Ottawa Senators may already hold solution to Lansdowne 2.0 project problems

Sens fans enjoying the nice weather outside the Canadian Tire Centre before the Ottawa Senators' home opener Monday. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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If you build it, they will come.

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A heated debate regarding the future of the controversial Lansdowne 2.0 project continued into its second straight day downtown at Ottawa City Hall on Thursday, with the Ottawa Charge of the Professional Women’s Hockey League wondering aloud if they’ll have enough room for their fans.

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While the belief is that the project to revamp the home of the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa RedBlacks, the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s, and Atletico Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League will go ahead, the battle has left many people second-guessing.

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As one city hall insider told me in a text message on Thursday, this will pass, “but not happily.”

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The final vote isn’t until Nov 7, but there is still time for some city councilors to change their minds, especially with an election year coming up in 2026.

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There is another option staring this city council in the face that I can’t believe anybody at the City of Ottawa has raised.

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Talks are going well and the final deal will be papered in the next six months, which will push this project to the next step. The expectation is that the Senators will move into their new rink for the start of the 2031-32 campaign — if all goes as planned.

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Once the dream of an arena closer to downtown, with better access to Gatineau, becomes reality for the National Hockey League team, the next decision that will have to be made is what to do with the 75 acres of vacant land where the Canadian Tire Centre sits.

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Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has stated that he doesn’t want to leave the people of Kanata high and dry once the Senators move.

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Here’s an idea: Build a new home for the RedBlacks and Atletico Ottawa on the land where the rink is once the Senators vacate the space.

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It would make the area a destination and it’s not like this possibility hasn’t been proposed before. In 2008, late Senators owner Eugene Melnyk wanted to build a soccer stadium so the city could bid for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise, but city planners scuttled the idea.

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The idea made sense then and it makes even more now for the city to discuss the possibility with Senators owner Michael Andlauer and his partners. It would allow Kanata to remain a destination once the NHL team moves to its new home.