ottawah, I'm not sure what you're trying to infer in regards to the portion of your comments that I highlighted. If you're suggesting that it's a mistake for Ottawa to reduce the seating capacity then I would respectfully disagree with you. Not all markets are like Toronto with a population that warrants an arena with over 19,000 seats. In my opinion it would make sense for Toronto to have the biggest arena in Canada instead of Montreal since Toronto is the country's largest city. However, even though they could have built an arena seating 22,000 based on their population, they are quite okay with less than that.
Winnipeg could have built a larger building with more seats than what BellMTS Place holds but the Jets ownership believes that having the current capacity works best for the size of our market. It's much easier to create a demand for tickets when there are fewer tickets available to purchase. It also means you can charge a higher amount for those tickets.
The Senators have had issues trying to fill their building due to its large seating capacity. As a result they have had to spend large amounts on advertising in efforts to get those seats filled. Having less seats to fill requires less money needed to be spent on advertising. I think it's smart for Ottawa to reduce the number of seats to help create a demand for tickets. It's not a knock against the people of Ottawa but rather a recognition that it's not a huge city like Toronto and it's harder to fill a large building on a consistent basis.
It would seem there are also other cities in both Canada and the United States that have built facilities for hockey, football and basketball that are too large for their particular market. Not all markets are equal to Toronto or New York and do not require facilities to match them.
In regards to your comments about Winnipeg having lost an NHL team and that it has a small rink, I wish you would expound on what you are trying to conclude by that and how it ties in with the situation in Ottawa. I do know that BellMTS Place actually has less seats than the Winnipeg Arena did but the Jets are on much more solid financial footing than the previous team ever was.