The Sens Plan: Where to go from here?

Being a native of the Ottawa area for 3+ years now I have discovered what it means to be a part of a big hockey city. Whether it’s the bars downtown, the coworkers around the office, or even the fans at the games, you can tell that Ottawa is a hockey city. It was definitely a big step up in scale from my hometown of Kitchener Ontario, where we cheer for the local OHL franchise the Kitchener Rangers instead of a large Canadian NHL hockey team in the Ottawa Senators. However, having a large fan base doesn’t always mean sunshine and rainbows with the Sens. Going to a few games in the past few years, and listening to the talk around town, there seems to be a lot of criticism towards the Sens franchise. The past few years for the team have been a roller coaster ride to say the least. In 2017 the Sens made it all the way to the Eastern conference finals, only to lose out by one goal in a game 7 overtime against Pittsburgh who went on to win the cup that year. In 2017-2018 the Sens managed to only put up 67 points on the season; finishing second last in the NHL standings. Following that, there was a mess of locker room issues, trading away the future draft picks for Matt Duchene, and finally shipping their captain Erik Karlsson off to San Jose. From a fans perspective, it seemed as there was no point to even care about the Sens anymore. You just had the worst season in a while, and you traded your best player away during a season that you would have needed him the most. Now as an owner, the tough question to ask is how can I somehow manage to make this team profitable when the whole city has lost hope? This is unfortunately where the Sens fan base currently stands. As the whole city considers this season a complete right off, the Ottawa Senators ownership will need to come up with some new tactics to keep this hockey city alive.

Obvious improvements

The issue of the Senators struggles doesn’t simply lie within the league standings, but it also lies inside the Canadian Tire Center. Games are seeing record low attendances, and to be honest sometimes it looks like there are more empty seats than people in the arena. So what’s the big problem here? Well, paying players is a good idea to say the least. The main issue about the rink is that it’s so far from downtown it’s barely even in Ottawa anymore. Of course if you live in the west end of Ottawa, you love the location because it’s right in your backyard. The obvious move here is to move to the LeBreton flats location in downtown Ottawa. However, being a native of Ottawa I know very well that LeBreton has been in the talks for what seems to be decades. I guess the best solution would be to maybe win some hockey games, but that’s easier said than done.

My recommendations for the future 

When looking at the Sens season, there are lots of opportunities to make the games more enjoyable. I thought of a few simple ideas that can touch on what some Sens games are missing from a fans perspective. These recommendations include selling a great experience, growing attendance, and overall making it easier to attend each game.

Uber Partnership: Why not make some fun of the terrible Uber video situation, and create a commercial that announces a partnership with Uber. What the partnership and video will entail:

-          The price paid for a ticket will be related to a discount offered via Uber code sent out prior to the games. This will allow people to not worry about spending a fortune getting to the game, or even having to drive down to the rink and pay for parking. The hit that the sens take on each ticket will pay itself off due to the fans not having to worry about drinking too much at the games and driving home. The fans will be able to relax, have a few beers and get the chance to have a safe ride home.

-          The partnership will be advertised by showing different clips of the players getting into an Uber where the driver is Martin Raymond and they are exchanging shots from the Uber video. Ex: Matt Duchene gets in the Uber and is ignoring Martin while he is talking while a text is saying “2 weeks since Duchene listened to Marty”. Another clip where he is talking to the boys while commentating his drive to the rink. Overall playing off the fact that the Uber video had no impact on the team but it was a fun jab.

Free tickets via social media: At this point of the season, there is a lot of empty seats at each game, and that is of a big concern for the Sens. Usually the beginning of the season brings more fans than the halfway point. Since those vacant seats aren’t bringing any money in themselves, it makes sense to have those seats filled for free while creating some buzz around the team as well. Currently there are Sens street teams that give out free tickets to their friends or family. It would create more buzz if there were social media contests where winners would receive free tickets. The contests will a hash tag that required Sens fans to follow the team account and tweet out or post on Instagram relating to the specific contest of the day. Types of contests will be:

-          What’s your favourite Sens moment?

-          What’s your pregame ritual?

-          Who was the Sens first round pick last year?

Arena specials: The Canadian Tire Center has the luxury of offering lots of different food and drink options. The sens concession teams should take advantage of this and have game day specials for fans. Whether its happy hour beers during the first period, or closing time pizza, any discount helps a lot during a sporting event. I know for a fact when I go to a Sens game I don’t spend much on concession because I have to worry spending my money on getting home instead of having another beer.

A bright future

As the senators head towards the 30 game mark with a .500 win% the season has been going fairly well considering the losses they suffered during the off season. The young stars on the team (Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk) have been shining, and their acquisition of Duchene is looking like it's paying off.  Another positive is the home showing they have been putting on this year at 9-4-2. The barn might not be packed, but the young guns make it a fun time to be a sens fan.

To check out a Sens game or keep updated with the team, go take a look at the team website: https://www.nhl.com/senators