News Article: Sens talking to Gatineau about new arena complex

[General Zodd]

You're saying that somehow Hull fans not taking their hats off means something?

People forget or decide not to do that all the time at Senators games.

I guess they must all be francophones too.

No you're right it means nothing...

 

[aragorn]

I think the onus is on the Ottawa Senators as a business model to expand their brand reach wherever they can to not only appease to potential fans within their own neighbourhood but also to expand further & as far as possible. It could be the reason they have held training camps in Petawawa, exhibition games in St John's NFLD, Kingston, Cornwall & others. A fan buying a Sens jersey in NFLD is still a sale in relation to a fan buying one in Ottawa, it's all countable revenue.

In fact, their is already plenty of exposure from all kinds of sources in Ottawa regarding the Sens brand, they own this city really & advertising outside the city is pretty much the only other avenue of revenue to pursue. And specifically Gatineau is a good place to expand their brand & turn one fan at a time. I have noticed a few of my francophone friends have the Sens as their second favourite team & some have changed over completely, so it's working & it continues to slowly change especially with the youth in this city.

Of course, there would be a lot more Gatineau fans crossing over to attend games if they built a bridge from Alymer to Kanata but then again if the idea is to build an arena at Lebreton Flats I would assume that will accommodate bringing over many Gatineau hockey fans to games anyway & increase season ticket sales regardless of who they cheer for. I don't think ownership cares who is buying the tickets as long as somebody is buying tickets although I'm sure they would prefer more Sens fans to buy tickets. Hopefully they built a new arena that holds 24 to 25K fans or more downtown as salaries continue to increase so will ticket sales need to grow. Good debate but stay classy Ottawa.

 

[FlyingJ]

Yeah, the Sens trying to grow their brand in a city right across a river that's part of the same metro area as Ottawa, and has over twice the population of the current suburb the Sens' stadium is in, is just ridiculous. Especially with the team proposing a new arena at Lebreton Flats, y'know, a few minutes drive from Gatineau. Truly, we need to make sure the damn French aren't coming to Sens games! This Barbershoppe person knows what's up!

 

[Do Make Say Think]

So barbershoppe is now a Leafs fan all of a sudden?

 

[BonkTastic]

So barbershoppe is now a Leafs fan all of a sudden?

Well, at least the Francophobia sort of makes sense now.

 

[General Zodd]

So barbershoppe is now a Leafs fan all of a sudden?

Yes I see where you're paying attention cause I am French-hater after all right?

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

I think the onus is on the Ottawa Senators as a business model to expand their brand reach wherever they can to not only appease to potential fans within their own neighbourhood but also to expand further & as far as possible. It could be the reason they have held training camps in Petawawa, exhibition games in St John's NFLD, Kingston, Cornwall & others. A fan buying a Sens jersey in NFLD is still a sale in relation to a fan buying one in Ottawa, it's all countable revenue.

In fact, their is already plenty of exposure from all kinds of sources in Ottawa regarding the Sens brand, they own this city really & advertising outside the city is pretty much the only other avenue of revenue to pursue. And specifically Gatineau is a good place to expand their brand & turn one fan at a time. I have noticed a few of my francophone friends have the Sens as their second favourite team & some have changed over completely, so it's working & it continues to slowly change especially with the youth in this city.

Of course, there would be a lot more Gatineau fans crossing over to attend games if they built a bridge from Alymer to Kanata but then again if the idea is to build an arena at Lebreton Flats I would assume that will accommodate bringing over many Gatineau hockey fans to games anyway & increase season ticket sales regardless of who they cheer for. I don't think ownership cares who is buying the tickets as long as somebody is buying tickets although I'm sure they would prefer more Sens fans to buy tickets. Hopefully they built a new arena that holds 24 to 25K fans or more downtown as salaries continue to increase so will ticket sales need to grow. Good debate but stay classy Ottawa.

Actually Aragorn, from what they're saying, they are actually building the new arena to be smaller, like 18k seats. This is to create demand for seats.

 

[NyQuil]

So barbershoppe is now a Leafs fan all of a sudden?

That's too bad.

We could use more fans than the Leafs.

But there's no need to change your favourite team based on what some people think on an internet message board.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Actually Aragorn, from what they're saying, they are actually building the new arena to be smaller, like 18k seats. This is to create demand for seats.

I am far from a businessman but that sounds like a rather risky proposition to me

A poor season or two could be more damaging in this scenario no? I mean this city is pretty bandwagon-y

 

[aragorn]

Actually Aragorn, from what they're saying, they are actually building the new arena to be smaller, like 18k seats. This is to create demand for seats.

Really? Would that mean prices will go up dramatically? If that's the case & most likely it will be than I would agree with below. It would reduce me from being a package purchaser to being a single game buyer reducing the number of games I would go to each season & I would think that would be the same for most people. Should be interesting to see how this plays out but we could be 5 to 10 yrs away from this happening. I wonder how many more yrs the present arena has left, it still seems in pretty good shape?

I am far from a businessman but that sounds like a rather risky proposition to me

A poor season or two could be more damaging in this scenario no? I mean this city is pretty bandwagon-y

I tend to agree.

