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Posted by Cyril Leeder on October 2, 2007
Well, the start of the NHL season is finally upon us. As busy as this time of year is for all of our office staff, we do look forward, with great anticipation each year, to the start of the NHL season. This year marks our 15th season in the NHL. We are proud of the fact that we have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, so there has been much to cheer about for Sens fans.
A couple of questions we have been getting asked:
1. What will be new for Sens fans this year when they come to Scotiabank Place?
We have invested substantially over the summer to enhance the fan experience at Scotiabank Place. The highlight of our work is two fully renovated restaurants.
The Local Heroes Hockey Country Lodge (formerly the Silver Seven Brew House)
- “The Lodge” is a fantastic gathering place for fans, pre, post and during the games.
The Ledge Carvery and Bar replaces the Penalty Box and offers fans an opportunity to watch the game from the confines of a contemporary, upbeat restaurant environment.
- The Ledge offers mile-high carved sandwiches and all-you-can-eat specialty salads. We have also reduced the price this year for fans by 20%. The Ledge really is one of our best kept secrets in the building.
In total, we have six restaurants in the building to serve you now on game night. For the first time ever, ALL SIX restaurants are accepting reservations for games. To make a dinner reservation, fans can call 613-599-2582. More information about our restaurants can be obtained online at http://www.scotiabankplace.com.
We have made every effort to improve the dining options available for Sens Army fans at Scotiabank Place and we encourage you to try out one of our restaurants.
We have also performed additional work throughout the building that we believe will be well received by the Sens Army faithful:
- Lone Star Texas Grill has been added to the main food courts on the main concourse.
- Chicken Chicken has added a second location at the main food courts.
- 111 Deli and Pub has been added at Section 111.
- 400 feet of LED animated signage has been added to the 200 level fascia. This will allow us to more regularly post out of town scores, which many fans have been asking for
- Enhanced video equipment will allow us to show more replays during the game and to bring fans highlights, in real time, from games around the league
2. What are the things that have changed with the Senators over the years?
Since I have been here since the awarding of the franchise, this question gets posed to me often and came up again in the online response to my first blog posting. The changes, as you would imagine, have been quite substantial. Some personal highlights:
- When we submitted our bid to the NHL for the franchise in 1989, Calgary had just won a Stanley Cup and they had a player payroll of $5 million Cdn. Today, most payrolls are in the $50 milllion US range.
- Technology has advanced. When we were awarded the team, I did not have a cellphone. Laptop computers were so expensive that we did not have any in our office. The Internet had not been invented yet.
- Canadian dollar. When we bought the team, the Canadian dollar was worth $0.87 US. It had fallen as low as $0.62 and languished at $0.67 range for a number of ‘difficult’ years. It is now at $1.01. What a huge swing.
- Player fitness levels. Players are bigger, faster, better and in much better physical condition than they were 15 years ago. The amount of dollars on the line, the competitiveness of the teams and players and the will to win are all factors that have contributed to this.
- Scale. The size of our organization has grown fantastically. When we first were awarded the team, we had 15 full-time employees with five part timers. Now we have 200 full-time and over 1,000 part-time staff.
Just a little insight into what to expect at Scotiabank Place this year and how things have changed here over the past 15 years. I hope to see you, decked out in red at a game real soon.
Go Sens!
Cyril Leeder, COO
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