{"id":791914,"date":"2026-07-10T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791914\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T03:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T03:00:16","slug":"ottawa-charge-moves-home-arena-to-canadian-tire-centre-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791914\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Charge moves home arena to Canadian Tire Centre next season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ottawa Charge take on the Montreal Victoire at the Canadian Tire Centre, home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, during first period PWHL hockey action in Ottawa, on April 3.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

After drawing big crowds during their playoff run in the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League, the Ottawa Charge are making a permanent move to a bigger stage.<\/p>\n

The Charge announced Thursday they will play home games at Canadian Tire Centre starting this coming season as part of a multi-year agreement.<\/p>\n

The Charge played all four of their playoff games at the arena this spring with an average attendance of just over 13,000. <\/p>\n

They also drew a crowd of 17,114 to a regular-season game there April 3 against the Montreal Victoire.<\/p>\n

Montreal Victoire win their first PWHL title, beating Ottawa 4-0 in Game 4<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charge spent their first three seasons at TD Place, a central arena in the nation\u2019s capital with a capacity of over 9,800. They averaged 7,382 through 12 home games there last season.<\/p>\n

The arena, run by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), is in its final years, and a new arena with a seating capacity of 5,850, which can be expanded to more than 6,600, is currently under construction.<\/p>\n

When the new, smaller arena, part of the Lansdowne 2.0 project was approved, the PWHL expressed its disappointment, saying \u201cit puts our league and our team in a position to really not thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Scheer, the league\u2019s executive vice-president of business operations called it a \u201chuge step back,\u201d and \u201cnot a financial model that makes any kind of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumours of a potential move increased when the Charge chose to play all its home playoff games at the Canadian Tire Centre this past spring.<\/p>\n

The move will allow the Charge to play and practice in one place, in addition to getting an upgrade to its facilities.<\/p>\n

Senators president and chief executive officer Cyril Leeder announced work is already underway.<\/p>\n

The Charge will have a dedicated locker room, player\u2019s lounge, coaches offices, medical space and equipment area.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ottawa Senators President and CEO Cyril Leeder, left, and Ottawa Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld shake hands after a news conference at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, on Thursday. The PWHL’s Charge announced a multi-year agreement that will see the team play at the arena.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big step forward and something we\u2019re really excited about,\u201d said Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld. \u201cI think we\u2019ll have probably the top facilities in the PWHL after this is built leading into this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two teams have collaborated previously, but this will mark the beginning of an official partnership that both teams believe will benefit the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really great to have both of the best hockey leagues in the world playing in our city, and now they\u2019re under one roof,\u201d Leeder said.<\/p>\n

The PWHL enjoys a post-Olympic boost in ticket sales and marketing opportunities<\/a><\/p>\n

Leeder added that Senators owner Michael Andlauer is fully supportive of the agreement, and the goal is to ensure the Charge have an \u201copportunity to be successful long term in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither side would elaborate on what entails a \u201cmulti-year agreement.\u201d The Senators are working on a deal to build a downtown arena and Leeder added that when things get to that point they would \u201cvery much like to be designing a campus there for the Charge as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hirshfeld said work will be done to ensure any future move is a smooth transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we understand some of the concerns from our fan base, but I think from our perspective we\u2019re gonna work really hard to make this an open and safe environment for our fans,\u201d said Hirshfeld. \u201cI think the opportunity that we have more capacity here and can bring more fans into this building to see our sport and see our athletes and how incredible they are. That\u2019s really exciting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move will bring together Senators forward Ridly Greig and his sister Dara, who signed as a free agent with the Charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Ottawa Charge take on the Montreal Victoire at the Canadian Tire Centre,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,20739,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-791914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-ottawa","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}