There’s an off-ice faceoff playing out in the nation’s capital between the city’s professional women’s hockey team and the city of Ottawa.
“We will not play at Lansdowne 2.0,” Amy Scheer, executive vice-president of business operations for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), told reporters virtually on Tuesday. “That’s the one option not on the table.”The Ottawa Charge currently play at TD Place Arena at Lansdowne Park, just outside of downtown. The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, who manages the arena, says the Charge’s current facility has a total capacity of 8,268 people for hockey, with 8,193 dedicated seats.
But that is about to change. Earlier this month, Ottawa city council approved plans for a $419-million redevelopment of Lansdowne Park, known as Lansdowne 2.0. It includes the construction of a brand-new event centre, with an arena that will have a total capacity of 6,600 fans for hockey, with 5,850 dedicated seats.
Ottawa’s city manager had previously said that adding thousands of seats to the new event centre could cost an additional $80-$100 million and delay the project by up to three years.
“We will not go backwards,” Scheer said. “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
