It will also be the home arena of the Ottawa Black Bears of the National Lacrosse League starting with the 2024–25 NLL season.

The arena is also used regularly for music concerts and has hosted events such as the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball championship and the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships As part of its bid to land a National Hockey League franchise for Ottawa, Terrace Corporation unveiled the original proposal for the arena development at a press conference in September 1989.

The corporation received a CA$6 million grant from the Canadian government, but needed to borrow to pay for the rest of the costs of construction.

On August 17, 1993, Bruce Firestone, the Senators owner, was replaced by Rod Bryden, a former high tech tycoon, who assumed control of Terrace Corporation.

Bryden borrowed enough to pay for the CA$188 million project[7] through a consortium of U.S. banks and Ogden Entertainment, but could not find financing for the highway interchange.

Only after the Ontario government provided a loan guarantee for the highway interchange financing did construction proceed.

When mortgage holder Covanta Energy (the former Ogden Entertainment) went into receivership that year, Terrace was expected to pay off the whole debt.

The City of Ottawa amended its bylaws in December 2004, and in 2005, the venue was allowed to increase its seating capacity to 19,153 and total attendance to 20,500 when including standing room.

[18] Following the 2012–13 season, Melnyk sought to end the arena's relationship with Scotiabank as the bank was not a financial backer of his team, and Scotiabank agreed not to contest the deal's termination provided the club would not sell naming rights to another financial institution.

[21] Team president Tom Anselmi argued that the venue was "probably a little bit too big for the market" and that reducing the capacity would lead to more sell-outs.

[22] After one season of the reduction, the Senators decided to open up the tarp-covered seats, increasing the capacity to 18,655 for hockey.

The Senators have been in discussions with the National Capital Commission to replace Canadian Tire Centre with a new arena located on federal land in downtown Ottawa since 2016.

The arena is located in the west end of Ottawa, south of Huntmar Drive and Ontario Highway 417.

[26] Canadian Tire Centre is the largest sport and concert venue in the National Capital Region after the outdoor TD Place Stadium.