On the Forecheck, a Nashville Predators community

Since local ownership took over the Nashville Predators in late 2007, a greater focus on non-hockey events at their arena has led to a boom in business.

That gurgling sound you hear? That's the Sommet Group, a former arena sponsor of the Nashville Predators, going down the drain.

Reports indicate that Nashville's Metro Sports Authority has accepted new financial guarantees from the Predators ownership group, which should pretty much wrap up the David Freeman tax lien issue.

David Freeman has stepped down as chairman of the Nashville Predators, in light of his dispute with the Metro Sports Authority over an ongoing tax case with the IRS.

Nashville's Metro Sports Authority is taking steps to ensure that Nashville Predators chairman David Freeman repairs his guarantee to the city.

With the meeting between the Nashville Predators and representatives of the Metro Sports Authority slated for later this month, it appears that most of the issues at stake here involve how much financial information the Predators should be required to disclose to the Sports Authority, and thus the taxpayers of Nashville.

The traditional media in Nashville has turned tabloid. The new media is doing yeoman's work while reporting on heavy issues facing the Predators.

In an email sent to senior staff at the Nashville Predators and forwarded to The Tennessean, team chairman and principal owner David Freeman admitted that cash-flow problems are forcing him to sell off some assets in order to pay his tax debt to the IRS