The Senators yesterday announced the club will "drop its in-house ticketing platform Capital Tickets and is forming a renewed partnership with Ticketmaster" effective July 1, according to Joanne Laucius of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. The team in a statement said that the move back to Ticketmaster after 13 years allows it "to align much more closely with rest" of the NHL, where "25 of the 30 teams (and six of seven Canadian teams) operate using the Ticketmaster platform." Senators President Cyril Leeder said that the change "is part of major technological change for the Senators, including a move of all of its digital assets, such as its website, social media channels and some content creation." Leeder: "It’s a major shift in the way we get out digital properties to market." Leeder added that the change to Ticketmaster "won't affect pricing or service levels." Leeder: "It was pretty important in our talks." He added that there are "about 10 full-time and some part-time workers at Capital Tickets, but the box office will remain open and the workers will remain under Ticketmaster management." Laucius notes Capital Tickets "was created after the Senators hockey club sought bankruptcy protection" in '03 and Owner Eugene Melnyk "was searching for new ways to make money" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 4/7).
