The Senators this week are "opening a display model for the 14 Victory suites that will be the most formal option" in the club's "broader project to improve the experience for fans" at Canadian Tire Centre, according to Robert Bostelaar of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. The new suites are part of the "less-structured Club Bell -- named for a major sponsor -- with a range of posh seating options and, courtesy of a members-only restaurant, some posh eating options, too." Those Victory suites are "equipped with six, eight or 10 lounge chairs" and will "have glass in place of the concrete walls of existing boxes, and dining areas that open to a restaurant-lounge with further seating arrangements and open cooking stations." A second option will be Loge seats "with more footroom and tables that incorporate screens to show replays of the action on the ice." Third will be Lux seats that "will be wider and cushier than standard arena seats." Patrons in both these areas "will have access to the restaurant." With "some 500 seats in total, the renovations could trim the arena’s current capacity of 19,153 by about 100." Senators VP/Strategic Development Geoff Publow said, "We’re not doing it to reduce capacity. We’re doing it to offer an upgraded premium experience, and let us really redefine that experience with product that hasn’t been available traditionally in this building or in our market." Pricing "has yet to be released for the Club Bell seats." The project was designed by Detroit-based architects Rossetti, which "drew up the original plans for the building" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 11/6).
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Don Muret reports the Senators’ Club Bell project is “expected to cost” more than $6M. Publow said that the name is “tied to a 12-year sponsorship renewal that Bell Canada signed with the Senators last season.” Club Bell “will span 20,000 square feet on the 100 level in the arena’s west end, where the Senators shoot twice.” The team “hired Legends Global Sales to take the lead on selling the new premium inventory with assistance from the team’s marketing staff.” The design “is similar to what several other arenas have done in recent years to replace unsold inventory and meet the needs of smaller businesses” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/3 issue).
