Predators Sold

[producer2]

I agree with you. I think he will eventually get sideways with Liepold and/or the league and walk from the deal.

There is no way for him to leave his Canadian options open (as he is trying to do) without causing Nashville to completely turn against him and the team. I think the city/fans would rally behind the team sufficiently (14k tickets or more) to keep the lease intact. But his antics don't suggest he's operating in good faith and I think that's going to turn even the most diehard fans off. And for what, to delay a move by only a year ? If this guy is as rich as they say he is that shouldn't even be a consideration. I think he's doing it because he's already decided he'll move the team and he wants to make sure he offends the season ticket holders sufficiently to insure that he won't have to worry about any technicalities.

If he still can Liepold should cut his losses and dump this guy and find a buyer that's more of a straight shooter. If this continues much longer I'm afraid it will do long term harm to the team no matter who owns them.

[ATLBrain]

So where are the Nashville based groups who want to buy the team? Apparently, they don't exist. I dare say that's something that you'd not see here in Atlanta... a "foreigner" coming in to take our teams away.

While I'm on the subject, that (IMO) is a big difference between Nashville and Atlanta. It seems the business and government leaders in the two cities have a difference in their approaches to being "major league". Atlanta will do whatever it takes. BTW: We've lost a hockey team before, and it stung.

[producer2]

So where are the Nashville based groups who want to buy the team? Apparently, they don't exist. I dare say that's something that you'd not see here in Atlanta... a "foreigner" coming in to take our teams away.

While I'm on the subject, that (IMO) is a big difference between Nashville and Atlanta. It seems the business and government leaders in the two cities have a difference in their approaches to being "major league". Atlanta will do whatever it takes. BTW: We've lost a hockey team before, and it stung.

[titanhog]

So where are the Nashville based groups who want to buy the team? Apparently, they don't exist. I dare say that's something that you'd not see here in Atlanta... a "foreigner" coming in to take our teams away.

While I'm on the subject, that (IMO) is a big difference between Nashville and Atlanta. It seems the business and government leaders in the two cities have a difference in their approaches to being "major league". Atlanta will do whatever it takes. BTW: We've lost a hockey team before, and it stung.

[ATLBrain]

I am aware of the low attendance and fair-weather fandom here... and my point was not to slam Nashville per-se (or to gloat either). However, I think that this reality bolsters my point: That despite the sporadic attendance of our various teams, that (when Turner sold the teams) he was put under tremendous pressure to sell to Atlanta groups. And he did. It was a two-way effort from Turner (from Atlanta) and various business leaders (several of whom would never have imagined owning a sports team much before they did). They stepped up to the plate (sorry for the pun).

Not really related to the point, but kind of revealing about myself... I have been to twice as many Preds games (8) as I've been to Thrashers games (4). Although, I'm a Thrashers fan.

[rocky top buzz]

Aren't the Hawks and Thrashers owned by a group of investors in Boston? That would mean the only team in ATL owned by a local would be the Falcons.

I will give you this though: At this point, moving a team away from Atlanta would be nearly impossible due to their size. The only reason we got the Oilers is because there was another NFL team in TX

[ATLBrain]

From Nashville Post!!!!

Local Investors looking at the Preds. Now we're talking...

http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1...rs_in_the_works

I hope I'm forced to eat my words (above).

[southsideJ]

From Nashville Post!!!!

Local Investors looking at the Preds. Now we're talking...

http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1...rs_in_the_works

I hope I'm forced to eat my words (above).

[jcoop]

If Leipold really believes in hockey in Nashville and he thinks a viable alternative is there, I'd like to see him back out of the deal with Balsillie...I wouldn't doubt that he told Leipold one thing about wanting to make it work in Nashville and now it's becoming obvious that he wants to and will move the team as soon as he can.

If he doesn't back out of the deal, we just hope the NHL will not approve the sale...I think that would be a good possibility.

[producer2]

I'm skeptical that Balsillie want to move to Hamilton. He is a pretty shrewd businessman and I do not think that even he thinks that the move is possible given the territory rights, etc. BUT he is sure going to sell a lot of tickets in Nashville AND will always have the potential to relocate if we do not keep that level pretty high.

[miami1855]

I haven't read the entire thread, so excuse me if this has already been mentioned. But the Buffalo Sabres have a hand in this game. Hamilton is only 70 miles from Buffalo and a team moving there would kill their attendance. I think the NHL will see that as a problem with the move.

