Senators' verified fan program draws a few thousand applicants in first day

The Ottawa Senators launched the Verified Sens Army program on Thursday, offering discounted tickets to rivalry games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. The stated goal is to take back the Canadian Tire Centre, which for rivalry games has been dominated by away fans.

Brendan Du Vall, the Senators' vice president of ticket sales, said the team received "a few thousand" applications in roughly the first 24 hours. He told the Ottawa Citizen, "It's been just over 24 hours, so we think there's a recipe here."

Applicants must link a Ticketmaster account, prove they attend a range of Senators games, and complete a questionnaire covering their geographic location, how many years they have been a fan, games attended in the past two years and a favourite Senators moment. Applications are made through the team's mobile app. The first batch of approved fans gets access next week. Verified members are offered tickets at a "highly preferred, discounted price" for all games, not only the Leafs and Habs contests. Denied applicants have an appeal route, and the team says it will not leave final judgment to an algorithm, offering individual meetings to fans who live elsewhere.

The program follows a January game in which the crowd was reportedly split 80:20 in favour of Canadiens fans; the Senators lost 6-5 in overtime. Defenceman Jake Sanderson described it as "an away game at home." The team had earlier offered non-transferable extra tickets to season seat members and created new rivalry packages for the general public.

Du Vall said the program was shaped by focus groups with season seat members, lapsed season seat members, passionate fans and media, and that he expects it to have "staying power." Upcoming rivalry dates are Maple Leafs at Ottawa on Jan. 20 and Feb. 13, and Canadiens in Ottawa on March 13 and April 10, all Saturdays.

The Senators have averaged 15,523 fans over their first seven home games, 91.3 per cent of capacity.