Alec Saunders SquawkBox

The Ottawa Citizen reports this morning that the Senators have done a new deal for the naming rights on the Corel Centre.  The Senators will now play at "Scotiabank Place".  I’m happy for Corel that they’ve unloaded this dinosaur.   In 2000 I told then Corel CEO Derek Burney that he ought to sell the rights to someone else.  An expenditure of $2M per year to brand a $100M company in it’s local market was just loopy.

I have to confess, though, that the whole thing leaves me a little cold.  I’d much rather see the return of the Ottawa Palladium, the Montreal Forum, Candlestick Park, Maple Leaf Gardens, and so on.  These were real places that sparked the imagination and invoked the emotions of the fans.  They were more than simply expensive billboards for the latest bidder to snap up.  What image does the Air Canada Centre conjure up?  Long lines?  Expensive tickets?  Poor service?