Pay What You Can Home Opener Coming Back In Nation’s Capital

The reigning Canadian Premier League regular season champions are inviting the city to experience their home opener with a lower barrier to entry: the tickets come in tiers of ‘pay what you can’, with a portion of the proceeds going towards the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

The pediatric healthcare and research centre was launched in 1974 and is one of only seven level one trauma centres for children in the country.

The announcement of the club’s third straight Pay What You Can home opener came from The Rideau this morning, with Atletico Ottawa being joined by Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe and representatives from CHEO to make the announcement.

Lily Millett, a CHEO patient, will represent the organization at the on the April 15 home opener against the Halifax Wanderers. Lily is also launching a fundraising effort called Lil’ Kidneys to help purchase new equipment for CHEO.

This will mark the third pay what you want home opener hosted by the capital city, with previous year’s iterations also contributing to good causes: 2022 raised funds for Ukraine, while their first-ever home match in 2021 raised proceeds for the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa.

Atletico Ottawa’s previous season saw the club go from worst-to-first in the regular season, with a strong playoff run seeing the team earn hosting rights to the CPL Final last fall. Some 14,992 attending that match, delivering a club record attendance.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets can do so here.