After chasing away a Canadian buyer, our Napoleonic Commish courted a local group of “investors” to purchase the Preds. Well, now it seems as though this group of local-yokels is not as well-heeled as first thought. Quotes from the group, and I’m paraphrasing here, include “we’ve made our fortunes and don’t seek to profit from this team.” The Tennessean is reporting that the group is asking the city to fork over $3 mil for past losses and to guarantee that 14,000 seats will have butts in them every season to keep the team in Nashville. (Balsillie must have been asking for mo’ money and a 14,005 seat guarantee; yeah, right.) The city didn’t seem to be willing to make up the seat deficit for the previous owner when it was 14,000 and Leipold didn’t ask for mo’ money to cover any of the $70 mil he lost on the team, so what up here? My issue: If you got so much dang dough that you don’t want to profit on a gazillion dollar investment, then why the hell are you asking for back pay from the taxpayer? Not just back pay but also a guarantee of future pay! Uh, let’s do the differential calculus here. Past owner: lost $70 mil and couldn’t attain avg. 14,000 attendance. New owners: get $50 mil discount on sales price from Commish Butthead, get $3 mil advance from City, get guarantee of 14,000 filled seats. Yep, Gary just done did Nashville.
Archive for August, 2007
Related Posts:
· Nashville keeps its team?
· Say eh to Nashville…
· There will be ice in Nashville…
· Hey Hey Hamilton!
· Nashville next to move?
· Music to Hamilton’s Ears!
· Every team will play Nashville next year…
· Bettman bettin’ Nashville! (but what’s Jim thinkin’?)
There will be ice in Nashville…
Published by 11 months, 3 weeks ago in Nashville Predators and Bettman. 42 CommentsUpdate @ 5:00 pm ET: The Nashville Predators have signed a letter of intent to sell the team to the local group of investors mentioned below, for $193 million. The surprising news here is that William “Boots” Del Biaggio III (who is not from the Nashville area) is part of this group of investors. If the team does not make money in the next couple of years, it is very possible that they could be relocated to another city… most likely Kansas City, since that is where “Boots” wanted to move them when he previously offered $190 million for the team.
It looks like the Nashville Predators will continue their existence in Nashville. The group of investors interested in purchasing the team has signed a letter of intent to purchase the team from owner Craig Leiopold, who has lost $70 million owning the team over the past 10 years. If everything goes as planned, the deal will be done and the new owners will take hold of the team before this year’s NHL season.
Congratulations once again to Predators fans on keeping a failing team in your city, and to Gary Bettman for missing out on a potential goldmine in Hamilton, ON, where they don’t have to spend millions to make artificial ice for a hockey team to play on.
Related Posts:
· Nashville keeps its team?
· Say eh to Nashville…
· Hey Hey Hamilton!
· Nashville next to move?
· Gary does Nashville
· Music to Hamilton’s Ears!
· Every team will play Nashville next year…
· Bettman bettin’ Nashville! (but what’s Jim thinkin’?)






