Sport in Ottawa

Ottawa has two teams that are part of the North American major professional league, including the Ottawa Senators (NHL), Ottawa RedBlacks (CFL).

Ice hockey began in Ottawa with the Stanley Cup in 1893. Teams from the city were dominant during the first quarter of the 20th century, with Ottawa teams winning 11 Cups from 1903 to 1927. The original Ottawa Senators were one of the original members of the National Hockey League, which was founded in 1917. The team folded in 1934 during the Great Depression, moving to St. Louis to become the St. Louis Eagles. The Senators returned to the National Hockey League in 1992. They currently play at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata.

In

Ottawa was granted one of six charter franchises in the new Professional Women's Hockey League in 2023.^[1] The Ottawa Charge (then known as PWHL Ottawa) debuted on January 2, 2024, hosting Montreal at a sold-out TD Place Arena—the 8,318 fans in attendance set a new record for a women's professional hockey game.^[2]

Ottawa also has a minor hockey program, and plays host to the

The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team that was founded in 1876 and would prove to be one of the oldest tenured sports franchises in North America.^[3] The team won nine Grey Cup championships over its long history but due to poor team play, poor attendance records and even worse management, the Rough Riders folded after the 1996 season, ending 120 years of professional football in Ottawa.

Five years later, a CFL expansion franchise was granted to the City of Ottawa. The team, called the

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees football teams have won two Vanier Cups with their first in 1975 and then again in 2000. Carleton University also had a football team from 1945–1998, but the program was cancelled after the 1998 season. There have since been efforts to revive the program, with the football team being approved for Ontario University Athletics membership beginning in 2013.^[5] The rivalry between the two schools is heated, and the annual game between the two teams is known as the Panda Game.^[6]

The city also has two junior teams. The Ottawa Sooners play in the Canadian Junior Football League while the Ottawa Junior Riders play in the Quebec Junior Football League.

Ottawa has had three

Baseball was revived in Ottawa for the 2008 season, when the

Baseball returned to Ottawa from 2010 to 2012 with the addition of the Ottawa Fat Cats of the Intercounty Baseball League, but they folded before the 2013 IBL season.^[7]

The

Ottawa is also home to the largest amateur baseball league in Canada – the

Basketball in Ottawa began with the

Ottawa was also represented at the semi-professional level when the Ottawa Wizards competed in the Canadian Professional Soccer League from 2001 to 2003.^[12] Their greatest success occurred in 2002 when they secured the league treble.^[13] Ottawa was represented a second time in the league when Capital City FC acquired a franchise in 2011.^[14] Capital City's run lasted only a season, where they finished as the runners-up in the playoff championship final.^[15]

Australian Rules Football started in 2008 when the

The city is home to 15

Each year, Ottawa hosts one of the largest curling tournaments in the world, the OVCA Ottawa Men's Bonspiel (more commonly known as the "City of Ottawa bonspiel") which has been held since 1956. Ottawa is home to one of the oldest curling clubs in the world, the Ottawa Curling Club which was founded in 1851.

Curling in the Ottawa area is overseen by the Ottawa Valley Curling Association.

Gaelic football has been present in the capital since the formation of the men's team, the Ottawa Gaels, in 1974 by Pat Kelly and Larry Bradley. The ladies team was formed in 1984 by Breda Kelly and has been dominant in the Toronto GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) for the last decade. Minor players have played at the Continental Youth Championships in the USA.^{[citation needed]}

Connaught Park Racetrack, located in Aylmer, Quebec operated from 1913 until its closure in 2008. It operated thoroughbred racing until the 1950s, and offered harness racing afterwards. In the early 1960s, Rideau Carleton Raceway was opened south of Ottawa, and it continues to operate a season of harness racing annually, along with off-track betting and gambling. Races have been held on the frozen Rideau Canal and the frozen Ottawa River. Canada has its own breed of horse, in 2002 the Canadian horse became national, it added to the list of «Heritage Livestock Canada».^[16]

Since 2012, Ottawa has had an active amateur

Ottawa has one of the world's largest ultimate frisbee communities dating back to the founding of the Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association in 1986.^[17] Ottawa has hosted the Canadian Ultimate Championships six times, most recently in 2017.