[titanhog]

Hey Richard Lawson...heard you on The Zone this afternoon. Should call you "Scoop" Lawson the way you and the Post keep out-scooping the Tennessean. I hope you're right that Silly-Ball can NOT pay $27mil and skip town with the Preds.

[MidTenn1]

If....the team is sold and the NHL approves it, there is no doubt in my mind that the team is gone. Balsillie is throwing stupid money around and he will get what he wants; ownership of a Canadian team.

So....here is the scenario I would like to see.

• First, ask Balsillie to guarantee he will keep the team here for seven more years(which he won't).

• Second, when he refuses, the City kicks him out. Tell him and the team to go now, on opening night if necessary. Give their moving vans a police escort up I-65 to the city limits.

• Finally, in a strong symbolic, civically lawful organized gesture, hold a good riddance ceremony at the Sommet that includes the removal of an NHL sign or something.

If your spouse told you 'you've got a year then I'm moving out', would you wait? If your employee told you he was going to 'hang out' for a year, then go work for Acme, you would tell him to clean out his desk and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Why should Nashville look like a bunch of chumps in this deal. Grab him by the seat of the pants and the scruff of the neck (metaphorically) and toss him and his team over the St Lawrence Seaway.

Embarass the hell out of the NHL and show ito the country what a minor league institution it has become. Let the lawyers sort out the details. The good riddance ceremony would give the league the highest ratings it has received in years.

[producer2]

If....the team is sold and the NHL approves it, there is no doubt in my mind that the team is gone. Balsillie is throwing stupid money around and he will get what he wants; ownership of a Canadian team.

So....here is the scenario I would like to see.

• First, ask Balsillie to guarantee he will keep the team here for seven more years(which he won't).

• Second, when he refuses, the City kicks him out. Tell him and the team to go now, on opening night if necessary. Give their moving vans a police escort up I-65 to the city limits.

• Finally, hold a good riddance ceremony at the Sommet that includes blowing up an NHL sign or something.

If your spouse told you 'you've got a year then I'm moving out', would you wait? If your employee told you he was going to 'hang out' for a year, then go work for Acme, you would tell him to clean out his desk and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Why should Nashville look like a bunch of chumps in this deal. Grab him by the seat of the pants and the scruff of the neck and toss him and his team over the St Lawrence Seaway.

Embarass the hell out of the NHL and show ito the country what a minor league institution it has become. Let the lawyers sort out the details. The good riddance ceremony would give the league the highest ratings it has received in years.

[MTSUBlueraider86]

This is why I no longer care about pro sports! With the NFL and the NBA we constantly have players arrested, or walking off the job if they don't get their multi-millions. MLB turned me off with all the players union strikes and high saleries. I really do not care if the Predators stay or go. I am sorry, but men making millions of dollars to slap a puck around is almost immoral when we have starving children to feed in this city and thousands without healthcare.

I cannot support the gratuitous nature of the Nashviile Kats marketing when the players are not even good enough for NFL Europe. Arena football does nothing for this city outside of a few fans that go when there is nothing else to do.

I would rather have a NASCAR race. Those guys don't get arrested, and they have to win to make money. Its the same with Pro Golfers, Pro Bowlers, Pro Tennis Players, Cyclists etc... they get paid when they win. When is the last time Tiger Woods went to a strip club and threw $81,000 at a stripper? Please!!!!

Its the same with Hollywood, they are overpaid. They should get a small salary and commission if the film does well. That is the way music works. You sell records, you get paid.

I personally will not watch the Titans ever again as long as thugs like Pacman are on the team.

There are too many sports wanting corporate support. I would rather corporations put money into technology, jobs, infrastructure, research, environmental policies good for the earth, education, healthcare, community development, small business endeavors, etc... They don't need to buy hockey tickets if those other needs are not met. It would better serve the community if corporations invested in Vanderbilt, MTSU, TSU, Belmont, Libscomb and Trevecca sporting events because that money helps future business professionals and future teachers. Corporations do not need to support thugs like Pacman or goons like Vernon Fiddler. (He verbally assaulted me once.)

Nashville will survive without pro sports. I don't know why people think the city will cease to exist if the Predators leave. The same with the Nashville Sounds, why does a minor league team...yes a minor legaue team need a $43 million dollar stadium? Their present owner would not even keep up the stadium they had! It does not meet ADA standards! Is that Metro's fault?

If Bastille takes the Predators, I won't like it, but the NHL almost ceased to exist a couple of years ago. Will we really miss that?

[producer2]

If you do not like it, then don't support it. But please allow those who do support it to live there own lives. No one is putting a gun to anyone's head here and I support your ability to not buy a ticket, but just because you don''t want to doesn't mean I can't.

