During the NHL lockout, the "most important job" for Senators President Cyril Leeder "is damage control," according to James Gordon of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. The Senators earlier this fall "sent out a survey that asked fans what ticket, parking and concession discounts they might take advantage of if the league returned this season." Leeder said, "In the open-ended question, I think the prevailing comment of what they would like to see most is an apology." Leeder said that the "number of season ticket holders who have cancelled so far is less than one per cent, though that number is in flux." The team ended last season with "a season ticket base of 11,300" and Leeder said that there is "no way for the team to know what it’ll be when games are played again." Gordon wrote in some ways, the lockout "couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Senators." Leeder said, "You never want to be in a work stoppage. For us, we certainly finished the year last year, we thought, on a pretty good note from a fan perspective. They were excited, they liked this team maybe … better than any of the teams in the previous 20 years. They really connected with the players and the personalities and, for us, we feel like we had a lot of momentum going. So we were real anxious to get back playing the 12-13 season after we finished 11-12" (OTTAWACITIZEN.com, 12/2).
TAKING NAMES: In Ottawa, Gord Holder reports fans will have "a chance to name" the new, city-owned CFL and NASL franchises which will "begin play at Lansdowne Park’s new stadium in 2014." But the "catch" is that fans must offer suggestions by Dec. 16. Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group yesterday launched English- and French-language websites where fans can vote. OSEG Sports Properties President Jeff Hunt said that the "relatively tight timeline was necessary because of factors related to design and production of logos and jerseys." The only caveats on names are specific to football. Rough Riders, the "name of the longtime CFL club that died in 1996, is prohibited under terms of the expansion agreement with the league," while team owners "just don’t want" Renegades, which was used by the '02-05 franchise (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 12/6).
