Quoting: Claesson4Norris
500 new corporate seat holders and a 25% increase in season ticket sales just in the last few weeks alone. Almost as if the fanbase was never the problem, it was the owner alienating local businesses and fans. Ottawa's always had a great fanbase, they've just had the morale pounded out of them by a piece of trash owner who was ruining the team. Prior to the start of the rebuild Ottawa was a middle of the pack attendance team, even being in the top 10 at times
Quoting: Melnyk_0ut
Every single year in the salary cap era up to 2017 the sens have averaged OVER 18,000 fans per game. Then the rebuild started and covid hit so anyone with a brain could predict what would happen next. Look at Chicago's attendance this past year.. Would you say they have a bad fan base? The sens fanbase is as strong as any other
OK, I'll play along. The Canadian Tire Centre has 19,153 seats and the average ticket price in Ottawa is $66. If the Sens sell EVERY ticket for EVERY game (41), that $51.8 million CANADIAN. According to CapFriendly, the cash needed to cover the players currently under contract (NHL and AHL) is $67.15 million USD (or $87.51M Canadian). So, again, assuming the Sens sell every single possible seat for the whole regular season, they are $35.7M in the hole. The Sens also have "Hockey Operations to cover (arena expenses, travel, support staff, scouting....) which typically runs about $20M to $30M per team. Let's say they're really good at cost controls, so $20M. Now you're at $56M in the hole even when the rink is 100% capacity. Now, the Rogers TV deal and rink board ads will fill a lot of that, but not all. As I noted above in another comment, fans in other Canadian cities are paying a lot more for equal levels of mediocrity, and their attendance is markedly better than in Ottawa: Toronto $125 average ticket price; Montreal $115; Vancouver $99; Winnipeg $95; Edmonton $86 and Calgary $77.
As infuriating Melnyk was as an owner, he wasn't an idiot. By having a "floor" team and a 60% gate, he knew he could keep the team alive and neither make a profit nor cost himself much money. His daughters' trustees will have a fiduciary obligation to do the same. Unless or until the team gets bought by a crazy-rich oligarch, or Ottawa fans actually open their wallets by an additional 40% or more, this team is simply not viable in the long term. As a taxpayer here, I am cringing at the idea of the "downtown arena" because I know it will ultimately be the city that ends up paying for the white elephant.