I remember way back before I moved to Ottawa, I came to town on a trip and stayed downtown. I looked into going to a hockey game, but then found out how far the arena was and just scrapped the plans. I did not want to navigate the buses when I was unfamiliar with the city and a cab would have been quite costly all the way to the CTC.
I remember (fondly) visiting Ottawa in the early to mid-60's, had an Uncle & his family who lived there, visiting the various museums & other attractions of which there were many and of course, skating on the Rideau Canal. Over the years that followed I had several occasions to return on business, and I distinctly remember having a "real real bad feeling" about the choice of land way in the Hell out in rural Kanata for the arena & grand development plans that came with.... reminding me very much of the debacle that was Richfield Coliseum outside of Cleveland... and knowing Ottawa not really all that well but well enough that that location was going to become a major problem after the Honeymoon had worn off.... a desperate move made by short pocketed wannabe NHL owners who really had no other choice given the then hefty $50M Expansion Fee, I for one was skeptical..... That either the team would eventually go BK (which it did) and wind up moving out of the region altogether or that maybe somehow someway they could hang on just long enough (20yrs) to graciously exit Kanata & get it together with a new facility downtown (or more immediate environs) where they had a fighting chance.
Ottawa is just not that wealthy a market, there are in fact all kinds of things to do there that either dont cost much of anything at all or if they do cost, a lot less than an NHL game & a 3-5hr time commitment. People there as is the case with Seattle, Vancouver & elsewhere are fairly active, into participatory sports & other leisure activities (dining out, concerts, theater, skiing, boating, cottaging etc) & thats where their going to spend their discretionary dollars. Its also transient. High level (read wealthy) civil servants & lobbyists etc, those buying tickets are in most cases from elsewhere. Loyalties formed during their formative years be it Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver. These people are often in Ottawa on Contract for 2-4-6yrs, sometimes longer, but when the Contracts up or they retire, they dont generally stick around. Back to wherever. Private corporate sector in Ottawa nowhere near what were talkin in comparison to elsewhere; rules forbidding governmental agencies patronage.... well, a lot of obstacles. Tricky market. However, all that being said, totally confident that once relo'd back into the city & civilization these problems will mostly evaporate. Locations' been a killer since inception, literally that country farm dog that chases cars down dusty roads and in this case.... keeps nipping at the franchises heel's. The dog doesnt want to catch the car or franchise, it simply wants you to go away, go back to town where you belong.