Sale in Nashville to fall through once again

Reports on tsn.ca are speculating that the sale to a local group in Nashville is about to fall apart. Of interest is that the local group was going to keep the team in Nashville and that they were looking for tax breaks to do so.

HTR does not understand why the NHL would not get it through their collective heads that Nashville is not a market that is full of die hard hockey fans. Rather than try to ram hockey interest into them it may be time to move the team to a market that will fully support hockey and the Predators team even if that means Hamilton or Kansas City. How about even Seattle or Portland?

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7 Responses to Sale in Nashville to fall through once again

  1. nordiques100 says:

    you knew this was going into the gutter once the group started demanding changes to the agreement after they placed their letter of intent to purchase. really, is that any worse than what balsaille did? at least mr blackberry was totally up front with what he did and EVERYONE knew about it. this other group came in like saviors, got everyone to trust them and then turned into the snakes they really were.

    say hello to the kansas city predators. this is what the league wanted all along as boots del biaggio was already part of the league's exclusive members club.

    you can bet now the sale price will lower even further just so that leipold can get rid of this money pit. bet he wishes now he took the 240 from balsille.

    this is what happens when the league is run by a commissioner with a personal vendetta against canada.

  2. kamullia says:

    They still have a chance. All they need is for Jim Balsillie to make an offer, and the board of governors will gladly give the team to anyone else in Nashville. They’ll even throw in a no-interest loan.

    I for one, would not blame them if they did.

  3. kamullia says:

    I would not give too much credit to Balsillie. After all, his first attempt to buy a franchise (Penguins) turned out to be anything but being up-front with everyone that was involved in it. This is the chief reason why the Penguins kept the deposit on that transaction, otherwise they would have had to give the deposit back to Balsillie.

    I would even venture to say that after having been exposed as a liar during that fiasco, his best approach was to be upfront about his real intentions when it came to the Predators. The cat was out of the hat thanks to Mario. And he still screwed that all up by trying to force the board of governors into something they did not want. So far he has made all the wrong moves, if he truly does indeed want to own an NHL franchise.

  4. simplyhabby says:

    Gee, never saw this coming.  Why doesn't the league force the issue upon the current owenership, give the franchise away for free with a profit sharing agreement similar to NBC. (But not to an agressive overpaying billionaire who wants to relocate the team to a sustainable market)

    This is turning into such a debacle! 

  5. eron says:

    I don't think Bettman has a personal vendetta against Canada.  Bettman just has flawed marketing concepts.  When Bettman sees Nashville, he sees a population of 1.5 million, and believes a hockey club could turn enough of them into hockey fans to make a team profitable.  The problem is, you are dealing with a cold market (cold as in not huge hockey experience) that doesn't have at least 700,000+ middle to upper middle class citizens to pay for 18,000 tickets in 41 games.  There is just not enough support in Nashville, and Bettman thought it could be created.

    There is too much against the city of Hamilton to have a team in Hamilton.  As for Winnipeg, Bettman has stated it could be possible again, because he is realizing the potential hockey fan density of the city is a lot greater than many other markets.  If Bettman goes with Kansas City over Winnipeg to take the Predators, it isn't because he hates Canada, but because Kansas City is a fresh environment with a beautiful new arena that can hold a huge capacity.  It'll also immediately create a rivalry with the St. Louis Blues.  If he picks Las Vegas, its because all Sports in North America are considering Las Vegas, but are afraid to be the first. 

    Winnipeg is likely Top Three for the next hockey franchise.  However, even Winnipeg needs a lot of work to attain it.

  6. nordiques100 says:

    i'm not a fan of another team in the south. thats basically where my bitterness lies. its like bettman gravitates to those places and neglects canada. There is one place that tops my list and its in the US. its hartford.

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