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People sure are excited about the possibility of a shiny new hockey arena for the Ottawa Senators, and why not? Imagine packing up at the office downtown, taking a short train ride, and then walking through the doors of a state-of-the-art, hyper-expensive cathedral to Canada’s Game! It’s the show! NHL hockey, baby! Money is no object!
There’s only one problem with the whole idea: Ottawa can’t afford, nor does it need, a new rink.
Let’s be clear up front. If the Ottawa Senators, who are “actively considering” a proposal to partner up with private investors and make a bid to develop part of the NCC lands at the LeBreton Flats, want to build a new rink at their own expense (that is, without a dime of taxpayers’ money for grants, financing, or sweetheart leases at a publicly-owned rink), and if there are no better plans for public lands on offer, that’s their prerogative. A beautiful new building with no strings attached? How could you argue against that?
There are a couple of reasons that kind of bid is highly unlikely, however.
The first is that the Senators aren’t exactly flush with cash, unless something has changed drastically in the last year or so. Owner Eugene Melnyk claims to have suffered a cumulative cash loss of $110 million operating the team, and the franchise either can’t or won’t spend on a competitive player salary budget. In a league where the top teams pony up close to $70 million, the Senators are second-last at $55.8 million (according to capgeek.com). The odds of them finding the $450 million or so needed to build a modern arena on their own seem fairly low.
Second is the fact that the Sens have already made it clear they “feel very strongly that this could only be possible with strong community support,” which, to anyone familiar with new sports infrastructure, sounds a lot like a euphemism for a handout.
The craziest part of all, though, is that there seems to be a great deal of momentum in this city behind the idea of replacing an NHL-calibre arena that was built in 1996. Even if it took 10 years to construct a new building, the Canadian Tire Centre would still be just 28 years old. It isn’t a poorly-planned dump like Rexall Place in Edmonton, built in 1974, or the New York Islanders’ 1972 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which should have been razed long ago. A modern arena, with proper maintenance, should last at least 40 years.
I’ve covered NHL games in 13 different rinks, and I can say without reservation that the CTC stacks up well against all of them. Not only that, the Senators continue to sink millions into it for upgrades. I don’t hear Boston clamouring to replace the TD Garden (built in 1995), Vancouver to replace the Rogers Arena (1995), Montreal to replace the Bell Centre (1996) or Washington to replace the Verizon Centre (1997), and those are metropolises with populations in the multimillions.
Ottawa is a one million-person city that isn’t even a superb hockey market. I have a great deal of affection for Senators fans, who have hung tough through a lot of dark days, but they vote with their wallets. Attendance plummets when the team isn’t winning and that, more than location, is what drives sales here. The Senators saw positive ripples for years after the team went to the 2007 Stanley Cup final, and the franchise will be successful again if and when the on-ice product turns a corner.
Which brings us to the real reason many in this city believe we need a new half-billion-dollar building: it’s sorta annoying that the current rink is kinda far for some people.
In a meeting with the Citizen’s editorial board this week, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who also oversees the NCC, quipped: “I’ve travelled quite a bit and I’ve never seen a major sports arena in the middle of nowhere.” That sentiment is shared by many in this town.
Except the premise is wrong. This isn’t the late 1990s anymore, when the Palladium was surrounded by farmers’ fields and not much else. Housing continues to go up on both sides of the highway, and a major shopping centre opened nearby recently. More importantly, the area is now serviced by a four-lane (five if you count the bus lanes) superhighway that keeps traffic moving at a decent clip.
The plan behind the Palladium was to eventually build up around it. How does it make sense to ditch the rink now that the people and infrastructure are finally there to support it?
Public dollars will be spent at the Flats, but they should be spent on a national institution all Canadians can be proud of — not in support of privately-owned infrastructure this city already has. The federal government missed a tremendous opportunity to back a purpose-built science and technology museum there, but there’s time yet to get it right.
James Gordon is a former Citizen sports editor who is now a member of the editorial board. Twitter.com/James_J_Gordon
查看原文...
There’s only one problem with the whole idea: Ottawa can’t afford, nor does it need, a new rink.
Let’s be clear up front. If the Ottawa Senators, who are “actively considering” a proposal to partner up with private investors and make a bid to develop part of the NCC lands at the LeBreton Flats, want to build a new rink at their own expense (that is, without a dime of taxpayers’ money for grants, financing, or sweetheart leases at a publicly-owned rink), and if there are no better plans for public lands on offer, that’s their prerogative. A beautiful new building with no strings attached? How could you argue against that?
There are a couple of reasons that kind of bid is highly unlikely, however.
The first is that the Senators aren’t exactly flush with cash, unless something has changed drastically in the last year or so. Owner Eugene Melnyk claims to have suffered a cumulative cash loss of $110 million operating the team, and the franchise either can’t or won’t spend on a competitive player salary budget. In a league where the top teams pony up close to $70 million, the Senators are second-last at $55.8 million (according to capgeek.com). The odds of them finding the $450 million or so needed to build a modern arena on their own seem fairly low.
Second is the fact that the Sens have already made it clear they “feel very strongly that this could only be possible with strong community support,” which, to anyone familiar with new sports infrastructure, sounds a lot like a euphemism for a handout.
The craziest part of all, though, is that there seems to be a great deal of momentum in this city behind the idea of replacing an NHL-calibre arena that was built in 1996. Even if it took 10 years to construct a new building, the Canadian Tire Centre would still be just 28 years old. It isn’t a poorly-planned dump like Rexall Place in Edmonton, built in 1974, or the New York Islanders’ 1972 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which should have been razed long ago. A modern arena, with proper maintenance, should last at least 40 years.
I’ve covered NHL games in 13 different rinks, and I can say without reservation that the CTC stacks up well against all of them. Not only that, the Senators continue to sink millions into it for upgrades. I don’t hear Boston clamouring to replace the TD Garden (built in 1995), Vancouver to replace the Rogers Arena (1995), Montreal to replace the Bell Centre (1996) or Washington to replace the Verizon Centre (1997), and those are metropolises with populations in the multimillions.
Ottawa is a one million-person city that isn’t even a superb hockey market. I have a great deal of affection for Senators fans, who have hung tough through a lot of dark days, but they vote with their wallets. Attendance plummets when the team isn’t winning and that, more than location, is what drives sales here. The Senators saw positive ripples for years after the team went to the 2007 Stanley Cup final, and the franchise will be successful again if and when the on-ice product turns a corner.
Which brings us to the real reason many in this city believe we need a new half-billion-dollar building: it’s sorta annoying that the current rink is kinda far for some people.
In a meeting with the Citizen’s editorial board this week, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who also oversees the NCC, quipped: “I’ve travelled quite a bit and I’ve never seen a major sports arena in the middle of nowhere.” That sentiment is shared by many in this town.
Except the premise is wrong. This isn’t the late 1990s anymore, when the Palladium was surrounded by farmers’ fields and not much else. Housing continues to go up on both sides of the highway, and a major shopping centre opened nearby recently. More importantly, the area is now serviced by a four-lane (five if you count the bus lanes) superhighway that keeps traffic moving at a decent clip.
The plan behind the Palladium was to eventually build up around it. How does it make sense to ditch the rink now that the people and infrastructure are finally there to support it?
Public dollars will be spent at the Flats, but they should be spent on a national institution all Canadians can be proud of — not in support of privately-owned infrastructure this city already has. The federal government missed a tremendous opportunity to back a purpose-built science and technology museum there, but there’s time yet to get it right.
James Gordon is a former Citizen sports editor who is now a member of the editorial board. Twitter.com/James_J_Gordon
查看原文...
