Seven Quick Thoughts from the Predators Rally

by Dirk Hoag on Jul 19, 2007 10:20 PM EDT

Tonight's "Our Team" rally at the Sommet Center was a truly inspiring event. As a born-and-raised Red Wings fan who has lived here in Tennessee for just under two years, I can say that tonight I've drunk the Kool-Aid and am 100% on board with these Nashville Predators. The fan base, the corporate community, and the members of the organization itself have been energized to solidify the future of hockey in Nashville, and rather than go into a detailed blow-by-blow I just wanted to share some of the highlights from tonight's festivities. One fan's pictures can be found over at Flickr, and John Glennon has posted his story this evening over at the Tennessean.

1. Walking into the arena and seeing the floor filled and people sitting throughout the lower bowl, all for just a few short minutes of speeches, cheers, and video highlights.

2. Watching Gov. Bredesen grab this sign from a fan near the front and wave it for the crowd and the assorted news photographers. For those who may not be aware, Bredesen was previously mayor of Nashville and was a major force behind getting the arena built and landing an NHL team.

Nashville hockey fans send a clear message
Pic from Geek Thoughts

3. Seeing Vernon Fiddler, David Legwand and Ryan Suter appear in the new home & away jerseys. Head to the Flickr album linked above to take a look, I think they're pretty snazzy.

4. Meeting George Plaster and congratulating him on assembling this rally. I also took the opportunity to pass him a business card and plug my blog work - George, if you ever need another voice on the radio to talk hockey...

5. Hearing throughout the day various members of the Preds organization making commitments to buy season tickets of their own to help boost the cause. Guys like David Poile, Barry Trotz, Chris Mason and David Legwand have a pretty good view of the game action already - but they have all stepped up and put their money down as a sign that they want to remain in Nashville. Heck, today I heard David Poile talking optimistically for the first time since the Forsberg deal. The poor guy has been through the wringer the last several weeks.

6. Hearing the heartfelt roar from the crowd whenever the term "send a message up north" was used. It would be nice to assume that others are out there are pulling for Nashville to come together and keep the team, but the vast majority of commentary out there has been extremely vindictive and derogatory, mostly from individuals posting after news stories, but among the professional writers as well. About the only person outside Nashville rooting for Preds fans that I've seen is Eklund, who flew in for the day and sat in on the radiothon.

7. When I bought my partial season ticket plan at lunch time, I was able to walk right up to the ticket window and make my purchase, and at that time they had gotten around halfway to the stated goal of 300 Full Season Ticket Equivalents being sold today. By the time I left the rally around 7:30 tonight, over 700 FSTE's had been sold, and the line at the ticket window was at least 30 people long. Add to that the people still calling in, along with the money raised by local efforts to purchase tickets for charities, and I'm guessing the number we'll hear tomorrow morning will be impressive indeed.

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Comments

Nice post. It's rough having that kind of uncertainty surrounding your team. Hopefully the effort shown with this rally is contagious and these new season ticket holders will be able to keep interest in hockey growing.

Enjoy your new ticket plan. Hopefully you'll have it for a few more seasons to come.

by Pat on Jul 20, 2007 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

Nice post. Glad to have you fully onboard :-)

Note: If you're going to use my picture, i'd appreciate a link to the original picture or to my blog post about it. Thanks

by Paul Nicholson on Jul 20, 2007 11:02 AM EDT reply actions

My apologies, Paul - I thought that picture came from the Flikr album I had linked to above, but was obviously mistaken. Did you post that picture on the Preds message boards? I don't remember going to your blog last night.

Anyways, I'll provide the link and attribution.

by The Forechecker on Jul 20, 2007 12:18 PM EDT reply actions

No, i didn't post it on the Preds boards. Someone else may have grabbed it. Thanks for the link. I figured it was an accident.

Video is on my site now too.

Have you been to many Preds games other than Wings games in the past? For being such a hockey fan, i'm surprised you didn't already have tickets.

by Paul Nicholson on Jul 20, 2007 3:06 PM EDT reply actions

I've been to a handful of games each of the last two seasons - sometimes when the wife takes the kids out of town, or I score tickets in the suite my employer leases.

Up until now my kids have been too young to take to a 7:00 game, especially since me and Mrs. Forechecker are outnumbered. That's why I like our plan for this season. For some games, one of us will take one of the kids, rather than try and storm the beaches as a group. We might do that for the MLK game, though, which has a 5:00 start.

by The Forechecker on Jul 20, 2007 8:49 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not against Nashville as a hockey market; I'm against teams that draw poorly and eat into the revenue sharing streams generated by the popular franchises. If the Predators can average 16,000 fans a game with ticket prices at the league average, by all means, let's keep the team there.

We're still a long way from that point.

(And I honestly don't see anything vindictive in Burnside's piece. He's based in the American south, and as far as I've read, doesn't have any bias against hockey being there.)

by James Mirtle on Jul 20, 2007 9:03 PM EDT reply actions

I don't see Burnside as vindictive either, just habitually hyperbolic in his use of language.

I do take objection to people declaring the market a failure before the criteria of the lease have been met. Things were really bad heading into the lockout, and major strides forward have been made in each of the years since. There have been ticket price increases over the summer, and if attendance improves modestly the financial picture for this team could be quite different from the past two years (higher gate receipts + arena naming rights deal - salary cuts).

You are right in that it's a long road to 16,000 butts in the seats each night. But progress is being made in that direction, and it's too early to pull the plug.

by The Forechecker on Jul 20, 2007 9:41 PM EDT reply actions

A lot of people disagree, but that doesn't make them biased hammerheads.

The only reason the team is in this position is that Craig Leipold is giving up on the market — it's pretty tough to blame Canada and/or the media for that.

by James Mirtle on Jul 20, 2007 10:19 PM EDT reply actions

I don't think anybody's blaming Canada or the media for the situation the Predators are in. I'm just on the lookout for those who are spinning.

Really, is there anything surprising in the revelation that Bettman intervened to stop negotiations with Balsillie? It was pretty much assumed based on the way things have developed. The only thing new is that ESPN.com has some emails (gee, I wonder if they were forwarded from a Blackberry) and some words by Burnside claiming this deal is the pivotal moment in NHL history (which is pure hyperbole).

ESPN being what it is, however, this article gets picked up as part of the news cycle and spun as allegations of meddling in a business transaction. Like I mentioned, as Commissioner, there could be many reasons for Bettman to get involved like this.

by The Forechecker on Jul 20, 2007 10:34 PM EDT reply actions

James Mirtle said...
I'm not against Nashville as a hockey market; I'm against teams that draw poorly and eat into the revenue sharing streams generated by the popular franchises.

Oh stop it. Your favorite team in Canada agreed to the deal. The revenue sharing was put in place for the stability of the whole league. It's expected that every team will go through win/loss cycles and therefore great/poor revenue cycles.

Mr. Blackberry (and Hamilton) was denied before with the sale of the Penguins but we didn't hear half of Canada and the media crying foul then. Quit using that revenue sharing crap as an excuse for your bias.

I know, I know, Nashville had a winning team and still couldn't fill the building. But how old (or shall I say, how young) is the franchise again?

by Eric L. on Jul 21, 2007 1:56 AM EDT reply actions