Apparently there is no full funding plan for the proposed arena.
Now that the ownership of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators franchise is one step closer to building an arena not far from Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, the money game has started. Senators ownership wants some government money to help build what owner Michael Andlauer says, “this is Ottawa’s arena.” How much money Andlauer wants and how much he paid to buy the land that will house the structure remains a secret. That number may eventually be released and how much money Andlauer wants from taxpayers will eventually come out in some form although it may be a bit murky in terms of actual money thrown into the project and what sort of tax breaks and incentives will be included in an agreement that are hard to define monetarily. The Senators franchise’s real estate arm, Capital Sports Development Inc. and the National Capital Commission signed an agreement for the purchase and sale of an 11-acre plot of land at LeBreton Flats.
It has been a more than three-year process for two Senators’ ownership groups and the National Capital Commission to get the deal done. On June 23rd, 2022, the Senators business received preferred bidder status from the National Capital Commission for the LeBreton Flats site. Then Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, just before his passing on March 28th, 2022, signed off on an expression of interest to build a LeBreton Flats events center and a hotel. Michael Andlauer bought the Senators franchise in 2023 and had to be persuaded to buy into the plan. The LeBreton Flats parcel was a subject of interest to Melnyk as early as 2018. Melnyk wanted to move the team downtown, Senators’ hockey games are played in Kanata which is around 14 miles west of downtown Ottawa. That arena is obsolete in today’s game.
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