Quote:
Originally Posted by phil235
It would certainly be the most efficient way to deal with the CTC, but I doubt it happens, as it would be a financial gamble and would bring in far less revenue than selling the land for development.
The only way that the Sens ownership would consider creating an arena in that size range would be if they did move their AHL team to Kanata. No way it would make economic sense for the PWHL or lacrosse, and it would compete (poorly) with the other two arenas for concerts. Standing in the way of an AHL move is the fact that the Sens already have an AHL team in reasonably close proximity, and have put quite a bit of money into renovating their arena.
But the bigger issue is market size. The only Canadian cities that have built 10,000 seat AHL arenas are Montreal and Toronto, both with multiple times the population base of Kanata-Ottawa, and both with a much less saturated hockey landscape. Unlike either of those cities, Ottawa-Gatineau already has two CHL teams sharing the market, which makes a move for an AHL team more dubious.
On the other hand, Belleville attendance hasn't been stellar, so that could be a factor precipitating a move. But even if they did opt to move the AHL team to Kanata, I don't think they would be looking at a 10,000 seat arena. Average AHL attendance is more in the 5-6000 range, and there is no reason to believe that a Kanata team would fare better than that. Heck, they'd be better off selling the CTC and moving the AHL team to Lansdowne if they were inclined to bring it here.
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They could potentially renovate the Palladium down to 10k seats, zone the parking and sell the land for the increased value due to new zoning, only keeping 5 to 10 acres by the arena.
I agree, this plan wouldn't be doable without the AHL team, and the current location is pretty good as compared to Binghampton prior to their move to Belleville. And Andlauer recently confirmed his commitment to Belleville for the foreseeable future.
Did the Sens invest in the Belleville arena?
Vancouver might be a good comparison when looking at a city with multiple big competing arenas; since 1996 (when they weren't much bigger than Ottawa today), they've had two NHL sized rinks. Considering how many teams play at Lansdowne and the Palladium, an AHL could tip the scales in favour of having three 5k+ arenas, but chances of the AHL move to Kanata are slim.
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