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Nashville Predators Being Sold!!!

Predators being sold to Canadian billionaire
Associated Press May 24, 2007, 2:48 AM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold tapped into country music star power and catchy marketing slogans. He helped the NHL negotiate a new labor deal friendly to small-market franchises and even traded for Peter Forsberg.

After 10 years, it still wasn't enough.

The Wisconsin businessman, tired of losing money, reached an agreement to sell his team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, the same man who pulled out of a deal to buy the Pittsburgh franchise in December after the NHL insisted he commit to not moving the Penguins.

Leipold told Predators employees of the sale in a meeting Wednesday in Nashville, according to a person familiar with the sale who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized.

Might the sale involve relocation of the franchise? The NHL's Board of Governors must approve any sale, but the Predators have struggled to sell tickets for years and their future in Nashville has been in doubt.

Team officials declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press. An announcement confirming the deal could come Thursday.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Blackberry makers Research in Motion Ltd., has offered an undisclosed amount for the team, Canadian sports network TSN reported. An amateur hockey player who was one of Time Magazine's "Time 100" in 2005, Basillie withdrew his $175 million offer for the Penguins last winter.

Cities interested in the Penguins then included Kansas City, Mo.; Houston; Portland, Ore.; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Leipold helped bring the NHL to Nashville in the mid-1990s when then-mayor Phil Bredesen, now Tennessee's governor, built an arena and started looking for either an NBA or NHL expansion franchise.

The nontraditional hockey market landed the expansion franchise in June 1997, and the Predators played their first game in October 1998.

But ticket sales lagged after the first couple of seasons when the excitement and novelty wore off, and the team struggled to grow from expansion franchise to playoff contender. The Predators earned their first postseason berth in 2004, only to lose the next season to the lockout.

Leipold helped negotiate the current labor agreement, a deal that included revenue sharing, a salary cap and cash for small-market teams. But those small-market teams must reach certain attendance marks to earn their full shares.

He signed star forward Paul Kariya in 2005, free agent center Jason Arnott last summer, then traded for Forsberg in February to try and boost the Predators' chances for postseason success.

Leipold had been looking for a local investor to buy a minority share of the team, and lobbying publicly the past months for more local involvement to boost lagging ticket sales.

He announced a new, multiyear naming rights deal for the arena last Friday that he called a big statement for the team's future in Nashville.

"These are the kinds of things we need to have happen," Leipold said then. "Without a naming rights partner, without ticket sales, without corporate sponsors, that's when we get hurt. This is a great step. It sends the great message, and hopefully it'll get other companies calling as well."

A telephone message left at the home Brian Whitfield, the managing partner for the Sommet Group, which bought the naming rights, was not immediately returned Wednesday night.

The Predators are coming off their best season yet with a franchise record 110 points and a third-place finish in the league standings. But they lost in the opening round of the playoffs for a third straight season.

The team averaged only 13,815 fans per game this season, which gives Leipold - or the new owner - a chance to exercise a clause in the contract with the city of Nashville to ask for a "cure" season.

That would force Nashville to buy enough tickets to boost attendance to 14,000. If the city declined, the team could leave by paying an exit fee following the upcoming season.

WINNIPEG PLEASE

tough sell

what is the max for the mts centre?

i think a little over 15,000 they say

might be tough but cooool

Winnipeg's market is way too small.

quote:

1 Toronto (Mississauga) Ontario 5,113,149 2 Montreal (Laval) Quebec 3,635,571 3 Vancouver (Surrey) British Columbia 2,116,581 4 Ottawa-Gatineau Ontario/Quebec 1,130,761 5 Calgary Alberta 1,079,310 6 Edmonton Alberta 1,034,945 7 Quebec City (L�vis) Quebec 715,515 8 Winnipeg Manitoba 694,668

Kansas City Predators

/thread

The new Winnipeg arena is about 15,015, I believe. Around there.

Winnipeg won't get a team, unfortunately. They don't have enough major corporate headquarters there to buy up the vip boxes. There's a lot of fan support, but not enough of them for the NHL to see Winnipeg as a viable market for an NHL team (although they saw cities like Nashville and Phoenix as great in terms of business and population but did not forsee that those cities would have zilch in terms of fan support).

The sale is not final, but a press conference is scheduled for today in Nashville (thurs). The content of the conference is not detailed, but many assume it is primarily to deal with the potential sale (to be approved by the NHL) of the Predators to Canadian billionaire (as forementioned above).

If the sale is finalized, it is believed that the new owner will then petition the NHL to move the team to a southern ontario location such as Hamilton or Barrie (?).

Nashville is a good team in a poor market, if any team was going to move (and there have been no rumors of any team moving for awhile and no intention by the NHL to expand, ie Seattle, Kansas or Las Vegas, the latter two in my opinion being again horrible markets for a hockey team) it was going to be them.

