Attending an Ottawa Senators game at Canadian Tire Centre is an exciting experience, and selecting the right seat can make your game day even better. Whether you're sitting close to the ice to catch all the action, enjoying a center-ice view, or looking for the comfort of club seats, this guide will help you find the best seats and ticket options at Ottawa Senators games.
Canadian Tire Centre Interior
Seating Options at Canadian Tire Centre
Glass-Side Seats (Sections 101-120)
These premium seats put you right up close to the ice, offering a thrilling view of every hit, goal, and save. Glass-side seats are perfect for fans who want to feel the intensity of the game right next to the action.
Center Ice Seats (Sections 104-106, 115-117)
Center ice seats offer a balanced view of both ends of the rink, making them ideal for fans who want a full perspective of the game and all the action as it unfolds.
Club Seats (Sections 201-229)
For fans looking for a more luxurious experience, the club seats at Canadian Tire Centre offer padded seating, access to exclusive lounges, and premium food and beverage options. These seats combine comfort and a top-tier view of the game.
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Stay close to the action with Club Seats, located in the 100 Level at Centre Ice; perfectly positioned behind the penalty boxes and players' benches. These ultra-comfortable seats combine premium comfort with unbeatable views. Enjoy in-seat food and beverage service throughout the game, while you, your clients and family/friends can enjoy every hit, goal, and power play without leaving your seat.
Upper-Level Seats (Sections 301-334)
Upper-level seats provide a budget-friendly option while still offering great views of the ice. These sections are perfect for fans who want a more affordable game-day experience without sacrificing the view.
Luxury Suites
Canadian Tire Centre’s luxury suites offer a private seating experience with VIP entrances, catering services, and premium amenities. These suites are ideal for group events, corporate outings, or fans looking for an elevated and exclusive game-day experience.
Canadian Tire Centre Seating Chart
Seating Tips for Ottawa Senators Games
- Buy Early for Rivalry Games: Games against top Atlantic Division rivals like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens tend to sell out quickly. Booking early ensures you get the best seats and have time to bundle tickets with your hotel stay for exclusive savings.
- Consider Club Seats for Extra Comfort: Club seats provide padded seating and access to exclusive lounges, making them perfect for fans looking for a premium game day experience.
- Family-Friendly Seating: The upper-level sections are ideal for families and fans on a budget. These seats offer great views at a more affordable price, making it easier for families to enjoy the game without overspending.
Ottawa Charge Arena Options
With arena plans approved that fall short on supporting the future needs of the PWHL's Ottawa Charge, the team and league must now look at all options, both inside and outside of Ottawa and Ontario, for the future of the team.
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The Ottawa Charge saw their future in Canada's capital put into question last week with the passage of the Lansdowne 2.0 plan. The plan, which passed in a vote in front of Ottawa's mayor and council by a vote of 15-10, will see a $418.8 million renovation and rebuild of Lansdowne Park, including a new, yet significantly smaller arena for the Ottawa Charge.
The PWHL voiced their displeasure with the plan and reiterated that they were not invited to the table to discuss the arena plans as stakeholders. Rather the belief is the plan was made by and for OSEG's assets, which include a junior hockey team, the OHL's Ottawa 67s who also call the venue home, and who are given primary consideration at the facility for branding and scheduling despite drawing significantly fewer fans.
Plans for Lansdowne 2.0 will see a new arena with a seating capacity of only 5,500, a nearly 3,000 seat reduction over the current facility at TD Place Arena. Given the Ottawa Charge have average more than 7,000 fans across their first two seasons, and have drawn over 8,000 many times, it will result in a significant loss of revenue for the league, which the PWHL estimates will translate to roughly $1 million in additional losses each year.
While the league could outgrow any proposed arena by that point, it's equally likely fans will choose not to invest in a team they might soon be unable to watch, and the team's support could plummet over the next half decade.
This is what is known, however, what isn't known is where the Ottawa Charge will actually go from here. There are a variety of options to look at, with pros and cons for each.
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What will the decision be? Time will tell.
Lansdowne Park Redevelopment Plan
Option 1: Staying With The New OSEG Arena
Neither the PWHL, nor Ottawa Charge want this option. While Mayor Mark Sutcliffe leaned on 1,100 standing room spaces for capacity figures, he also consistently downplayed the success of the Ottawa Charge.
