Relocation ‘on the table’ for PWHL’s Ottawa Charge amid Landsdowne 2.0 plans
It’s not every day that you hear that a runner-up might be on the move in the near future.
During the PWHL’s preseason media availability, executive vice president of business operations, Amy Scheer, was asked about the current situation regarding Landsdowne 2.0 and what the future holds for the Ottawa Charge.
“Every option’s on the table,” Scheer said.
Landsdowne 2.0 is a plan that will enhance the area of Landsdowne Park, which is owned by the City of Ottawa, with its major tenants being the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), which owns the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s and the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Redblacks.
The project, expected to cost around $420 million, will build a new arena for hockey and other events. However, the hockey capacity at the new arena is projected to be 5,500 seats, down from the 8,600-seat TD Place, the current home of the 67’s and the Charge. However, with the arena, opened in 1967, having many structural issues, the city has laid the groundwork for a new, but smaller venue.
The drop in capacity isn’t what the PWHL wanted to hear, especially since the Charge have been one of the best-attended teams in the league since its inception. While the 67’s are hit-or-miss with their fans, the Charge faithful have filled the nearly 60-year-old arena, averaging over 7,000 per game.
The plans for Landsdowne 2.0 were approved on Nov. 7 with a 15-10 vote, confirming that the Charge will lose close to 3,000 seats and an estimated $1 million in revenue per season.
Scheer told the media on Tuesday that the PWHL has no intention of allowing the Charge to play in the new arena.
“We’ve certainly been clear with OSEG and the city that we will not go backwards,” Scheer said. “We will not play in a 5,500-seat building. These women have worked too hard to get to the point today where a 5,500-seat building is well below what we average in Ottawa. So, we will not play at Lansdowne 2.0. That’s the one option not on the table.”
Scheer was asked if the league would look at relocating the Charge, and she delivered the same answer she had at the beginning of the conversation.
“Every option is on the table, and we’ve been very clear with the city. The job now is to find out what the best alternative for the Ottawa Charge is. We are working through all those options right now.”
Scheer did note that the PWHL has no intentions of leaving the nation’s capital, but how things have played out over the past few months have been discouraging.
“We chose Ottawa for a reason, and the fans have been wonderfully supportive of us there. We’d like to find a solution that works for us to stay in Ottawa, but the city hasn’t made it easy for us. It’s disappointing.”
One of the critiques of the PWHL’s public approach is that it happened too late. Prior to the vote earlier this month, both Scheer and senior VP of hockey operations, Jayna Hefford, spoke in front of the city council in October, trying to vie for a larger venue for the Charge to play in. Their voices were clearly not heard.
Scheer admitted on Tuesday that the league had been in private conversations with the city for months.
“We’ve been very clear to try to get the proper information out through the misinformation and deception that has been put forth by the city,” Scheer stated. “We met with the mayor about 17, 16 months ago, and were very clear that we wanted to be part of the process. Very clear that the arena was too small for us. Very clear that we would also keep conversations private. We were also very clear that we wanted a seat at the table, and we kept being promised that the conversation around capacity would be discussed. … They promised we would have a seat at the table and we would talk capacity, and ultimately they reneged on that promise.”
Scheer revealed that it was at that time that the league had to come out of the shadows and make a statement, even if their message had fallen on disinterested ears.
“At that point, we realized that we did not have a seat at the table and we felt that we had to go public….because we were really just left behind. The city was very clear on where we fit in the ecosystem of their sports, which is nowhere.”
Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe refuted the league’s remarks about their lack of inclusion in discussions. When speaking on TSN Mornings a couple of weeks ago, Sutcliffe had mentioned that the Charge were likely to move from the new Landsdowne 2.0 venue.
“There is a way forward for the Charge in Ottawa,” Stucliffe said in the interview. “There’s a huge opportunity for them to play at that arena. They’ll continue at Lansdowne for the next two years in the current arena [TD Place], they’ll move into the new arena, and/or they’ll play lots of games at the Senators arena, whether that’s in Kanata or LeBreton Flats in the future as they grow.”
The Charge will begin the 2025-26 season on Saturday night, hosting the New York Sirens.