The Ottawa Civic Centre opened on December 29, 1967, tucked beneath the north grandstand of the football stadium at Lansdowne Park as part of the city’s Canadian Centennial building projects. The arena’s debut was an exhibition game pairing the brand-new Ottawa 67’s, bolstered by loaned Montreal Junior Canadiens players, against the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, drawing roughly 9,000 fans even though the seating installation wasn’t finished yet.
Over the following decades the building became one of the city’s most-used sports venues, serving as home ice for the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s for most of its history and briefly hosting the NHL’s Ottawa Senators from 1992 to 1996 while their permanent arena was under construction. Today the rink operates as TD Place Arena following a series of sponsorship-driven name changes, though its original Ottawa Civic Centre identity is how generations of Ottawa hockey fans still remember it.
- Ottawa Senators played here 1992–1996. See every Senators arena →
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): Ottawa 67’s (OHL); formerly Ottawa Senators (NHL), Ottawa Nationals/Civics (WHA)
- Location: Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Opened: December 29, 1967
- Capacity: 10,500 at opening, later reduced to 9,862 and then 5,500–8,585 after a 2014 renovation
- Notable Fact: Hosted the inaugural IIHF Women’s World Ice Hockey Championship in 1990
A Centennial Project That Became a Senators Landmark
Built as part of Ottawa’s 1967 Centennial celebrations, the Civic Centre was constructed directly under the grandstand of the adjacent football stadium, giving Lansdowne Park two major venues sharing one structural footprint. For most of its life the building was synonymous with the Ottawa 67’s, who have called it home since that opening night in 1967, aside from a stretch playing elsewhere between 2012 and 2014 during renovations.
The arena’s biggest moment on the NHL stage came when the expansion Ottawa Senators used it as a stopgap home from 1992 to 1996 while their new arena, now Canadian Tire Centre, was being built outside the city. The WHA also passed through, with the Ottawa Nationals in 1972-73 and the short-lived Ottawa Civics in 1976.
From Civic Centre to TD Place
The building’s name changed repeatedly in the 2000s and 2010s as sponsorship deals came and went, running through Urbandale Centre, Rona Centre, and J. Benson Cartage Centre before settling on TD Place Arena in 2014. A renovation that same year scaled the seating bowl down to a more intimate configuration, better suited to junior hockey and concerts than its original 10,000-plus capacity.
The arena also carries international pedigree: in 1990 it hosted the first-ever IIHF Women’s World Ice Hockey Championship, where Canada beat the United States for gold. Plans have since been floated for the venue’s eventual replacement, but as of its current operation it remains an active rink at the heart of Lansdowne Park.
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12 x 10.5 x 6 in. — built to the common stadium clear-bag size. Check your venue's rules.
Ottawa Civic Centre FAQs
What is the Ottawa Civic Centre called today?
It operates as TD Place Arena, following a string of sponsorship name changes after the original Ottawa Civic Centre name was retired.
Did the Ottawa Senators play at the Ottawa Civic Centre?
Yes, the NHL’s Ottawa Senators used the Civic Centre as their home rink from 1992 to 1996 before moving to their purpose-built arena.
How big was the Ottawa Civic Centre?
It opened in 1967 with a capacity of about 10,500, which was later reduced through renovations to roughly 9,862 and then to a smaller 5,500-8,585 configuration by 2014.
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Photo: Jfvoll / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.