An undisclosed amount of full time employees at Scotiabank Place are being laid off due to the NHL lockout, Ottawa Senators President Cyril Leeder announced Monday.
The employees that remain will work a four-day week.
There are also concerns about how the lockout will impact charities that rely on the Ottawa Senators Foundation, the charitable branch of the team.
Thirty percent of the Roger’s House budget at CHEO comes from the Sens Foundation. Roger’s House is a hospice for children receiving palliative care.
The Sens Foundation also contributed one million dollars for 50 charitable causes and groups last year. Many of the proceeds were raised by the Sens’ yearly golf tournament. This year’s version was cancelled due to the lockout.
Still, Leeder said the team will continue to honour its commitments while the players say they’ll do what they can to make sure the Sens deliver on their charity promises.
“We feel bad that some things are going to get affected but we have discussed that we’re going to do everything in our power to keep up with the charity work,” said Colin Greening. “We’re planning some things to link to the community and keep up what we’ve done in the past.”
“I hope all the fans don’t think that just because we’re not playing, we’re going to stop that because that’s not who we are.”
Leeder said refunds will be offered to ticketholders if the lockout affects the regular season.
With reports from CTV Ottawa’s Terry Marcotte and Norman Fetterley