The reality of the Charge's capacity concerns are that in two seasons in Ottawa, the team has drawn less than 5,500 fans only four times, with two of those four averaging 5,476 fans. Meanwhile the Ottawa 67s, who were the team this facility was designed to support, last season averaged only 3,522 fans, and have not drawn an average of 5,500 or more since 2012-13. That season was the final of a more than decade long decrease in attendance. In fact, since their peak in 2004-05, the Ottawa Charge have lost more than the total proposed seated capacity for the new venue in average attendance.
Staying at the new arena for Ottawa would ensure a new, safe facility, and new dressing rooms and training potential. Those are the pros. The cons however include significant financial losses, and the near certainty that the Charge's needs will never be considered when it comes branding or scheduling, no matter how successful they are. The new arena at Lansdowne 2.0 will reportedly be complete in 2028 meaning the Charge have at least two more seasons before any move becomes necessary.
Option 2: Move To Canadian Tire Centre
It was interesting to hear this option play out on repeat from supporters in council of Lansdowne 2.0. Canadian Tire Centre has become an arena that does not meet the needs of the city's professional men's hockey team who have been desperately trying to escape the venue for a decade. So why suggest it as a viable option for the city's professional women's team?
Located outside Ottawa in Kanata, the Canadian Tire Centre is a 30 minute drive from downtown Ottawa, and 1.5 hours on public transit. The arena would provide an abundance of seating, but the facility itself will turn 30 in 2026, hardly a new or state-of-the-art facility. In fact, the Canadian Tire Centre is now the ninth oldest arena in the NHL.
The PWHL has struggled with venues like the Tsgonas Center in Lowell (Boston Fleet), and the New York Sirens' original home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The PWHL will almost certainly do everything they can to avoid moving further from fans. The team did play one game at the Canadian Tire Centre last year drawing more than 11,000 fans, but this year they do not plan to return to the facility.
Option 3: Relocate
This is the option no Ottawa Charge fan wants to see, but for the single-entity owned PWHL, relocation is less of the failure seen in many pro leagues, and more about a redistribution of assets to where they're better suited.
Quebec City would be an obvious move with an arena sitting ready, and a city council ready and willing to support professional women's sport. It's hard to envision Ottawa becoming a city pro sports leagues and franchises are interested in dealing with in the future, and locations like Quebec City, or perhaps Hamilton, Ontario, and Halifax, who will all welcome the PWHL this season on the Takeover Tour, are obvious solutions.
While the league has said that relocation is not their intention, the PWHL is a business, and one that is focused on collective success. That collective success cannot include a team that bleeds millions of dollars annually when other, more viable options, exist. The players worked too long and too hard to allow a team to stay in a market than cannot, or will not, support professional women's sports.
Option 4: Wait And Hope For LeBreton Flats
The Ottawa Charge have not been a player in the discussions for a potential new arena at LeBreton Flats in Ottawa. The Ottawa Senators, who have been trying to leave the Canadian Tire Centre for a new home for several seasons, finally secured an agreement to purchase lands from the National Capital Commission in August.
That land, located at LeBreton Flats, a centrally located area of Ottawa, are the intended home for a new arena for the NHL's Ottawa Senators. The arena could also be a good fit for the PWHL's Ottawa Charge, although it would keep the Charge as a secondary tenant with limited ability to brand and schedule.
Still, it would also take the Charge's future out of the hands of OSEG and the City of Ottawa, who according to the PWHL have refused to listen to the team or league. A new arena at LeBreton however, has no firm timeline. Currently, projections put the project with a completion date in 2030 or beyond. It means the Charge would have at least two seasons without a permanent home, and force the team to potentially spend those years losing money in an undersized venue, or couch surfing between venues.
Lansdowne 2.0 Arena Debate: Mayor vs. PWHL - Who's Right?
Why Book Your Tickets with Elite Sports Tours?
Booking through Elite Sports Tours ensures you're getting more than just great tickets. Our packages include both tickets and accommodations, so you can unlock exclusive savings when you bundle them together. With Ottawa Senators Travel Packages, fans can enjoy a seamless game day, complete with premium seating and top-rated hotels close to Canadian Tire Centre.
Looking for tickets only? You can also purchase Ottawa Senators tickets directly from Elite Sports Tours and choose the best seats at Canadian Tire Centre.
Canadian Tire Centre Details
Canadian Tire Centre (French: Centre Canadian Tire) is a multi-purpose arena in the suburb of Kanata in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The arena is primarily used for ice hockey, serving as the home arena of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) since its opening in 1996, as well as the home arena of the Ottawa Black Bears of the National Lacrosse League since 2024.
