Music: {allcanada} SENS PRESIDENT: FANS WANT AN APOLOGY

Monday, December 3, 2012

{allcanada} SENS PRESIDENT: FANS WANT AN APOLOGY

The Ottawa Citizen asserts that Senators president Cyril Leeder's most important job at this point is damage control, and the team has been proactive in communicating with its customers. Earlier this fall, the Senators sent out a survey that asked fans what ticket, parking and concession discounts they might take advantage of if the league returned this season.

But money isn't the answer to everything.

"In the open-ended question, I think the prevailing comment of what they would like to see most is an apology."

Leeder says the number of season ticket holders who have cancelled so far is less than one per cent, though that number is in flux. The team ended the 2011-2012 campaign with a season ticket base of 11,300 and Leeder says there's no way for the team to know what it'll be when games are played again.

Some are still haggling to get their deposits back, so their accounts remains on the books.

"We do try and contact folks and talk to them about their decision and try to convince them to stay with us," Leeder explains. "And I think, by and large, people I talk to are in a pretty good spot, all things considered."

In some ways, the lockout couldn't have come at a worse time for the Senators.

"You never want to be in a work stoppage," he says. "For us, we certainly finished the year last year, we thought, on a pretty good note from a fan perspective.

"They were excited, they liked this team maybe … better than any of the teams in the previous 20 years. They really connected with the players and the personalities and, for us, we feel like we had a lot of momentum going. So we were real anxious to get back playing the 12-13 season after we finished 11-12."

Losing the entire year would be devastating.

"That goes without saying, I think, for everybody. That's the worst-case scenario."