Legionnaire11

more news. The group from Nashville is not only the Frist Family ($1.8B) but also the Ingram Family ($2.9B). That's a total of $4.7B plus whoever else they have in their group. Much, Much, Much more money than Balsillie has. All we need now is for the deal to be voted down or for Leipold to back out of the deal. Once this new group has control, the preds will be guaranteed in Nashville forever!

7,300 deposits... vs 8,000 fully paid season tickets. And with our ticket push this summer, that number could be up to 13,000. But yeah, 7,300 is reflection of just how supportive everyone in Hamilton would be. I mean, with all the hockey starved folks in the area who would guarantee a sellout every night, there must be something wrong with the system if only 7,300 deposits have been put down in a 17,000 seat arena right? I mean, they should be blowing away the support from Nashville right?

Hmm, Pete Weber was just on XM and didn't mention Wagner, but did talk about Bill Frist. His family has $1.8 Billion. Even better than Balsillie. Plus whoever else is in this group with him.

pretty good regular season team... funny how when it comes to this, everyone is pretty liberal with calling the Preds a great team, but in the middle of the season where were all of you people at giving them credit?? what has hurt them just as much as the lack of corporate support, is that they really haven't ever done anything notable. Obviously during football season, attendance is going to suffer. But if anyone closely follows the Preds you'll notice a trend of falling off down the stretch. The last month of the season has always been our best for attendance, and our worst on the ice. Not to mention the playoffs. 3 wins, ever... If they could have made a run during the last 3 seasons, I don't think we'd be selling right now.

here's some new you probably won't here out of the Canadian press (where all these stories are coming from anyway). Okay, the Letter of Intent says the sale must be approved by the 30th of this month. The BoG has already said that they won't discuss it at their meeting on the 20th... There has also been negative feelings about the sale expressed by the BoG, Bettman and even Leipold himself who feels like Balsillie decieved him. Now, the real news here is that there is a group that has popped up here in nashville, led by Todd Wagner, he is the guy that started up Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban and recently purchased a bunch of land here and is either living here or is moving here. This group has an offer ready and said that if the sale with balsillie falls through for whatever reason, they are prepared to give their offer to Leipold. The only reason they can't right now is because Balsillie has exclusive rights with the letter of intent. But Leipold can always back out of the agreement. I think it would the greatest thing in the world to have local ownership and keep the preds in town. This coming season should set our best attendance mark ever, and if Wagner is anything like Cuban, we'd have a fantastic owner. Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt. It would work out for everyone!

Actually Renewals are coming in at the same pace that thee have for the last two seasons. Which actually means growth, since season ticket numbers went up both seasons. Plus the preds marketing team has set a goal of adding 2,000 new season tickets. And Our Team Nashville has set a goal of adding 3,000 new season tickets. No modest plans here by any stretch. We're planning on not only reaching 14,000 but totally blowing it away. speaking of confidence, Balsillie might want to check his at this point considering the buildup of dislike and distrust among the BoG

and we're definitely not the worst market in the league either. just have an out clause in our lease. That makes it doubly sickening.

once again. the $220M isn't just for the $130M predators. He's also getting their managing company "Powers Management" who, unlike the predators, have made profits of $43M since the team came. He was also bidding against the Kansas City group who had their offer up to $200M.

did any of us ever say we thought that?

I can't see how the BoG is going to stand for this. He's clearly pissing them off. He might be upping the value of their franchises, but that's only good for them if they're planning on selling anytime soon. That might not be as much of an incentive as everyone is making it out to be. But balsillie's actions so far are more than enough to make the other owners dislike him and vote against the sale.

no kidding. I think that would definitely be a big no-no.

I think Balsillie would be an amazing owner! but... if the league is really committed to growing the game. Then abandoning a non-traditional market after just 9 years, to put another team in SoOnt is not a great move. The owners really made a strong effort during the lockout to come together and focus on doing what is best for the league. So, maybe that resolve still holds today and they'll think twice about what Balsillie is proposing here. The seeds are clearly planted in Nashville. If the team continues to be successful (with Balsillies money they would) then the fanbase will continue to grow, and given another 10 years, the 8,000 hardcores we have now, could grow to 15,000 and sell the place out every night.