Seattle would mean a lot of cool roadtrips!
You don't think Winnipeg could fair better with the salary cap era?

seattle woudl be cool
but they have a smaller population than winnerpeg

kansas maybe but i can see abotu as much support from them as nashville

quebec woudl be great..bring back the nordicks

we wont get one here and if we do we would have to sell our souls

quote:

Originally posted by dj_alucard seattle woudl be cool but they have a smaller population than winnerpeg kansas maybe but i can see abotu as much support from them as nashville quebec woudl be great..bring back the nordicks we wont get one here and if we do we would have to sell our souls

seattle has a smaller population than winnipeg? since when? that whole area is comparable in population to the vancouver area isn't it?

lol, Sea-Tac is bigger than greater Vancouver even. Winnipeg is barely 700,000 and greater Seattle is 4 mil.

quote:

Originally posted by Spin Laden lol, Sea-Tac is bigger than greater Vancouver even. Winnipeg is barely 700,000 and greater Seattle is 4 mil.

well if we meant greater seattle then we shoudl have said so

but the city of settle is smaller in population that winnerpeg for a while

alot of cities in the US are

we are big fo a city we just dont have that GReater area liek the other cool cities

quote:

Originally posted by dj_alucard well if we meant greater seattle then we shoudl have said so but the city of settle is smaller in population that winnerpeg for a while alot of cities in the US are we are big fo a city we just dont have that GReater area liek the other cool cities

but that means nothing....the majority of canuck fans come from the surrounding cities...just look at the traffic coming into the city on game days...especially from the north shore

vancouver is 500,000 and greater van is 2.2 mil
Winnipeg is 633,000 (bigger than vancouver proper)

a hockey team in vegas would be cool
drive down, play some slots, watch a hockey game

werent the penguins toying with the idea of moving to vegas if they find a buyer?

quote:

Originally posted by thecoyote but that means nothing....the majority of canuck fans come from the surrounding cities...just look at the traffic coming into the city on game days...especially from the north shore vancouver is 500,000 and greater van is 2.2 mil Winnipeg is 633,000 (bigger than vancouver proper)

but winnipeg will still draw from the 500,000 around the province plus people from Saskatewan and North Dakota.

plus gary bettman said in an interview only last week (at which time he would of known about jim balsillie and the preds) said that winnipeg was his #1 choice in canada.

Video Of Interview If You Dont Believe Me From Sportsnet

alot of people pass judgement on stuff they know nothing about!! winnipeg does have the corporate support and they have been in regular contact with the nhl. gary bettman since the allstar break is really starting to warm to them.

if you want to know about the corporate support and all the stats ask darren ford at jetsowner.com since he is in constant contact with all those involved.

we actually need to build in more corporate boxes. also ive been told that with not too much $$ the MTS can be expanded to accomodate another 1-2k which would be perfect. a few more corporate boxes, seats and some standing room like other arenas have.

My Rant.

well i hope they didn't build the mts centre just for the moose.

Notable Quotes From the HNC boys

Don Cherry (Hockey Night in Canada) says...
"They're not building a 15,000 seat arena for the AHL. I think (a return to Winnipeg) could really happen, and it could be one of the most successful franchises in the NHL"

Ron MacLean (Hockey Night in Canada) says...
"How do I know? I just feel, and I've always felt somehow, that they would return to Winnipeg? And I just think based on what we've seen, it's hard to imagine all of the Sun Belt teams surviving. I could be wrong on that. But relocation might be the easiest option for Winnipeg"

i state it might not happen this time round but it will happen.
but when it does i will come back to buy my tickets. alot of young people who have left the peg will return.

the "white outs" were legendary

quote:

Originally posted by thecoyote Seattle would mean a lot of cool roadtrips! You don't think Winnipeg could fair better with the salary cap era?

I don't think Winnipeg could fair even if each player was making $10/hourly! The arena wasn't built to accomodate an NHL team, and I don't think that even if it was constantly sold out we'd be able to keep a team. We've got less than 3/4 of a million people here. Wouldn't that make the team in the smallest market? I don't think it'll happen.

quote:

Originally posted by RaPiD____EyE_k seattle has a smaller population than winnipeg? since when? that whole area is comparable in population to the vancouver area isn't it?

The city itself is less than winnipeg. The metro area is bigger than vancouver, you're right. It's around 4mill.

This will probably start the flame war to end all flame wars but:

I don't think that if the Southern US teams fold that they will necessarily move elsewhere. If anything the league probably expanded far to fast and will shrink down to a smaller size in the coming years.

quote:

Originally posted by TCB Notable Quotes From the HNC boys Don Cherry (Hockey Night in Canada) says... "They're not building a 15,000 seat arena for the AHL. I think (a return to Winnipeg) could really happen, and it could be one of the most successful franchises in the NHL" Ron MacLean (Hockey Night in Canada) says... "How do I know? I just feel, and I've always felt somehow, that they would return to Winnipeg? And I just think based on what we've seen, it's hard to imagine all of the Sun Belt teams surviving. I could be wrong on that. But relocation might be the easiest option for Winnipeg" i state it might not happen this time round but it will happen. but when it does i will come back to buy my tickets. alot of young people who have left the peg will return.

quote:

Originally posted by ThaRegger the "white outs" were legendary

That they were. Those days were awesome. I was so young back then!

ill just laugh at all the negative people when they do comeback and are doing well and saying "ah yes i knew theyd come back, i had faith"



i do not think the NHL with shrink lol.

