy idea, but what about the possibility of using water taxis to ferry people east/west/gatineau as well. It's incredible how little use we make of such a fantastic natural resource. Booze cruise post-game parties!

We would need to spend millions on deepening the river. Too many rapids and shallow parts.

 

[branch]

I will concede that the demographics of ticket holders will probably shift somewhat.

My guess is that the proportion of suburban families with young kids goes down, and is replaced with an increase in upper-middle class urbanites.

I see that shift as a function of geography and price.

Which is a good thing. The on ice product and credibility of the team will undoubtedly benefit from this. We as a fanbase often criticize the mausoleum-like atmosphere at the games because of the mass of families and seniors, and this would produce the opposite.

 

[Dick Whitman]

A downtown arena would be fantastic. If we actually had any semblance of an effective mass transit system serving it.

The arenas in downtown Toronto and Montreal work because there are subway lines that run direct to it from all posts in the city. Our bus system sucks.

Everything feeds into the transit way. It's actually a pretty decent bus system.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Get the light rail to the building wherever it is and it will be much better.

But being Ottawa, people will still whine about having to sit on a train for 20 minutes.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Get the light rail to the building wherever it is and it will be much better.

But being Ottawa, people will still whine about having to sit on a train for 20 minutes.

It'd probably cost almost as much to get a track/station to the CTC + the maintenance both the track and the facility would need as it would to build a brand new state-of-the-art arena at Lebreton Flats.

 

[starling]

Article with some thoughts and options: http://www.westsideaction.com/lebetter-flats-part-3-senators-go-marching/

 

[harvey]

1. new site must have indoor walkable access to transit (go train and light rail), with indoor waiting areas for transit.
2. downtown areas work only with park and ride with the capability to
handle 20,000 people leaving at once.
3. transit must also connect to the quebec side ie via GO train and updated light rail links
4. roads to the location from the 417 need to be upgraded to handle increased traffic.
5. eb eddy site needs to be rebuilt with pubs/night clubs/errr .. entertainment a la montreal, people have to have a place very near to go to before/after game
6. a hotel must be built on the site directly, "walking in -30C during the winter uphill to hotels downtown does not work
7. walking in winter with -30C to the market just does not work
8. a multistory parking garage will be required

 

[Tnouc Alucard]

Get the light rail to the building wherever it is and it will be much better.

But being Ottawa, people will still whine about having to sit on a train for 20 minutes.

Again, The City of Ottawa is NOT building a Train line, they're building a Street car line.

http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/bombardier-loses-bid-to-build-ottawa-light-rail-trains-1.1064761

 

[Do Make Say Think]

-30 will be a thing of the past soon enough

 

[InTkachukWeTrust]

Article with some thoughts and options: http://www.westsideaction.com/lebetter-flats-part-3-senators-go-marching/

Thanks Starling for posting. Nice to get a general idea of what they plan on doing. I like it!

 

[harvey]

-30 will be a thing of the past soon enough

just you wait until feb

 

[Do Make Say Think]

just you wait until feb

In 20 years -30 will be a bad(good?) memory of days gone by

 

[The Lewler]

When you look at the maps of season ticket holders there's almost none in the East end of the city. You see the Flex packs there, but nobody can justify that kind of commute time. Anythign more central would open up almost 1/2 the city's population (incl. Gatineau).

As it stands, I leave work, drive past home, sit in traffic out to to Kanata, walk to the rink, then reverse it home. It automatically drops.

By definition there would be people approaching the rink from various directions, as opposed to now when it's everyone in one way, then everyone out.

I get that, I guess personal bias is manifesting here, since I drive an hour up from Brockville to watch the games, and know of several season ticket holders down here.

So for me, I'm like an hour commute to and from the game after work? So what?

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I get that, I guess personal bias is manifesting here, since I drive an hour up from Brockville to watch the games, and know of several season ticket holders down here.

So for me, I'm like an hour commute to and from the game after work? So what?

But this isn't about you, it's about the team getting to the people they need to get to in order to grow the brand

These are the kinds of moves that could help with the budget issues; not fix them but help

 

[Dr.Sens(e)]

There are a number of key major players already on board to make this happen on multiple sides of this opportunity, but in the end, there are two major threats to the deal happening:

1/ The first is Melynk. He brings substantial negative PR value to the entire affair, and needs to stay in the background. This really has to be about Ottawa developers and the NCC bringing the Sens downtown, rather than Melynk riding in to save the day by bringing the Sens there based on his own ambitions and ideas. In the end, there is municipal, provincial and federal $'s that can help offset this building, but a lot of this will shrink or disappear if Melynk is the face of the deal. Local business needs to be front and center, and while Melynk can be part of this group, he needs to be in the background, if at all. Optically, the government $'s and rebates can't seem to be just offsetting the cost of a billionaire to get a new stadium - and even worse, a billionaire who doesn't happen to live here. And there is always ample $'s to offset for buildings like this to be built if presented and structured properly. Probably a 1 in 3 chance the deal dies because of Melynk being too involved. Ego has killed bigger deals than this before.

2/ The second risk is deal structure. In the end, the Sens can't really own the stadium. Oh, they can own perhaps a minority stake, and also get a ridiculously sweet heart deal on rent for decades that will essentially amount to getting their cake and eating it too (getting a rink with out having to pay for it), but Melynk has a super deal now in owning the building, parking and all of the infrastructure around Senators revenue. They will quite simply have to give the majority of this up, and focus on making $'s as a hockey team. The deal will still make profitability very achievable with a lot less debt to pay back as well, but philosophically, Melynk might hate giving up control of the building, which could prove a problem. I'd say the Sens group will look at the deal in the end, and realize it still makes sense and can't be done on their own, but perhaps the issue of their stake in the whole deal will be a deal breaker. I'd say 1 chance in 10, give or take.

So I'd guess it's close to 50/50 it happens, and probably better chance it does, than doesn't. But lots that can go sideways. First step is this release to test the fan reaction and get the conversations started.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I doubt the Senators would be interested in only a minority stake, they'd want a considerable stake no? Teams are not profitable on their own after all and the realities of the Ottawa market is you need all the help you can get