The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) says the Ottawa Charge will not play at the smaller TD Place arena that’s part of the recently-approved plan to redevelop parts of Lansdowne Park.
Amy Scheer, the league’s executive director of business operations, made the comments Tuesday afternoon, citing seat capacity as the reason. The size of the new arena has come up as a concern before.
The $419-million redevelopment plan recently OK’d by Ottawa city council cuts the seating capacity at the arena by roughly 3,000.
For the Charge, that would mean going “backwards,” Scheer said.
“We will not play in a 5,500-seat building,” she told reporters virtually. “We will not play at Lansdowne 2.0 … That’s the one option not on the table.”
Last month, prior to city councillors’ final vote on the project, Scheer told CBC a smaller arena does not make financial sense for the team, given the Charge’s drawing power.
The Charge attracted 5,775 fans on average for last year’s regular season weekday games, while averaging 8,348 on the weekend.
Scheer said Tuesday that the team doesn’t want to leave the city.
“We chose Ottawa for a reason and the fans have been wonderfully supportive of us there and we’d like to find a solution that works for us to stay in Ottawa,” she said.
“But the city hasn’t made it easy for us and it’s disappointing.”
Adding 2,000 or more seats to the arena would cost between $80 million and $100 million dollars, the city has estimated.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has previously suggested the league is “applying pressure” during its negotiations with OSEG on a new lease “to get the best deal possible.”
In an emailed statement on Tuesday, Sutcliffe said the city manager is working with the league and OSEG on lease negotiations “and to try to find solutions.” Some meetings have taken place and more are scheduled, he added.
“While the negotiations continue, I don’t feel it’s appropriate for any of us to be commenting publicly on the process,” Sutcliffe said.
