While I whole heartedly would like to see this I'm not so sure the Gatineau Olympique junior team would, especially if it takes customers away from them. From a business perspective I also think that team management may be aware of this & would not want to compete with them or hurt their business model in any way. However, if the Olympique were to fold or move then that would be a great replacement for Gatineau but I don't see that happening anytime soon but you never know.
I'm not sure what the advantages are to move the team to Bellville but there must be some economic advantages other than just a little closer to Ottawa to get players back & forth easier. Binghamton has a long tradition with the AHL & has had a lot of support & a very good following for the team there. While Bellville is less than a 3 hour bus ride from Ottawa starting fresh in a new city they would have to build up their fan base which I would guess are mostly Leaf fans. I would hate to see when the Marlies play the Sens, the arena be full of Leaf fans booing the Sen players in their own rink .... AGAIN.
Of course, if they move to Gatineau the arena would be full of Hab fans. Here is a better idea, when they move to the new arena down town, the B-Sens can move into the CTC & everyone can practise together at the SensPlex just down the road. If that happened I would probably buy B-Sens season tickets so I wouldn't have to go downtown.
