Ottawa Senators CEO gives update on LeBreton progress, season ticket sales, talks with women’s league

Ottawa Senators president and CEO Cyril Leeder says the organization is working on plans to move hockey fans into and out of LeBreton Flats as progress toward a new downtown arena continues.

Leeder spoke with TSN’s Claire Hanna on Sunday night, discussing everything from LeBreton Flats and the team’s playoff push, to its talks with the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and an appearance by Prime Minister Mark Carney at a recent game.

On LeBreton, Leeder said it’s a complex, multibillion-dollar project, but planning is underway.

“We’re involved in the planning now, we’ve got to figure out how to get 18,000 people in and out of downtown quickly, safely, efficiently,” he said. “We’re working on the rehabilitation of the land; it’s one of the most contaminated sites in downtown Ottawa. We’ve got an Indigenous land claim that we’re dealing with and, of course, we’ve got to finance a billion-dollar major events centre and a multibillion-dollar project.”

In late March, the Senators and the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation announced they were working toward a long-term economic partnership around LeBreton Flats, after the team acquired 11 acres of land on the site from the National Capital Commission.

“We’re really pleased to be working with the various Algonquin communities,” Leeder told TSN. “There’s 11 of them around the Ottawa-Gatineau area and they’re going to be landowners next to us so we thought we might as well work together in a partnership. Let’s develop the land together, work cooperatively, that’s what we’re working on now with the Algonquin groups.”

Talks ongoing with PWHL

Leeder said the Senators organization has been in regular contact with the PWHL about the future of the Ottawa Charge.

“Obviously, they want to look at alternatives to playing downtown and they’ve said that they’ve expressed that. They’re not sure that a 5,000-seat arena is going to be good for them long-term so we’ve having ongoing discussions with them,” he said.

Amy Scheer, VP of business operations with the PWHL, has repeatedly said the future events centre at Lansdowne Park, part of the controversial Lansdowne 2.0 project that was approved by Ottawa City Council last year, will not be conducive to the long-term success of the Charge franchise.

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The women’s team played at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday, with an attendance of 17,114, setting a new record for the largest crowd in franchise history.

“We had almost a full house here on Friday for the Charge game and we’ll continue those talks with the PWHL going forward,” Leeder said. “The game on Friday was a real good indicator that there is a solid fanbase here. The girls’ programs in Nepean and Kanata are well developed, so I think there’s ability for a lot more games here in the future.”

• PWHL in talks to team up with NHL Senators to keep Charge in Ottawa, league executive says

Planning for the playoffs

Leeder said the team is actively planning for every opportunity as the fight for a playoff spot continues.

Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes has the Sens in a wild-card spot, with five games remaining in the regular season, with the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals breathing down their necks.

“You’d like to be free and clear right now, but you’re not, so we’re doing lots of planning, all the different scenarios. If we get in early, if we get in late, when we get in, and who we’re going to play, so there’s lots of planning going on. That’s better than the alternative, but we’ll take that. We don’t mind the work,” Leeder said.

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He added that last season’s playoff push helped expand the fanbase, increasing season ticket sales.

“On the heels of the playoffs last year, we were able to expand our season ticket base by almost 2,000, so that’s led to bigger crowds this year. We’ve moved ourselves up in the league rankings on the ticket front as well. That’s all important.”

PM’s visit

Prime Minister Mark Carney made an appearance at Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild and was spotted chatting with team owner Michael Andlauer.

Leeder said Carney’s visit was a social call and wasn’t anything more than that.

“The prime minister’s been here a few times. He buys his own tickets, and he was sitting here in the 100-section, and he popped down as a social visit, as a courtesy to say hello to Michael,” Leeder said. “They know each other from business, and he came by to say hello.”

In December, the Ottawa Senators confirmed to CTV News Ottawa it had hired StrategyCorp to lobby the federal and Ontario governments on the LeBreton Flats plan.

Sens renew deal with Bell Media

On Thursday, the Ottawa Senators and Bell Media — which owns CTV News Ottawa — announced a new long-term rights extension, ensuring regional Ottawa Senators games continue to be available on TSN, RDS, and TSN 1200 radio.

TSN’s regional Ottawa Senators games continue to be available to viewers in the team’s designated broadcast region as defined by the NHL, which includes eastern Ontario, Québec, and Atlantic Canada on TSN5.

TSN 1200 remains the exclusive English-radio partner of the Ottawa Senators.