The league did expand too fast, too rapidly. I'm surprised the league is still around with the way Bettman runs it, and I've been saying that for years. He expands and allows teams to move from markets that (at the time) could not afford to keep teams to markets that are/were indifferent about welcoming a team. A handful of people actually cared when Carolina won the cup. Nashville has an avg. of 13,000 seats filled. Hell, during the PLAYOFFS this year, I saw more empty seats during Anaheim's 5-1 victory over Vancouver than full seats. He's forever pissed off and snubbed ESPN (who barely cover the cup final let alone anything but NHL wise) and gave over broadcasting rights to a network that 1 bar out of 10 in LA gets.

As for Winnipeg, I never said I don't want to see a team there. There's indication that there would be fan support, but the NHL is convinced there would not be enough support, enough population and fan support to sufficiently fill the arena to make it affordable to sustain a team there. They feel there is not enough corporate headquarts in the area to fill the box seats which are a huge portion of team income. I'd love to see a team back in Winnipeg. I'm sad it ever left there and went to Phoenix. Hell, one of US' largest cities could care less about the coyotes.

The league expanded too fast into markets that didn't even want teams or knew what hockey is, and still don't. They watered down the talent pools which if not for the increased capabilities of teams to scout, draft, train, condition and coach, we'd have a lot more pathetic teams out there filled with players that 10 years ago would have no business playing in the league. Putting a team in Vegas is a joke. People don't go to Vegas to watch hockey, they go to gamble (ok, that's a poor assumption but come on), and those living there could probably care about hockey as much as any other desert city.. oh what's that, Phoenix is a desert city, one with a huge population advantage yet little fan support?

I don't know if they need another southern ontario team (toronto and ottawa) but I don't want to see a talented team like Nashville suffer too long if the fans don't start supporting their team. Quebec won't get a team, sorry. There's no support for it from the government or fans enough to be bothered. I'd like to see two american teams move to winnipeg and quebec, but that won't happen. sorry guys.

quote:

Originally posted by DjCommisad As for Winnipeg, I never said I don't want to see a team there. There's indication that there would be fan support, but the NHL is convinced there would not be enough support, enough population and fan support to sufficiently fill the arena to make it affordable to sustain a team there. They feel there is not enough corporate headquarts in the area to fill the box seats which are a huge portion of team income. I'd love to see a team back in Winnipeg. I'm sad it ever left there and went to Phoenix. Hell, one of US' largest cities could care less about the coyotes. I don't know if they need another southern ontario team (toronto and ottawa) but I don't want to see a talented team like Nashville suffer too long if the fans don't start supporting their team. Quebec won't get a team, sorry. There's no support for it from the government or fans enough to be bothered. I'd like to see two american teams move to winnipeg and quebec, but that won't happen. sorry guys.

did you even read what i wrote??

listen to that interview for gods sake. slaps head. go back up 10 posts.

quote:

Originally posted by TCB did you even read what i wrote?? listen to that interview for gods sake. slaps head. go back up 10 posts.

i saw there was an interview posted, but i'm too lazy to listen to it <3

*edit*

okay now i watched it. you took what i said out of context in the sense that while i by no means know everything there is to know, and what i do know is mostly second hand information, i've come to the understanding that even without gary bettman saying it in that interview, the nhl is not looking to relocate teams or expand at this point, and even if it did, canadian locations are not their primary target. while some american markets the nhl has come to have not supported their teams as enthusiastically as they had predicted or hoped, i'm still under the impression if any team did move or any expansion markets were to be considered, they would be american. he's being diplomatic by saying "if we were to have a team in canada again it'd be winnipeg (or quebec)" as there are, offhand (and i'm sure they've done some research into it, but not their 'due diligence') able to support teams again economically.

the sale will take several weeks to finalize as the nhl commitee has final sale on pending sales, and by the time that's done, there won't be any time left in the 6 week window remaining to have the board properly evaluate any proposal by jim basille to relocate the team. it's also well rumored that if he does acquire the team, which hinges on his desire to relocate the predators imo (just like the penguins in which the nhl flat out said no and that's rumored to be why he withdrew his bid to buy them), the nhl likely wouldn't let him relocate the team this year.

i still say, bring back the jets, bring back the nordiques, but take your pick at any number of 'rumored' (is that a better way of putting it?) reasons as to why it'd be unfortunately unlikely to happen.

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