"'I could move the team, I might sell the team, I want a new arena, I want the fans to show up.' The promise of a new arena at LeBreton Flats is also tenuous, Melnyk hinted. The Ottawa Senators-backed RendezVous Lebreton won the bid to redevelop LeBreton Flats with a proposal for an NHL arena as well as 4,000 units of housing and a French-language public school. The National Capital Commission is now negotiating with the group to sell up to 21 hectares of its LeBreton Flats property. Such tactics can risk alienating fans, Lander said, especially if targeting those fans over attendance becomes part of the strategy, as appears to be the case with Melnyk.

Source: CBC News December 18, 2017 16:07 UTC