Deachman: Ottawa Senators' LeBreton deal is a small, but positive step toward a downtown NHL arena

The lease agreement between the Ottawa Senators and the NCC, announced Friday, is a good news, but there's lots of work ahead.

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Published Sep 20, 2024  •  4 minute read

Owner Michael Andlauer and the Ottawa Senators are a step closer to making LeBreton Flats the team's home. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /POSTMEDIA

I’m sure some people will be upset to learn that the Ottawa Senators are going to pack up their tent in Kanata and move to LeBreton Flats.

I’m not one of them. I’ve always favoured a downtown arena, well before the tumbleweeds took over Ottawa’s core four years ago. Downtown arenas are good for cities and, in this case, particularly for fans living in places such as Gatineau and Orléans, for whom journeys to and from the Canadian Tire Centre can take on Homer’s Odyssey proportions. And it’s not just good for hockey fans, but fans of everything that arenas offer: sports events, music, conventions, and the like.

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So Friday’s announcement that the NCC and Senators have reached an agreement whereby the club will purchase just over 10 acres of land at LeBreton Flats is a welcome and significant step.

It is, though, just a step in what will be an extremely long process, and one in which few details have yet been made available.

And it’s worth noting that it’s not even a particularly pioneering step: recall that the NCC and former Sens owner Eugene Melnyk had a lease agreement in place in 2018, when the larger, 52-acre  Rendezvous LeBreton plan won the favour of the NCC. That deal, fell apart as lawsuits between Melnyk and investment partner John Ruddy of Trinity Developments torpedoed the project.

What makes this deal a safer bet is that new Sens owner Michael Andlauer appears committed to it, and more willing than Melnyk was to work with others to make it happen. Working with others was never Melnyk’s strong suit.

So while we know the size of the parcel — just over 10 acres, according to NCC head Tobi Nussbaum, who made Friday’s announcement at the Canadian Tire Centre alongside Sens president Cyril Leeder, so much else surrounding the deal remains a mystery.

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How much is the land being sold for? Market value, Nussbaum said, although THAT precise figure hasn’t been determined. And the sale isn’t expected to be finalized until next year.

When will the team move in? Not for years, but your guess would be as good as anything offered Friday.

There apparently still aren’t any architectural designs for the arena, while a host of other issues, such as site contamination cleanup and geological and environmental studies, must be resolved before any banners are raised to the rafters.

Then there’s that little matter of how much a new arena will cost, and whether taxpayers will be asked or expected to foot any of the bill.

Leeder had no answer for the first, what with no designs being ready yet and all. But the figure that’s been bandied about to build a new arena is around $900 million, an amount Andlauer in the past has said is “not something a private person can afford to do.”

Asked Friday whether CITY taxpayers might be asked or expected to shoulder some of the costs, Leeder said, “We’re a long ways from getting into details on how we’re going to approach this project with the city,” but then added that he didn’t think taxpayers should expect to have to foot the bill.

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“I don’t think so,” he said. “If you look at the history in Canada, public venues, whether arenas or stadiums, have not been funded by the taxpayer.”

I think residents of Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Quebec City and Gatineau might disagree.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, meanwhile, posted a congratulatory message on the social media site X Friday, calling the announcement encouraging and indicating he was looking forward to hearing more, but didn’t address his willingness, or lack thereof, to have the city help pay for it. He has said in the past, though, that he doesn’t think Ottawa’s taxpayers have much of an appetite to pay for an arena. I would think that’s probably even more the case given the mayor’s recent “fairness” campaign indicating the city’s precarious finances and how taxes may have to go up just to help pay for the things we’ve already bought.

Taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. Perhaps Andlauer doesn’t have a spare billion in his wallet, but he probably knows some people who do. And while Leeder cited some Public Private Partnerships (P3s) — the Bell Sensplex and the Richcraft Sensplex — that he says are working well, I suspect most Ottawa’s still have a bad taste in their mouths after some other P3s — Lansdowne and LRT, for example — haven’t run quite so well.

But yes, this is a great first step, for the team and Ottawa. There are, however, more — far more — slippery ones to come.

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