The Ottawa Rowing Club was founded on 6 June 1867,.^[18] One of its founders and first patron was Sir John A. Macdonald; other members of the first executive committee included Robert Lyon (politician), mayor of Ottawa, and; Allan Gilmour, businessman in the shipping and timber industries. The original club house was a wooden building, initially built on pontoons, and moored to the shore of the Ottawa river at the foot of parliament hill, between the Rideau canal and the Chaudière falls. Whilst the view from the club house over the Chaudière falls was picturesque, the rowing conditions were difficult: vast field of sawdust and other refuse from an immense lumber mill situated about the falls, and logs escaping from the booms. Each spring, along with the melting ice, the club house floated downstream and came aground. Every year it was brought back up near the Rideau canal. In the early 1870s, the ORC ceased to exist before being re-introduced on 25 June 1875 with approximately 100 members.^[19]

In 1884 and 1885, the club house suffered important damage when it sank. Members of the Ottawa Rowing Club, led by

For six consecutive years, from 1905 to 1911, members of the club were the North American champions.[21] The two world wars were difficult years for the club, with fourteen members of the club losing their lives while serving during World War I^[22] and with the shell house being neglected and showing signs of deterioration.

During the Depression years, P.D. Ross, former editor of the defunct Ottawa Journal, was president of the club. He infuriated his reporters by paying them small salaries while openly spending into equipment and upkeep for the rowing club.^[21]

In 1949, the Ottawa Rowing Club accepted to contribute to the development of the rowing program at the University of Ottawa by offering equipment and coaches.^[23] However, the 1950s and 1960s was a period of decline for the Ottawa Rowing Club. After seizing Club due to financial constraints, the City of Ottawa agreed to restore in 1967 the part of the old shell house that exists today but decided to demolish the other half of the building due to its poor condition (that portion of the building stored boats and included a ballroom).^[24] On that year, there were only nine members of the Club and the permanent closure of the club was being debated.^[25]

Volunteers, such as Peter King, supported the development of rowing in Ottawa in the 1970s. The rowing boom resulted in two new clubs (that do not exist anymore): the Nepean Rowing Club and the Ottawa Carleton Rowing School. With close to 1000 members, the Ottawa Rowing Club is one of the largest rowing club in Canada. It hosts three regatta per year.

It was announced on 9 March 2020 that the

• 1903 Stanley Cup Challenge
• 1904 Stanley Cup Challenge
• 1905 Stanley Cup
• 1908 Stanley Cup Challenge
• 1909 Stanley Cup
• 1910 Stanley Cup Challenge
• 1911 Stanley Cup
• 1915 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1920 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1921 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1922 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1923 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1925 Grey Cup
• 1927 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1931 Memorial Cup
• 1939 Grey Cup
• 1940 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1940 Grey Cup
• 1949 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1953 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1958 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1958 Memorial Cup
• 1961 Diamond D Championship
• 1967 Grey Cup
• 1972 Memorial Cup
• 1976 Skate Canada International
• 1979 Macdonald Brier
• 1981 Skate Canada International
• 1987 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1988 Grey Cup
• 1990 Scott Tournament of Hearts
• 1990 IIHF Women's World Championship
• 1993 Labatt Brier
• 1993 Skate Canada International
• 1996 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1999 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 1999 Memorial Cup
• 2001 Nokia Brier
• 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie
• 2003 Canadian Junior Curling Championships
• 2004 Grey Cup
• 2005 NHL Entry Draft
• 2006 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 2006 Canadian Track and Field Championships
• 2007 Stanley Cup Finals
• 2008 CIS Men's Basketball Championship
• 2008 NHL Entry Draft
• 2008 Skate Canada International
• 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
• 2009 CIS Men's Basketball Championship
• 2010 Canadian National Fencing Championships
• 2010 CIS Men's Basketball Championship
• 2012 NHL All-Star Game
• 2013 CIS Men's Basketball Championship
• 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship
• 2014 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 2014 CIS Men's Basketball Championship
• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
• 2016 Tim Hortons Brier
• 2017 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 2017 Canadian Track and Field Championships
• 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
• 2017 Grey Cup
• NHL 100 Classic
• 2018 Canadian Track and Field Championships
• 2020 U Sports Men's Basketball Championship
• 2020 U Sports Women's Basketball Championship
• 2022 Canadian Figure Skating Championships
• 2022 CEBL Championship
• 2022 Canadian Premier League final
• 2023 World Men's Curling Championship
• 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
• 2025 U Sports University Cup

Ottawa has a hall of fame honouring local athletes. There are also the "Ottawa Sports Awards" awarded annually to the top athletes in the city.