Two main themes make up this morning’s Nashville hockey notes – a former Pred talks about the serious post-concussion symptoms that are causing him to retire from the game, and controversial questions have been raised about a proposed contract extension between the Predators and their arena concessions operator, SportService.
Radio Note: NHL Home Ice, on SiriusXM (XM 92 and Sirius 207) will air their Predators preview, with Preds GM David Poile, this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Central. Thanks to OTF reader Martin for the heads-up there.
And now, your morning hockey news…
Nashville Predators News
Preds Propose Letting Insider’s Arena Contract Run To 2043 – NewsChannel5.com
There are some aspects of this story that smack of previous smear jobs against the Preds, but I’m withholding judgment overall just yet. I’m digging through the details and have some questions I want answered before saying one way or the other as to how this affects the team and the city.
In particular, the proposed revenue split for concession sales is a real head-scratcher. By my initial calculations, the arena would have to generate huge gains in sales before the Preds would earn an extra dime. That’s due to the difference in how concessions sales would get split, with different percentage rates at various levels of revenue.
The table below breaks down how it works. Under the current agreement (assuming that requested upgrades were installed a while ago), the arena gets 45% of the first $6 million in concession sales, and 48% after that. Under the proposed agreement, the “sales fee” starts off at a lower rate, 38% on the first $5 million, and moving up from there, up to a maximum of 52% on anything over $8 million. Based on what I’m seeing, though, sales would have to hit close to the $20 million mark for the team to make any extra money on this portion of the contract. I put $20 million in the table below just to demonstrate the break-even point; the split continues at the same rate past that level.
| Current | Proposed | ||||||||
| start | end | Percent | Arena Cut | Total | start | end | Percent | Arena Cut | Total |
| 0 | 6,000,000 | 45% | 2,700,000 | 2,700,000 | 0 | 5,000,000 | 38% | 1,900,000 | 1,900,000 |
| 6,000,001 | 20,000,000 | 48% | 6,720,000 | 9,420,000 | 5,000,001 | 6,500,000 | 40% | 600,000 | 2,500,000 |
| 6,500,001 | 7,500,000 | 45% | 450,000 | 2,949,999 | |||||
| 7,500,001 | 8,000,000 | 50% | 250,000 | 3,199,999 | |||||
| 8,000,001 | 20,000,000 | 52% | 6,239,999 | 9,439,998 | |||||
Again, this is only looking at the concession sales; the terms for restaurant, catering, and suite sales are the same, while the club terms are slightly less favorable. In return, the Preds are getting Sportservice to take on some capital upgrades ($1.5 million iniitally, then 0.5% of gross receipts), money that conceivably might be requested from the City of Nashville instead.
This is complicated stuff, and I can see why it might raise eyebrows.
Predators, concessionaire close to new deal | nashvillepost.com
Increased efficiency in hot dog and beer delivery sound good, though! Damn the financials!
Preds On The Glass: POTG Tuesday Headlines, News, and Notes
Like Buddy, I expect tonight’s game thread to be a little more happenin’.
Paul McCann – Monday Notes and more…
Paul’s glad to see another suitor interested in the Phoenix Coyotes, but we’ve heard this story before.
Nashville Predators Plan Busy Weekend Around Middle Tennessee – NashvillePredators.com
Saturday and Sunday will be big days in Smashville, with a variety of events tied to the team.
Around the NHL
Scatchard the latest casualty in NHL’s Concussion Era – thestar.com
Disturbing details here on how concussions have impacted Dave Scatchard‘s quality of life. Simple things like pushing his kids on a swing are now off-limits. Something will eventually have to change in the fundamental nature of the game if they truly want to reduce such injuries, as even the latest and greatest hockey helmet technology can’t prevent brain injury during a big collision.
More conflicting reports about Sidney Crosby’s health – Houses of the Hockey
Is Sidney Crosby going to be ready for the start of the season? Who knows…
Kelly: Why Sidney Crosby should retire now – thestar.com
He’s pretty much won every major award… so should Sid the Kid just pack it in rather than risk further brain injury? It sounds sensational, but it’s a valid question.
Down Goes Brown: A buyer’s guide to the remaining NHL free agents
Still want to do some shopping? Consult DGB first…
Futures Odds To Win The Stanley Cup – The Copper & Blue
The Vegas money has the Preds slightly above the middle of the NHL pack. Personally, I think they’ve got Philadelphia pegged way too high, but they’re a big name so it’s not surprising.
Lombardi and Robitaille on LA Kings pursuit of Brad Richards | Hockey Independent
Dean Lombardi sounds proud of how his Kings came close in the Brad Richards chase. Um, OK.
What Should Be the New Jersey Devils’ Pre-Game Song for 2011-12? – In Lou We Trust
What, no “Running With The Devil” by Van Halen?