They say talk is cheap, but in the world of women’s sports, ‘cheap’ is as much as Canadian cities are willing to pay.
On Nov. 7, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)’s Ottawa Charge found out that Ottawa’s city council approved a plan to overhaul Lansdowne Park. The park’s a major facility that’s the home for many hockey, soccer, and football teams in the nation’s capital. Including the Charge, who’re now left without an arena that can house their fan base, it’s disappointing to see the nation’s capital failing to make space for women’s sports.
The redevelopment caused a stir in the city, but for the Charge, the approved plans were made with little consideration for the future of professional women’s hockey in Ottawa. The proposal will replace the aging TD Place Arena with a fresh, new arena. The problem is that the new arena will hold 5,850 seats, whereas TD Place currently holds 8,585.
Such a drastic change in capacity isn’t an issue for the Ottawa 67’s, the Ontario Hockey League team owned by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), who’s at the root of the redevelopment. Over the last decade, the team has attracted an average of 3,500-4,500 fans per game, making the new arena a comfortable fit.
The PWHL, though, has made it clear since the beginning of redevelopment discussions that such a reduction in capacity would make professional women’s hockey in Ottawa unviable. PWHL executives Jayna Hefford and Amy Scheer bylined an Op-Ed in the Ottawa Citizen that not only have they raised the point for over two years, but that the city’s wasting an opportunity to create a space for women’s hockey to thrive.
Hefford and Sheer pointed out that, on weekday games, the team averaged 5,775 fans, already a thin margin for the new arena. The big issue, however, is the weekend games, which attracted an average of 8,348 fans per night. Bottlenecking such a large portion of a team’s fan base is bound to not only reduce ticket sales, but it’ll also reduce the Charge’s pull in terms of sponsorships, merchandise and food sales, and overall engagement.
Yet, despite a strong local response to the piece, the City of Ottawa pushed the plan through, earning approval by a . The plan is a no-brainer for OSEG, who’ve set in place a plan that’s expected to improve their financial situation and the prospects of their two teams—the 67’s and the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. However, for the City of Ottawa to treat women’s hockey as an obstacle to keeping the plan from proceeding is incredibly disheartening.
There’s no logical explanation for why Ottawa pushed through such a plan, ignoring from the PWHL. Instead, Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe can be found downplaying the Charge’s attendance figures and sounding unbothered as to where his city’s professional women’s hockey team will play next. He suggested that the Charge can find a new home where the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators play on the outskirts of Ottawa, forcing the Charge out of the heart of Ottawa.
When teams like the Charge prove time and time again that there’s an appetite for women’s hockey, Officials shouldn’t ignore the numbers and treat them like an afterthought.
Taahaa Lone is a third-year Political Studies student and The Journal’s Senior Sports Editor
Tags
Hockey, Ottawa, Ottawa Charge, PWHL, women's hockey
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