Ottawa Senators set sights on new owner, arena — 100 years ago

As Ottawa Senators fans anxiously await the announcement of the team's new owner, CBC decided to dig into the archives and found a strikingly similar situation in the nation's capital a century ago.

In 1923, the Ottawa Senators came under new ownership and changed arenas, which somewhat reflects the climate of the modern-day franchise.

There are similarities between the two franchises playing one century apart, but as one would expect, there were very different processes.

For one, the Senators were defending Stanley Cup champions in 1923, while today's team is looking to become a playoff contender. There were also far fewer teams back then, of course.

The sale of the team was also sparked by very different circumstances.

Today's ownership change is a bidding war among billionaires. Needless to say, that was not the case in 1923.

Then owner back then — the Ottawa Arena Club — saw its five-year partnership expire and ownership of the Senators was unified with the Ottawa Hockey Association.

"[The Ottawa Arena Club]'s most valuable asset was its franchise in [the National Hockey League] but the value of the franchise was reduced to almost nil when all the members of last year's world champion Senators were signed up by the Ottawa Hockey Association," according to an article in the Citizen on Sept. 20, 1923.

There are some similarities when it comes to building a new NHL arena.

In 1923, new owners Frank Ahearn and Tommy Gorman were affiliated with a group that was building a brand new "first of its kind" artificial ice rink, the Citizen reported at the time.

The new owners of today's Senators will own the current arena, the Canadian Tire Centre, in the city's western suburb of Kanata. However, there should be plans afoot to