Nashville Predators articles about selling tickets and the team

[Satans Hockey]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=214077&hubname=nhl

Predators fans rally to sell tickets

Associated Press

7/19/2007 7:50:48 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Todd Tayes had been working in his grandmother's pastry shop, saving his money for a flat-screen TV. When the 12-year-old boy heard the Nashville Predators needed to sell more tickets, he changed his plans.

"I wanted to buy some tickets," he said.

Tayes and his uncle, Chris Turner, teamed up Thursday and bought a 13-game package each - their first ticket purchase - for next season during a 15-hour rally held by a local group trying to sell enough season tickets to keep the Predators' lease in effect after the 2007-08 season.

The team's future ownership is still undecided. A local investors group has been given the chance to keep the Predators in Nashville after meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday in New York.

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Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie's $220-million bid stalled after a letter of intent was signed in May.

Whoever owns the team would have to spend millions of dollars to break the arena lease if the "Our Team" effort helps the Predators average a minimum of 14,000 in paid attendance this season. The team averaged 13,815 for 2006-07.

NHL officials and current owner Craig Leipold monitored the rally to see how Nashville would respond.

"Our Team" chairman Ron Samuels, president of a local bank, said the group's original goal was 300 season tickets sold Thursday. They upped it to 500 after reaching 250 with seven hours left.

"I can't imagine this is not a strong message when you consider that last year at this same time total new sales for tickets from what I understand were somewhere around 600 to 750," Samuels said. "We're well over that now at almost 1,500 tickets.

"That's a 100 per cent increase. That's pretty strong. I would think this is certainly showing the NHL and others that Nashville's thirsty for hockey."

The "Our Team" group would like to break the 14,000 minimum and hit 16,000 to help the team's eventual owner field a more competitive team.<

The Predators are coming off a season in which they finished third in the NHL regular season with a franchise-high 110 points, only to lose to the San Jose Sharks for the second consecutive time in the first round of the playoffs.

Anticipating a lower budget for next season, the Predators let top scorer Paul Kariya leave as free agent, and traded top goalie Tomas Vokoun, defenceman Kimmo Timonen and forward Scott Hartnell.

Leipold, awarded the expansion franchise in June 1997, announced in May he was selling the team after losing $70 million in the club's 10-year history.

On Thursday, fans had the chance to enjoy a live band at midday, eat $5 box lunches provided by neighboring hotels and check out seats they wanted to buy while watching highlights on the scoreboard.

A bigger event planned Thursday night was to feature the team's mascot, Gnash, unveiling the Predators' new sweater, with defenceman Ryan Suter and forward Vern Fiddler, a live band and Tennessee's first lady, Andrea Conte.

David Freeman, chief executive officer of 36 Venture Capital, and Herb Fritch, CEO of HealthSpring Inc., are part of the Nashville group bidding for the Predators. Both men planned to stop by the rally to thank the organizers.

Freeman said everyone has agreed not to discuss their talks in public, including their offer, but said everything is moving in the right direction with Leipold and the NHL giving Nashville another chance to show it wants the Predators.

"That's a wonderful position to be in, to know that it's in our hands now," Freeman said. "Craig Leipold couldn't have been any more generous to allow this city another opportunity.

"I don't know if people will recognize what Craig has really done here and what a great gift he's given to the city to allow it a chance to more or less buy its own hockey team back."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=213934&hubname=nhl

Preds' Leipold, local group meet with NHL

Canadian Press

7/18/2007 2:11:43 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP-CP) - Predators owner Craig Leipold and the NHL are giving Nashville every chance to keep the hockey team in Music City. Now it's up to the fans to respond.

Leipold and representatives of the local group bidding to buy the team met Wednesday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in New York. The meeting was successful enough that they sent an e-mail with a statement to Herb Fritch, chief executive officer of HealthSpring Inc. in Nashville.

"The results of today's meeting is that Nashville has the opportunity to move very quickly to retain the Predators and to do so under local ownership," Fritch said in reading the statement.

"While we have not yet signed a purchase agreement, our discussions were encouraging for Nashville if we can move quickly and decisively to ensure the team's long-term financial stability."

Fritch declined to detail what the group is offering for the team.

"Craig is trying to afford the local group every opportunity to put an offer in place," said Gerry Helper, the Predators' vice president of communications. "Beyond that, it's not appropriate to comment further," Helper said.

Fritch said he didn't know if the meeting produced a letter of intent.

The group also includes 36 Venture Capital CEO David Freeman, who attended the meeting. They submitted their bid in early July, countering offers from Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and California businessman William "Boots" Del Biaggio for the team.

Leipold said he's trying to sell the team after losing approximately US$70 million since being awarded the expansion franchise in 1997.

The Nashville group has yet to detail its offer. Balsillie's bid of $220 million has stalled since a letter of intent signed in May, and Del Biaggio offered $190 million. Del Biaggio has an agreement with the Sprint Center to own any NHL team that relocates to Kansas City.

"Obviously a local bid is a positive for both the league and the city of Nashville," Balsillie's lawyer Richard Rodier told The Canadian Press on Wednesday. "The commissioner is on record as being in favour of franchise stability in their current locations. And it's perfectly understandable. However, if the local bid is not successful, we remain optimistic that our bid is better in every way than any of the other bids out there."

The NHL didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.

But the would-be Nashville buyers, Leipold and the NHL will be watching and monitoring how Thursday's day-long "Our Team" rally in Nashville fares. A separate local group is working to sell at least 3,000 season tickets, starting with the rally.

"Keeping the Predators in Nashville will continue to be a broad-based community effort, and we hope that (Thursday's) rally will demonstrate the support for the club's ongoing needs from both the fans and the business community," Fritch said.

"Mr. Leipold and the NHL office have been very supportive in their efforts. We thank them for their willingness to allow the city of Nashville to demonstrate its desire to retain the Predators."

The "Our Team" group is working to ensure the Predators' lease remains in effect after the 2007-08 season no matter who winds up owning the team. The Predators averaged 13,815 in paid attendance this season after finishing third in the NHL with 110 points.

Leipold exercised a clause in June that would allow the team to end the arena lease if the Predators do not average a minimum of 14,000 in paid attendance. Freeman recently said the Predators would need to average 16,000 to break even.

Thursday's rally starts at 6 a.m. CT and will feature a day-long radio show with the arena open to fans coming to survey potential seats. The event includes box lunches provided by six hotels, Predators Ryan Suter and Vern Fiddler showing off the team's new uniform and an appearance by the state's first lady, Andrea Conte.

Ron Samuels, president of Avenue Bank and chairman of the "Our Team" effort, said news of Wednesday's meeting should help give fans something to rally around and result in a big turnout. They've enjoyed watching the ownership group make their pitch but can't control who buys the team.

"We'd love to have local ownership. But we think people no matter who the owners are, once they come to Nashville, they'll love being here and find out Nashville is hugely supportive," he said.

Simple fan support hasn't been the Predators' biggest problem. The team needs to boost tickets bought by businesses. Leipold said that has been 35 per cent of the team's ticket base compared to 65 per cent fans, which is nearly the opposite of other NHL teams.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Satans Hockey

[stevestevens]

Nashville know how much money they will pocket if they tank the team, and theyre pretty much doing it.