[titanhog]

A few things...if we find out that Silly-Ball can move the team to Canada, even if it's 7 years from now, I personally will have a hard time supporting something I know is not really mine. It's like we're warming them up for Hamilton.

Also...IF Silly-Ball CAN pay the $27mil and take the team to Canada (with the NHL's approval), then we DO have something to worry about, even if we sell out every game next year. We can sit here and say that the NHL would never approve that, but I wouldn't put it past them.

Lastly...I believe a great deal of the downtown businesses success over the last 10 years is because of the extra people downtown due to Titans and Preds games. Losing the Preds and not getting the Sounds DT can't help.

[Richard Lawson]

Hey Richard Lawson...heard you on The Zone this afternoon. Should call you "Scoop" Lawson the way you and the Post keep out-scooping the Tennessean. I hope you're right that Silly-Ball can NOT pay $27mil and skip town with the Preds.

[southsideJ]

Also...IF Silly-Ball CAN pay the $27mil and take the team to Canada (with the NHL's approval), then we DO have something to worry about, even if we sell out every game next year. We can sit here and say that the NHL would never approve that, but I wouldn't put it past them.

[producer2]

We just need to keep pushing the rock up the mountain. The Tennessean has never been a forward thinking media outlet and really has become more of headline grabber than a news provider. I still have to agree with the article in yesterday's paper (buried in issues) from the Vanderbilt professor who thinks that in the end the best deal for Balsillie will be to keep the team here IF we can continue to support them with strong ticket sales. The arena deal is just too good to pass up!

[MTSUBlueraider86]

In all seriousness, I have no problem with people supporting the Predators, my statirical approach may have been missunderstood, but my frustration with the pro sports obsession in Nashville has blinded some into thinking putting up with Pacman Jones and others is worth the embarassment for the city for having such players in the city to begin with.

I hope the Predators stay, I have been to games, but as a vehemently liberal Democrat I am more concerned with keeping good teachers, business professionals, healthcare workers and the like in the city rather than pro athletes making more in one year than 95% of Americans make in a lifetime. After all, they are really just entertainers and not strictly athletes.

I do not think Nashville will lose as much as people think if the Predators are gone. When we have more schools built and every child having a warm meal before bedtime, that will indicate that Nashville has it's priorities in order. Humanity before sports.

[Hankster]

I do not understand what part of this equation people are not getting. If we sell an average of 14,000 tickets per game, Balsille will not be able to move the team. Having said that we should sell more and I think we will. That is all they want, for us to live up to our end of the bargain. we sold 12,000 season tickets in order to get the franchise to locate here and then we abandoned them (and not individual fans but businesses) You should read the article in today's paper:

link to story

We are getting way to wound up and need to focus on how to make this a win, win for the city ( and getting rid of the team is not the answer)

[titanhog]

I heard David Poile on The Zone 104.5 this afternoon. Preds just traded Timonin and Hartnell to Philly for the 23rd pick in the first round. Poile said that there was no way the Preds would have paid either what they got in Philly (Timo got 6 years at nearly $6mil per)...so it was better to trade before the deadline than to just lose them both without compensation. Of course...it's easy to say they wouldn't have signed with Nashville after you've traded them. I hope this isn't the first step in dismantling a playoff team. Poile also said it's iffy on Paul Koriya coming back...he'll probably wait til until free agency begins before making a decision because he wants to see what's gonna happen with the sale.

Poile said it will be tough during free agency talks when telling a player he doesn't know for sure who will own the team and where it will play in the coming years. He said Leipold will still own the team for sure when free agency starts.

When Willie Daunic asked Poile if he would still have the money to field as good a team as before...that the fans would want to know because many are trying to decide whether to buy tickets...Poile got a little miffed and told him that Nashville needing 14,000 fans this year to keep the team is not a one year thing. We need to build a fan base whether the team is a playoff contender or rebuilding. He said that now with the salary cap teams will be rebuilding every 2-3 years. Sure sounds like we're about to take a step backwards, doesn't it?! It will make me mad if Leiopod and Ballsillie don't take care of business next month. It will be telling as far as their intentions and will show a lack of good faith towards the people of Nashville.

[nashvillwill]

Personally, I hope this deal falls completely apart for that arrogant Canadian *?#%@.

[nashvillwill]

oh, and by the way....why was this thread moved? it has traffic, it pertains to Nashville, it involves one of the biggest buildings in Nashville, revenue/politics/local business. what more does a thread need?