 

[jason2020]

Do Make Say Think
Ottawa is no worse then any other Canadian city.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Do Make Say Think
Ottawa is no worse then any other Canadian city.

I'm not so sure but the problem is it very difficult to compare Ottawa to the other Canadian markets

I mean Edmonton still sold out regularly despite being completely terrible right? We had a dip in on-cie performance, we weren't even horrible at times and attendance dropped

 

[BonkTastic]

Please, humour me. Provide ONE legitimate reason, the Ottawa Senators, a business, should not attempt to expand their reach in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. A business plan numerous other franchises attempt, including the San Jose Sharks.

 

[General Zodd]

 

[jason2020]

I'm not so sure but the problem is it very difficult to compare Ottawa to the other Canadian markets

I mean Edmonton still sold out regularly despite being completely terrible right? We had a dip in on-cie performance, we weren't even horrible at times and attendance dropped

Yes with a very small arena plus the oil companys do buy a huge % of tickets now with that said with the dip in Ottawa attendance many would say it had more to do with the public sector lay offs around 20,000.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Yes with a very small arena plus the oil companys do buy a huge % of tickets now with that said with the dip in Ottawa attendance many would say it had more to do with the public sector lay offs around 20,000.

For every "government layoffs/no corporate support" I can show you "Edmonton has been the worst team in the NHL for a decade" or "Ottawa had some of the lowest ticket prices out of the Canadian teams"

All that does is give reasons as to why Ottawa has had a fickle fanbase in terms of attendance which was my point

This might not be the case if they move to Lebreton but let's call a spade a spade

 

[jason2020]

For every "government layoffs/no corporate support" I can show you "Edmonton has been the worst team in the NHL for a decade" or "Ottawa had some of the lowest ticket prices out of the Canadian teams"

All that does is give reasons as to why Ottawa has had a fickle fanbase in terms of attendance which was my point

This might not be the case if they move to Lebreton but let's call a spade a spade

The lowest ticket prices is in large part because the feds can not but tickets if there was a rule or law that stated oil companys could not buy ticket you would see ticket prices drop in both Edmonton and Calgary or if there was a law that says banks can't buy tickets ticket prices would drop in Mtl and Toronto.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I don't think you understood the point of my last post

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I don't think you understood the point of my last post

Vancouver. One bad season and their attendance dropped. Quebec City back in the day had attendance issues.

Montreal and Toronto are mostly exceptions as both are O6 "cultural" teams and the large populations of the area (compared to the rest of the Canadian markets).

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Vancouver. One bad season and their attendance dropped. Quebec City back in the day had attendance issues.

Montreal and Toronto are mostly exceptions as both are O6 "cultural" teams and the large populations of the area (compared to the rest of the Canadian markets).

Please

I never said this fanbase is bad or anything. If anything I think it pretty decent considering we are stuck between Toronto and Montreal and have never won anything

The attendance thing was brought up when it was said that the Senators are considering a smaller arena to prop up prices

I just think it's a risky move because attendance has suffered in previous years

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Please

I never said this fanbase is bad or anything. If anything I think it pretty decent considering we are stuck between Toronto and Montreal and have never won anything

The attendance thing was brought up when it was said that the Senators are considering a smaller arena to prop up prices

I just think it's a risky move because attendance has suffered in previous years

No no. Not saying sens fans are fickle or anything. If anything, we're just like the fans in most Canadian cities. If we had Toronto's population, we'd never have to worry about not selling out.

 

[danishh]

on opposition to the sensplex in gatineau - i just dont get it. Why would ontarians be upset about increased branding and profit for our nhl team on the other side of the river, likely funded by gatineau taxpayers? If anything gatineau residents should be against any municipal/provincial govt involvement in this.

on our fanbase, we still suffer from the exact same issues that have plagued us from the start - old residents are habs and leafs fans, due to the nature of govt employment we attract a lot of migration from other fanbases and a lot of born-and raised sens fans leave for employment in private sector in other cities, our own private sector is the size of a 600k pop city, not a million pop city, due to reliance on govt employment, govt cant buy tickets, and sth base hampered by the location of the arena.

Re: habs and leafs fans - the experience in vancouver says it takes roughly 40 years, or when born and raised sens fans are earning and taking their own kids to the games, to fully convert the fanbase.
Re: location - they're working on that
Re: migration - not much we can do about that, though we also take advantage by selling well (to rival fans) against other canadian teams.
Re: private-sector support - not much we can do about that.

 

[BonkTastic]

Can't respond to Leclaire properly?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

 

[HavlatMach9]

post 119 barbershoppe is cornered, so he baits, and the conversation devolves after

that curry bobblehead was weird with the sharks jersey

 

[Hutz]

I don't mean to pile on here, but again I really don't understand why anyone would oppose this. I can understand ambivalence, but not opposition. It's not like this is taking anything away from the Ontario side or anglophones. They've got these things all around the city, why not one there? It's not like this site is replacing an arena from the Ottawa side. The only reason I've heard is Gatineau is not Ottawa, but that's not a very strong reason especially given that Ottawa proper loses nothing.