Open letter from fan takes Senators’ owner to task
Posted Sep 18, 2018 10:10:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An Ottawa Senators fan, who has rooted for the team since childhood, publicly blames the owner for the team's troubles and demands that he step back into a less hands-on role.
While Erik Karlsson's departure from the team is part of it, a scathing open letter targets Eugene Melnyk for issues that precede the trade.
“I've stood by this team through countless ups and downs, but I cannot stand with you any longer,” Erin Collins writes in Tuesday morning's Ottawa Sun.
Listen to Erin Collins on 1310 NEWS' Ottawa Today with Mark Sutcliffe:
Collins describes seeing her first Senators game at the Civic Centre. She says later, she signed up for a ticket package while going to school in Kingston and drove two hours each way to attend games.
Collins says the team is currently in trouble, and that Melnyk is to blame. She wants Melnyk to hire a new president to take over the day-to-day operations, bring on a co-owner so he's not the only one controlling the budget, and to stop starring in promotional videos.
“You are a liability and your insistence on being involved is hurting your own bottom line,” Collins writes.
Collins does not echo recent demands for Melnyk to sell the team but says unless something changes, he has lost her as a loyal Senators fan.
