Sens can ill afford to miss outdoor game
Melnyk’s inability to strike deal with TD Place might prove costly to city
There’s a growing sense that if the Ottawa Senators don’t get over their disappointment regarding a Parliament Hill venue, Ottawa will miss out on having an outdoor game in 2017.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman hinted as much when he told reporters this week the game could move elsewhere.
That would be a shame. Coinciding with the occasion of Canada’s 150th birthday, the stars could have not aligned better than for Ottawa to be the site of an Outdoor Classic commemorating the 100th anniversary of the NHL’s first game, between the Montreal Canadiens and the Senators.
In a letter to the Citizen penned earlier this week, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk chastised the paper for an editorial chiding him for not hustling over to TD Place as an obvious Plan B, after the Parliament Hill plan was denied. Yet, he never addressed the issue at hand: what about TD Place?
Melnyk is right about one thing. The event is not a “cash cow” for the hockey club. Nor would it be for the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) that owns and operates TD Place.
Outdoor games are considered NHL property, meaning the league comes in and runs the show, and takes most of the extra profits beyond what would be the club’s normal gate for a sellout of 20,000 or so fans, in Ottawa’s case.
In other words, the NHL buys the game from the local NHL team. With temporary seating of an extra 12,000 or so, the bulk of that revenue goes to the NHL. OSEG, which owns the CFL Redblacks, soccer Fury and OHL Ottawa 67’s, would also receive a fee to help cover the cost of temporary seating.
To this point, there have been no discussions between Melnyk and OSEG about having the game at TD Place next December, and the clock is ticking.
As a businessman, Melnyk doesn’t have to be told what a boost this game would be for his organization and the entire region. A team struggling to sell tickets this season, the Senators would instantly have a focal point to next season, an emotional boost for fans, and a potential hook for season ticket sales.
Beyond the NHL game, there would also be an Ottawa-Montreal alumni game, and if the 67’s have their way, an outdoor game between the 67’s and Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL. Jeff Hunt, the president of OSEG Sports, has long dreamed of having an outdoor junior game at TD Place and now it could be tied in to an NHL Outdoor Classic.
Bernie Ashe, CEO of OSEG, and a former COO of the Senators under Rod Bryden’s ownership, told Postmedia Thursday, “we are hopeful something can be done.” And yet, to this point: crickets.
A sense of disappointment would permeate the region if this opportunity slips away, and Montreal or some other city grabs the game.
It’s been well documented, Melnyk and OSEG have had their differences. Melnyk wanted a soccer team for Kanata, but OSEG won the right to bring in the Ottawa Fury to a redeveloped Lansdowne. Now, Melnyk is smarting over the Hill rebuff, and a TD Place game requires a reset, but surely the larger notion is a spectacle that could be a win for all parties involved.
Ottawa has always been a pricesensitive market. The Senators are seeing that with some of their premium game designations, and now the Redblacks are hearing it about Grey Cup ticket prices for 2017.
One irate fan wrote to OSEG and to this paper furious at discovering his usual pair of seats at TD Place for Redblacks games ($46.50 a seat) will cost $340 per seat for the 2017 Grey Cup game in Ottawa. Not only is he bailing on the Cup game, he says he is not renewing his season’s tickets.
OSEG has promised there will be cheaper Cup ticket options available, but some season ticket holders are balking at the early sign-up offers. Another Plan B required?
BORO TIME
If Ottawa’s traditional stayhome defenceman Marc Methot and Mark Borowiecki look faster this year, it’s partly due to a system change that has Ottawa’s defencemen pinching up on the play, in the neutral zone and offensive zone.
“I can’t say it enough,” Borowiecki said. “It’s the most engaged I’ve felt in a system and a structure. You’re not just sitting back in a rocking chair waiting for the play to come to you. You’re taking the initiative more as a defenceman. And I’ve really enjoyed it.”
THAT’S A WRAP
On that game-tying goal in Philadelphia Tuesday, centre Kyle Turris was trying to sell a move to the middle and get to the far side of the net, when a wraparound presented itself.
“I didn’t think the wrap would open up on the far side but I got behind the net and I saw the goalie wasn’t moving on the slide,” Turris said. The goal delivered the promise of overtime and in the end, a Senators shootout win.