Are the owners of the Nashville Predators looking to sell?

by Dirk Hoag on Nov 11, 2009 9:51 PM EST

This comes from the Forbes annual report on NHL franchise valuations, specifically the Nashville Predators section:

The rumor mill is buzzing that the owners are looking to sell the team, which has sizeable debt and has had a hard time attracting season ticket holders.

And here you thought HockeyBuzz had a monopoly on slinging around unsourced, sensational rumors.

While I wouldn't be surprised if minority members of the ownership group wanted to cash out their positions due to the current economic climate, there's been no public word of a potential sale of the franchise. I would challenge the folks at Forbes to actually do some reporting on this subject rather than cite "the rumor mill."

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Uhh...

if the rumor mill was buzzing, wouldn’t we have heard of this before?

"We really feel like we can go 10-0 in these last ten games...we’re trying to do something nobody has ever done." Chris Johnson
"This is the only building in the NHL that the fans get up and cheer for no apparent reason just to support us." - Dan Ellis

Official Graphic Designer/Researcher/Grammar Police of MCM.
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by Aditya T (smashville) on Nov 11, 2009 10:25 PM EST reply actions

Tiresome

Forbes reports Preds owners want to abandon ship. Sports Illustrated says the team will soon be leaving Nashville. The Tennessean implies it’s all a scam and, to prove the point, illustrates every story with a file photo of Boots Del Biaggio. The publications’ default position just doesn’t jibe with my experience or those of thousands of others who support the Predators. I go to Sommet Center at least 42 times a season and I just don’t feel the negative vibes that I’m told I should find there. Yes, I’m unhappy the Preds can’t score much and the PP is last in the NHL but that’s the frustration any fan would feel. Didn’t the fans here prove their support when Balsillie blundered into the picture a couple of summers ago? Wherever this rumor mill is, it isn’t at 5th and Broad.

by Hockey Hillbilly on Nov 11, 2009 11:55 PM EST reply actions

Agreed.

Unfortunately I can’t get to many games (if any at all), but it is very tiring to hear gloom and doom from all these rumors. Just as it is to hear that “hockey doesn’t belong in Nashville”.

by Evanbio on Nov 12, 2009 8:00 AM EST up reply actions

'nuff said

I couldn’t agree more. It seems these rumors always come from people/places that are totally removed from Nashville and the greater Pred Nation. Could some of the minority owners be feeling the stress of the economy? Sure, but that doesn’t mean we’re suddenly and unknowingly staring at the same ugly situation we faced in years past. The frustrations with team performance are legit, but again, they aren’t enough to make us abandon our Boys — and I’d like to think that they aren’t enough for the owners to bail, either.
I haven’t seen recent numbers on season ticket sales, but hopefully (and surely) the owners would consider new marketing strategies, promo’s, and every other possible strategy before resorting to a full-on sale.

by Broadwaybully on Nov 12, 2009 10:07 AM EST up reply actions

The Preds are required to submitted audited financial reports to Metro each year as part of the lease agreements. The first year under Freeman and Co was a profit in the $1mil range. Last year was reportedly a similar loss. The only way those numbers come close to making sense is if Forbes only looked at the hockey operations side of the house and ignored the arena management and off ice revenue sources.

Forbes is obviously ignorant of the lease requirements for local ownership and the conditions that must be met for the team to break the lease.

by 101st on Nov 12, 2009 9:49 AM EST reply actions

Music Venue

Has anyone else heard about the music venue that they were fixing up as a part of the lease agreement? There is some sort of rehearsal space in the Sommet Center that they were going to convert to a venue to receive more income. Just wondering…

by PenaltyKiller on Nov 12, 2009 12:12 PM EST reply actions