OSEG 'optimistic' about talks for bringing an outdoor Senators game to Lansdowne

Tentative talks are underway for an outdoor NHL game atLansdownePark between the Ottawa Senators and the MontrealCanadiensin December 2017, the CBC has learned.

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It's the first glimmer of hopeful news for hockey fans wantingan outdoor game in the capital since the federal government put thekiboshon staging an NHL game on the front lawn of Parliament Hill early last month.

The discussions are still in their early stages and so sensitive that no one would agree to speak on the record but talks are centred around hosting a possible game the weekend before Dec. 19. 2017, which will be the 100th anniversary of the first NHL game, also played between the Sens and the Habs.

Officials from the Ottawa Sports andEntertainmentGroup, which owns three sports teams and runs events TD Place stadium, would not even explicitly confirm that talks are happening.

"I am optimisticthat we will go into a period of discussions with the Senators and the NHL,"OSEGchief executive BernieAshetold CBC. "We're hopeful they will result in a positive outcome."

However,other sources confirmed that preliminary talks have begun.

City Hall insiders say that Mayor Jim Watson was "instrumental" in bringing the various groups together, and impressed upon the Senators, in particular, the economic and marketing benefit the game would be to the city and the hockeyfranchise.

It's still not a done deal, and it's really up to Senators owner EugeneMelnykto give the game the thumbs up. (The Senators declined to comment on any discussions withOSEGfor an outdoor game.)

Bettman made prospect of game seem bleak

But the prospects for an outdoor game are looking much more promising than a couple of weeks ago whenNHL commissioner GaryBettmantold reportersthe league hasn't heard fromMelnykthat the Senators werelookingat an alternate venue for an outdoor game after the Parliament Hill option fell through.

Bettmanalso added, somewhat alarmingly for local hockey fans, that the NHL was "going to see if we want to play a game on Founders Day somewhere else, and by that I mean in a different city."

Virtually all NHL outdoor games are played at football stadiums.

In October,the Winnipeg Jets played the Edmonton Oilers atInvestors Group Field and on New Year's Day, the Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Detroit Red Wings at the BMO Field in Toronto in what's being billed as "the first-ever NHL Centennial Classic."