Ottawa mayor sitting down with NHL commissioner Monday

By Alex Black

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe will meet with the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL) next week. 

Sutcliffe is set to sit down with Gary Bettman on Monday, March 27 amid speculation around the pending sale of the Ottawa Senators.

Following the passing of owner Eugene Melnyk, the franchise went up for sale, and according to reports, there have been bids from nine groups interested in purchasing the club – including Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds.

There is also the ongoing plan to revitalize LeBreton Flats, which could include a new arena on the site, something Sutcliffe was asked about following a meeting of city council on Wednesday, March 22. 

“In terms of where an arena could go in the future, there is this potential with LeBreton Flats, but it's not guaranteed, and so, I think it's important for the new owners to signal whether they want to move to LeBreton Flats — to have those negotiations with the NCC and then see where we go from there, Sutcliffe said. “I'm open to whatever is best for the city of Ottawa and whatever is best for hockey fans and for the Senators. If the owners want to stay in Kanata, if they want to move to LeBreton Flats, if they want to look at other options — I'm interested in having all those discussions.”

However, Sutcliffe said it's way too early to talk about what the city's role is going to be — since the team hasn't been sold yet — and the fact there's no solid plan for an arena yet.

“I think there's a role the city can play in supporting an NHL arena, but I think it's too early to know what that would look like and no requests have been made,” Sutcliffe said. “We don't know whether the new owners want to move to LeBreton Flats, we don't know whether the deal with LeBreton Flats will move forward and we don't know what kind of requests they might make. So, we're ready to cooperate and collaborate and I think there's a role for the city to play in facilitating, but we'll wait to see what the new owners have to say about all of it.” 

Sutcliffe goes on to say that if the team were ever to move from Kanata there would have to be a plan in place for the Canadian Tire Centre (CTC) and what the use of that land and property would be going forward.

 

 

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