OTTAWA — Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer says he hadn’t given any thought about his team playing regular-season games in Quebec City when he was asked about it earlier this week at a news conference.
“My mind’s going and I’m like, we played two games in Sweden,” Andlauer said. “I’d rather be playing two games in Quebec City than playing two games in Sweden, both from a hockey ops standpoint and from our fans.”
By Thursday evening, Andlauer’s tune changed.
“Hell no,” Andlauer said when asked if he’d still have the Senators play regular-season games in Quebec City if the NHL allowed them to do so.
Andlauer says he didn’t realize how much “scar tissue” had been left with the fan base because of relocation talk in previous years due to dwindling ticket sales. Nor was Andlauer aware of the Senators being in discussions to potentially play games in Quebec City during the 2022-23 season.
The Senators owner spent over 35 minutes with select media members on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre before Ottawa played the Washington Capitals, addressing backlash after indicating a receptiveness to playing regular season games in Quebec’s provincial capital on Monday as well as the team mascot, Spartacat, wearing a half-Senators, half-Nordiques jersey.
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“This was more to cater to Quebec fans to say, ‘Oh, my God, this is great. I’m going to become a Sens fan,’” Andlauer said. “And that way, people in Gatineau or a nearby area, they come to Ottawa and there’s a Montreal Canadiens game on. There may be a little bit more Sens jerseys than Habs jerseys because they’ve converted. So, that was my only motivation.”
Andlauer and the Senators still intend on playing two preseason games in Quebec City this fall at the Videotron Centre. He further explained his intention to spread his team’s brand and convert Quebecois fans who swore to never become Canadiens fans after the Nordiques left in 1995.
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“I see this as low-hanging fruit for us, for us to generate more revenue, for the Ottawa Senators to get more fans,” Andlauer said. “You look at small-market teams like in the NFL, you look at the Green Bay Packers, right? They’re all over the place. I thought to myself, all these cities that can’t have an NHL team that we have coverage over on the media side of things, the Halifaxes, the St. John’s, Newfoundlands of the world. Those are opportunities where we can bring in more Sens fans.
“My message is take me for my word. Please give me the benefit of that. Because I love this city. I love the fans and I learned a lot from this experience.”
Andlauer also expressed that the Senators are not giving up on fans in the neighbouring Gatineau region, acknowledging that the team is in talks for a new Sensplex arena and wants more corporate partnerships and increased player presence in the area. The Senators are sponsoring numerous youth teams and are seeking more partnerships with French-language broadcasters.
“We lost a whole generation in Gatineau of young kids who by default, because they’ve been neglected, became Habs fans,” Andlauer said. “Gatineau is still a priority. I mean, (it’s) so close. You’re half an hour to the rink if you drive the way I do. But it’s a hell of a lot closer than going to Montreal, and it’s right there. You touch it. People work in Ottawa and live in Gatineau. We’re not going to stop that. We’ll put a full-court press on that, on the corporate side as well.”
Finally, Andlauer said there’s no connection between the announcement to play preseason games in Quebec City and the ongoing saga with the National Capital Commission and the arena development at LeBreton Flats.
“Ask (NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum) what kind of negotiator I am. I’m not about trying to steal something. I’m not that guy. People who know me, I’m upfront, sometimes too much. So, not at all. That’s not my style. They’ve got their own issues that they’ve got to deal with. I’m committed to it. We have a great building here. We’ve made it work here in Kanata. The fallback, we’ll stay in Kanata. There’s also other areas in the city that we could probably do. But when I look at it, when I talk to fans, LeBreton is a perfect place.
“There’s all kinds of compelling reasons why it would make sense, and I always do what’s in the best interest for our fans. But I’m not that guy that’s going to play games.”
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(Top photo of Michael Andlauer: Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press via AP)
