Ottawa Charge announces multi-year deal to play at Canadian Tire Centre full-time

Ottawa Charge forward Rebecca Leslie looks on while sitting beside Ottawa Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld, centre, and Ottawa Senators president and CEO Cyril Leeder during a media availability at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Photo by Spencer Colby /Postmedia

Article content

After months of deliberations, closed-door conversations and speculation, the Ottawa Charge will officially be moving to the Canadian Tire Centre full-time starting next season.

Article content

Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld announced the Professional Women’s Hockey League had signed a “multi-year agreement” for the Charge to practise and play at the west-end venue. He didn’t specify exactly how many years were included in the deal.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“We’re excited to play in this arena and all the benefits that we’ll get from playing in this type of situation,” Hirshfeld said. “We’re also excited to work with the Senators. They’ve been great partners so far and we’re looking forward to aligning even more closely as we move forward.”

Article content

Article content

Hirshfeld said the Charge will have access to exclusive locker room, lounge, medical, equipment and coaching spaces at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Article content

Senators president Cyril Leeder added that “work is underway” to retrofit and build spaces in the Canadian Tire Centre for the women’s hockey team.

Article content

“One of the key drivers of the agreement was the PWHL really wanted to have a permanent home and campus here in the building,” Leeder said.

Article content

Ottawa Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld looks on during a media availability at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Photo by Spencer Colby /Photo by Spencer Colby/Postmedia

Article content

The announcement isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere.

Article content

Four months ago, the Senators confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen that the two clubs were having “positive dialogue” around a lease agreement for the Charge to become a tenant at the NHL venue, located 25 kilometres from downtown Ottawa in the Kanata suburb.

Article content

Then, the team announced minutes after clinching its postseason berth that it would be playing all its home games at the Canadian Tire Centre, subsequently managing to attract a strong fan base to the venue throughout the postseason.

Article content

Article content

In four playoff games, the Charge averaged 13,146 fans and even set a PWHL single-game playoff attendance record when 16,894 fans packed into the building for Game 3 of the PWHL final on May 8. More than 17,000 fans were also in attendance when the Charge played a regular-season game at the Canadian Tire Centre on April 3, losing 3-0 to the Montreal Victoire.

Article content

Article content

After that level of success, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the PWHL and NHL clubs made more permanent arrangements, especially considering the team’s future alternative would involve a major downsize.

Article content

While the Charge has called the 8,500-seat TD Place home for the last three seasons, talks of relocation ignited in October as the City of Ottawa moved forward with a plan to downsize the Lansdowne event centre by about 2,000 seats.

Article content

There’d be some obvious attendance challenges if the team were to move to the new 5,850-seat Lansdowne 2.0 venue, given the Charge averaged more than 7,000 fans per game at TD Place during the regular season.

Article content