As part of its bid to land a National Hockey League franchise for Ottawa, Terrace Corporation unveiled the original proposal for the arena development at a press conference in September 1989. The proposal included a hotel and 20,500-seat arena, named the Palladium, on 100 acres (0.40 km2) surrounded by a 500-acre (2.0 km2) mini-city, named "West Terrace".
The site itself, 600 acres (2.4 km2) of farmland, then located on the western border of Kanata, had been acquired in May 1989 by Terrace. The large site had previously been a possible location for a new home for the Central Canada Exhibition, but the Exhibition's option on the property had expired.
The arena's architectural design and seating bowl were closely inspired by The Palace of Auburn Hills which opened a few years prior in 1988 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Both arenas were designed by Detroit based Rossetti Architects.
The site was farmland and required a rezoning to proceed with construction. The then-City of Kanata supported the rezoning, but the provincial government and some local residents opposed the rezoning, forcing public hearings into the proposal by the Ontario Municipal Board. Rezoning approval was granted by the Board on August 28, 1991, with conditions.
The conditions imposed by the board included a scaling down of the arena to 18,500 seats, a moratorium on development outside the initial 100-acre (0.40 km2) arena site, and that the cost of the highway interchange Ontario Highway 417 be paid by Terrace.
On August 17, 1993, Bruce Firestone, the Senators owner, was replaced by Rod Bryden, a former high tech tycoon, who assumed control of Terrace Corporation.
Actual construction took 18 months, finishing in January 1996. The Palladium opened on January 15, 1996, with a concert by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams. The first NHL game took place two days later, with the Montreal Canadiens defeating the Senators 3-0.
In 2001, Kanata was merged into the City of Ottawa, thus bringing the arena officially into the Canadian capital. When mortgage holder Covanta Energy (the former Ogden Entertainment) went into receivership that year, Terrace was expected to pay off the whole debt. The ownership was not able to refinance the arena, eventually leading to Terrace filing for bankruptcy in 2003.
In 2004, the ownership applied to expand its seating. Also in 2005, the arena became home to the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, with a display on the second-floor concourse. Information regarding over 200 inductees is detailed on individual plaques. The exhibits display had previously been located at the Ottawa Civic Centre since 1967. The space is donated by Scotiabank Place.
Following the 2012-13 season, Melnyk sought to end the arena's relationship with Scotiabank as the bank was not a financial backer of his team, and Scotiabank agreed not to contest the deal's termination provided the club would not sell naming rights to another financial institution.
During the 2015 off-season, the Senators reduced its arena capacity to 18,694 seats (20,061 capacity), then further down to 18,572 for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. Team president Tom Anselmi argued that the venue was "probably a little bit too big for the market" and that reducing the capacity would lead to more sellouts.
The seating was dropped even further down to 17,373 seats and total capacity down to 18,740 following the 2017 playoffs, after owner Eugene Melnyk complained after not having enough sellout crowds during playoff games.
The Senators have been in discussions with the National Capital Commission to replace Canadian Tire Centre with a new arena located on federal land in downtown Ottawa since 2016. Talks initially broke down with a dispute with the Senators' partner on the proposal and were revived again after the passing of Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk and continue under the Senators' current ownership.
On December 6, 2024, the first PWHL game at the arena was played between the Montreal Victoire and the Ottawa Charge.
The arena has facilities for ice hockey and basketball games, which are held regularly. The arena has also hosted indoor lacrosse. The arena has different configurations for concerts, with full and half arena seating arrangements. The building has six restaurants and a fitness club. Most of the restaurants are only open on game days.
Arena seating is in three levels, 100, 200 and 300, which are fixed sections surrounding the arena floor. The levels start with the 100 or 'club' level closest to the ice surface rising further up and away to the 300 level. There are suites in the 100 level, 200 level and at the mezzanine level which is above the 300 level. The 100 level has its own concourse while levels 200 and 300 share a concourse. The Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame exhibit is on the 200/300 level concourse. The mezzanine level is only reachable by elevator.
In late 2014, the Senators announced major renovations throughout the whole facility.
The arena is located in the west end of Ottawa, south of Huntmar Drive and Ontario Highway 417. It is accessible from the two highway interchanges of Palladium Drive and Terry Fox Drive. It is located approximately 22 km (14 mi) west-southwest of Downtown Ottawa.
Canadian Tire Centre is the largest sport and concert venue in the National Capital Region after the outdoor TD Place Stadium. The arena held a UFC event for the first time in 2019, hosting UFC Fight Night: Iaquinta vs. The arena hosted Billy Graham's final Canadian Crusade in June 1998.