Not So Fast??? Nashville Post article: "NashvillePost.com sources close to the team say that both news items have outgoing Predators owner Craig Liepold and NHL Gary Bettman "irked" and that they are not pleased with the prospective buyer's actions." Here's the entire article: Balsillie better worry about getting approval for the purchase first. He's really pushing all the wrong buttons with this whole thing. The BoG already didn't like him from the whole Penguins mess, and now he's pushing even harder with the Preds. A few of them have already voiced their displeasure in his approach to buying a team, and now Leipold and Bettman are showing that they aren't exactly thrilled with what he's doing. It would wonderful if Jim gets sent to bed without supper on this thing. He's not the only one with money and the BoG don't like to see a guy trying to do everything he can do get around them. I'd only feel bad for Leipold if the deal was voted down, because he might be the only guy less popular than Balsillie in Nashville right now. forgot this one too... http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

he did play somewhere over there during the lockout. Not Sweden, maybe Finland. But if he liked that part of europe so much, and made friends with some of the guys from the area like Forsberg. I don't find it much of a stretch at all to think that he would be vacationing there during the summer.

if I had to choose $4M from the Oilers. or $2.5M from the pens to play alongside Crosby... or Malkin... or Staal... I think i'd take the Penguins. Hartnell has scored 20+ goals on the preds THIRD line with no center. He had Greg Johnson two years ago, and most of last season was Fiddler, Smithson or Nichol. Not exactly any kind of great set up man. Imagine what he could do with Sid the Kid.

it is... but we also have an out clause in our lease. Very attractive to someone who wants to relocate

no surprise. The minute that they trade Smyth, I knew that Hartnell would be one of their top targets this summer.

Good news for the Wings. As much as I hate watching Chelios whine about every little thing, and get away with his share of dirty plays. He's still a heck of an asset to the team and someone that any fan should be proud to be able to root for. FWIW... I signed Chelios to the Preds on NHL 06 at age 52

if any players are there, it would only be one or two players at the most. or they'd just show them off when they gave the jersey to the draft picks.

unfortunately, along with our sweet arena deal, we're also the ones who happen to have an easy out clause in there.

try 14,000 (or 14,185). When we were at 13,815 last season... not too much of a stretch. I think we've already set ourselves up to go past it just in the fans grassroots effort to up ticket sales, now we've got the corporate community on board and their goal is to add another 3,000 season tickets. throw that on top of our already nearly 14,000, and we're pushing around at least 16,500 every night. I don't doubt that he'll raise ticket prices. But it won't be for this coming season. Prices are already set, renewal forms are already sent out (and sent back). People are already locked into the current prices for next season.

the thing is. I already know what it's like to live in a hockey crazy community. I grew up in Philly, mostly during the crappy 80's years, but also during the 87 run against edmonton, and for the Legion of Doom years. Didn't get to Nashville until the year before they were awarded a franchise. So I know that Nashville isn't as horrible for hockey as everyone thinks. I know what a hockey town should be, and I know Nashville is headed there. The only real difference is that we've had 10 years of hockey, whereas all of the "true" hockey cities have all had at least 40 years. That's enough to grow 3 generations of fans. Down here we're still in our first generation, which is always the least supportive.

the only thing I really think working in our favor is the examples in New York and Los Angeles. Yes there are a ton of hockey fans in southern ontario... but are they going to jump ship from the leafs if another team comes to town? The Rangers totally dominate the Islanders in support. And even though Kings fans are slowly migrating to the ducks during the last two seasons of great success, The ducks still don't have that same kind of support that the Kings enjoy, and if the roles reversed again to where the kings were good and the ducks were bad, all those fans would be right back in their Kings gear. unfortunately... I think it would take actually moving the team and seeing how the leafs fans would react, before this is brought up for question.

should I not be?? Hell Yes i'm scared. This situation is pretty easy for Wings fans to sit there and look at from the outside and speculate on and whatnot. But for preds fans, it's real. Other than when we were granted an expansion team, this is the single biggest issue ever for this team. This is way above making the playoffs, or signing Kariya or trading for Forsberg. any of us Preds fans would trade all of the good times for a guarantee that our team isn't moving.

it's not like they're going to made of spandex and we'll be seeing 6-packs and nipples out there. Form Fitting is just the term for them, it's not literal. It's hardly going to be much of a difference at all. and as for blaming Bettman, isn't RBK the ones leading the charge in this whol uniform thing?