When the Ottawa Senators launched their Sens Supporter Section this season, the team viewed it as a 10-game trial. Working with team fan group Red Scarf Union and taking cues from MLS and European soccer, the team marked off a section of roughly 300 seats for fans who wanted to stand, sing and chant for an entire game.
That trial quickly was expanded to 20 games after high initial demand. Now, not only has the section quickly sold out for Ottawa’s first two home playoff games against Montreal, but the Senators have bigger plans for the space next season.
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“While our building can get very loud for the playoffs or a rivalry game, in general, our crowd is more of a reserved fan base that is a bit more observational in how they take in the game,” said Chris Atack, director of season-seat membership and group-ticket sales for the Senators. “We have a great fan group with the Red Scarf Union, and after looking at what MLS has been able to do with their supporter groups, we wanted to see if we could re-create the fan experience more typical around sports in Europe here at the Canadian Tire Centre.”
The Senators connected the fan group with the team’s entertainment staff for creation of certain music cues to kick off various chants. The team also worked to set specific parameters for the section, noting that fans would remain on their feet and were free to bring flags, banners or even drums to the game — as long as they followed the building’s conduct code.
Priced at $25 per game, the single-game tickets were in high demand all season, even with the fact that fans needed to reach out to the team directly via email to purchase the seats. But the pricing also reflected an experiential investment for the club: Tickets in the section were previously priced between $60 and $90 for the lower rows and between $45 and $75 for the upper rows, depending on dynamic pricing for games.
“We were concerned how other fans would feel about this kind of section, but the feedback has blown me away,” Atack said. “Even people who have seats in the suites and premium level have told us what a great idea it was, or how they could sit there for a game.”
The experience will be further expanded next season, when the supporter area gains about 50 seats with a move to a new section in Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators also plan to offer about 150 season-ticket packages for the section next season, priced at roughly $20 per game before taxes and fees. Single-game prices will increase to around $30 to $35 per game.
Atack said the section has helped the team make further connections with fans age 18 to 30, and the program has had good traction with college students in particular. Additional plans for next season include integrating some visuals around the specific section where the supporters sit, as well as rebranding a bar below the section as the Sens Supporter Bar.
The section’s success also could lead to a standing-only section, with no seats in place, Atack said.
“Next year our goal is to have this full time in one section for every home game, but our hope is that in the future we might be able to have two or three sections like this,” he said. “Having a really loud section has been really exciting.”
