I lived 2 - 3 years in Ottawa... what I found is that a lot of the city has people who are purely workaholics/business oriented and they tend to focus on work and keep to themselves. A lot of people I worked with had no kids and really were not really into going out and having fun.
I remember how one radio station was trying to get a petition going to get concerts to stop by to Ottawa since they never get any of the big acts. It's amazing how much more concerts and other arts come to Winnipeg compared to Ottawa.
When I lived there during the Sens cup run the town was really big into the team.... up until they lost. I went to the airport to see the team when they came back expecting that their would be festivities and a big group of fans gathering.... their was maybe 100 people if that.
For hockey , it was mostly Leafs fans, followed by Habs fans from Gatineau and a small minority actually cared about the Sens.
The arena is good and it's not that hard to access it, my guess is that people just don't give a crap because the city is full of fair weather fans and the older more rich folks are stuck up and just don't leave the house.
Their only hope would be to be like the Redblacks and move somewhere centralized and where they can attract the younger university/college kids (the only people in town who like to have fun).