CAPITAL ISSUE
Ottawa is a strong hockey market, so why can’t the Senators figure out how to put people in seats?
OTTAWA — The timing would have never been right for Eugene Melnyk.
The reality is he is frustrated with the empty seats at the Canadian Tire Centre and like everybody in the organization he’s perplexed why the Senators can’t fill the 17,500 seats in the building after advancing to the Eastern final last spring before losing in double-OT of Game 7 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Senators covered up seats and still can’t fill the building.
No, Melnyk’s timing wasn’t good as the Senators prepared to face the Montreal Canadiens in Saturday night’s NHL 100 Classic at Lansdowne Park, but when was a good time to tell the fans that possibility exists you may move the team if attendance gets to the point where the club can’t be successful in Ottawa?
And while many fans weren’t happy with the fact he suggested he might move the franchise if the number of empty seats continued to grow, he owns the Senators and as he stated he has no plans to sell anytime soon. So, Melnyk is trying to come up with answers why this team doesn’t have a connection with the marketplace.
While there has been talk in recent weeks that several groups — including Quebec billionaire Andre Desmerais — are interested in buying the franchise, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Postmedia in a one-onone interview Saturday afternoon that Melnyk hasn’t shown any inclination to sell.
People have called the league’s headquarters in New York to express their interest in buying an NHL team, commissioner Gary Bettman and Daly have never bothered to approach the 58-year-old Melnyk, because he’s been adamant that he’s not going to sell and it will be willed to his children.
“We never get to the point of having to entertain any of those discussions if the owner has no interest in selling his franchise and I’ve got no indication, zero, and I believe I can speak for the commissioner as well, that Eugene has any interest in selling the Senators.” Daly said Saturday.
The reality is the attendance needs to improve because even if the Senators do get a deal done to move to LeB- reton Flats, it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
If an agreement is reached before the end of next month with the National Capital Commission that doesn’t mean shovels go in the ground immediately.
First, the land has to be cleaned up and then, of course, the new rink is in the first phase of the construction. Ideally, the Senators would hold their Opening Night in October, 2021, but right now it seems like a long way off and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played in Ottawa before that happens.
The Senators have to find a way to get people back to going to Kanata on a regular basis.
There are the complaints about the costs of going to a game, the traffic and, lately, there has been a lot of noise about the cost of parking. It hasn’t helped that the Senators haven’t exactly been great to start the regular season and as they arrived home Wednesday they had won just two of their last 13 games.
The Senators went into Saturday with a 2-10-2 record in their last 14 games and there was only a crowd of just over 13,000 against the Rangers at home earlier this week.
Given the issues selling tickets, it’s a good thing the Senators have only 39 home games this year with one held in Sweden and the other at Lansdowne.
Ottawa is a good hockey market. The fans are passionate about their team. If you want evidence of that fact turn on the radio or check the social media feeds to hear how upset people are when the team isn’t winning. The Senators need to figure out why some of those people aren’t buying tickets.
The first situation they need to tackle if they’re going to be successful is a bigger season ticket base. That’s been a battle they’ve fought since the franchise came back to Ottawa to start the 1992-93 campaign. The issue the Senators have is they have too much inventory to move every time they play a home game.
Nobody is certain how many season tickets they have but if the franchise could boost the number, it would help grow the business and guarantee income.
It feels like this week has had no shortage of news with the 100 Classic as the backdrop for everything else happening.
Melnyk told Postmedia Wednesday he wasn’t selling the team “period” and Friday before the Alumni Classic on Parliament Hill indicated the business is doing “OK” but needs to be better or the reality is the payroll may have to be cut.
Now that the possibility of moving has been put on the table, everybody has something to think about.
But stand down, because this team isn’t going anywhere anytime soon — if at all.