Ottawa sports teams could still help take Lansdowne from red to black: OSEG
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A poor performance by the Ottawa RedBlacks fuelled yet another year of financial losses for the Lansdowne Partnership in 2024, but the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group says it's confident the football team could help pull it into the black — even as planned renovations reduce the number of seats.
The city's private partner told members of the finance and corporate services committee on Tuesday that it was otherwise a strong year for the urban park.
But the 2023-2024 fiscal year nevertheless brought with it a continuation of the budgetary shortfalls that have plagued the Lansdowne partnership since its inception.
Staff have advised that a $419-million revamp, an estimate the auditor general suggests is too low, is the only way to make the partnership eventually turn a profit.
"Sports is hard, right? There's ups and downs," Mark Goudie, president and CEO of OSEG, told CBC after the meeting. "We were reporting on a down year."
The CFL team missed out on a playoff spot for four straight seasons, leading to a slump in season ticket sales. Now that the RedBlacks have broken that streak, he believes things will change.
"Our season ticket base will start coming back," Goudie said. "You don't snap your fingers. That doesn't happen right away, but it'll come back as we put a good product on the the field and win games and win championships over the next couple of years."
Residents and some councillors are less convinced, however, with many worrying that betting on a sports franchise is too risky a business for the city to be in.
Smaller venue size
Debate at the committee turned quickly from the single year of financial data to Lansdowne 2.0, described by some as a necessary investment and others as throwing good money after bad.
Several public delegates expressed concerns about what will happen when the renovations are over and both the arena and stadium lose seating capacity, arguing that the only option will be a big hike in ticket prices.
Goudie said it's too early to say how prices will be affected, but assured they would be a "good value."
"My groceries go up every year as well," he explained. "That's the nature of anything that you consume and buy."
There's likewise little need to worry about the sell-out Ottawa Charge hockey team and event organizers looking elsewhere, he said, since the venue occupies a coveted spot as a mid-sized venue.
"We're hearing worries of councillors and other people, but we're not hearing them from the PWHL," he said.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe repeated his argument that there's no time to wait on site upgrades, if Ottawa wants to keep attracting world-class events.
"We've heard from event organizers. They're not going to keep coming back to Ottawa to hold events in an aging facility," said Sutcliffe told CBC after the meeting. "We're lucky we got the world juniors. We're lucky we got the men's curling championship."
The latter struggled through a leak in the arena roof that nearly put play in jeopardy.
Lansdowne's 'economic driver'
The latest iteration of the partnership is projected to bring another million visitors to Lansdowne Park each year, so Capital Coun. Shawn Menard questioned why an OSEG consultant suggested traffic would not increase.
Goudie explained that the boost in visitors will come from adding events to "dark days," thereby not increasing traffic on any given day.
At several points in the meeting, staff and Goudie drew attention to the 100 per cent occupancy of the site's retail properties as a positive sign. OSEG calls it as the partnership's "economic engine."
Menard questioned why, then, the Lansdowne 2.0 project ruled out additional retail space originally proposed by OSEG.
"We actually built retail at an optimal time. It was beneficial. The costs were lower," said deputy city treasurer Isabelle Jasmin. "The cost of building retail has significantly increased, and it just breaks even. So, there was no business justification for increasing the size of the retail."
Despite prodding from Menard and some local residents, Goudie would not say if tenants pay rent that's below market rates.
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