Love Sens Games but the Show Feels Tired
by Sens Fan from Van on 2023-12-27Canadian Tire Centre - OttawaRating: 4 out of 5Always enjoy going to Sens games, will always support my team. Since moving to Vancouver, I've come to appreciate going to home games more and more since I'm not back in Ottawa very often. It's great to watch a game, even better when we win. However, it has become very apparent that the venue/location of the arena is not well-situated in the city, that the pre-game and in-game entertainment is lacking compared to other arenas, and the venue itself is just very tired.
The pre-game entertainment (videos, pump up messages, player intros) feels lacklustre, and frankly, amateurish. It doesn't really create a buzz before the players come out onto the ice to start the game.
The in-game entertainment feels bland and could use more interaction with fans, players, and alumni. For the game on Dec. 23 versus Pittsburgh, there was a musical act during one of the intermissions and while I could hear the instruments clearly, I could barely hear the lead singer. That issue isn't isolated to the singers, but also to speaker system in general. It can be hard to hear calls, especially on penalties or even general arena announcements.
The venue itself is not in a great location in the city, parking is very expensive and is atrocious when trying to leave. I spent 30 minutes in my parking spot waiting to turn out to leave because the line simply was not moving. Inside, the venue is clearly showing it's age. The bathrooms are too small and the lines are not well managed to get in. The lines for the bathroom spill out into the concourse with no line/queue ropes/belts to keep it from blocking peoples way. Same can be said for the concessions. The lines move straight back out in to the concourse and is a nightmare to navigate through. Again, no real line/queue ropes/belts to keep lines organized and not spilling into the concourse. Fixing this would make movement around the concourse much easier as it is a much wider concourse compared to other arenas. It just lacks organization.
The seats aren't bad, but again, you can tell they are tired and need replacing. The rows are not well marked anymore. The black spray-painted letters have faded and are hard to see causing many people to be sitting in the wrong row. Speaking of rows, the footpaths through the rows are very narrow and can be treacherous if you lose your balance, especially in the 300 sections. One last thing, WE NEED CUPHOLDERS! It's a tiny detail, but for the amount of times I've someone accidentally kick their drink/food or somebody else's drink/food moving through a row, the easiest and most sensible thing to do is add cup holders to the seatbacks in front of each seat to make it easier for everyone to eat, drink, and enjoy the game without worrying whether they spilled their food or drink under their seats.
I seriously hope you take these into consideration and work towards improvements for future seasons. After all this fan base has been through, the in-game product and venue experience (minus the game itself, that's one the players and coaching staff) is something this fan base needs and deserves the top quality. Make it best in class.