Filppula41 0 Report post Posted February 12, 2007 LINK Can't say I don't agree with him.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wings_Toledo 233 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 Wow, I didn't realize what was going on with the Preds organization. League contraction needs to happen with the next 5 years. The NHL is essentially a business, but it's in the entertainment business. Don't screw over the fans and the city if you want to keep sleeping on piles of money. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hockeytown Red Wings 245 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 (edited) Anybody notice Strachan goes back and forth from calling him Leipold and Leopold? Loved this excerpt... "In 2003-04, we played Detroit in the playoffs," he recently told the Vancouver Province. "Our payroll was $23 million. Theirs was $78 million. I don't care what business you're in, you can't compete when there's that kind of disparity." First of all, if the Predators' payroll was only $23 million, they had no one but themselves to blame. There were plenty of free agents out there. They could have gone out and acquired some. Secondly, no doubt Poile recoils in horror when someone mentions the word "baseball" because that sport has a free-enterprise system. But that too is a business and those who follow it would remember the Detroit Tigers breezing past the New York Yankees last October. Detroit's payroll? $82 million. New York's payroll? $195 million. Edited February 13, 2007 by Hockeytown Red Wings Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YoungGuns1340 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 That makes my skin crawl knowing that Nashville earned up to 12 million in a revenue-sharing payment. Undoubtedly, some of that money came from Detroit's pocket. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dactyl 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 (edited) http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/6466134 Well, Al Strachan surely is anyway. Edited February 13, 2007 by dactyl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Inultus 12 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 That's actually quite an interesting article. I can't believe that the city paid for all of that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toby91_ca 620 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 For accuracy, I am not sure I would say the NHL is fed up with them, this is really a writer's views for the most part. I am sure the NHL is fed up with them, but not publicly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hillbillywingsfan 792 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 man im glad you posted this....that is how i feel. I lived there in nashville since they had the team but now im in texas. I hated that stupid team and its owner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scotzman 29 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 The Rich get richer... The Squeaky wheel get's the greasin'... The moment he mentioned that this douchebag was in the inner circle of Bettman it all made sense. Another idiot out to ruin the game of hockey. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dactyl 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 For accuracy, I am not sure I would say the NHL is fed up with them, this is really a writer's views for the most part. I am sure the NHL is fed up with them, but not publicly. You're right, I was just trying to get everyones attention with that. The moment he mentioned that this douchebag was in the inner circle of Bettman it all made sense. Another idiot out to ruin the game of hockey. I felt the same way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lfd250 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...RTS02/702100338 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haroldsnepsts 4,826 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 (edited) Man the owner of the Preds got himself a sweet deal. He gets welfare from big NHL teams like Detroit in the form of "revenue sharing" and he has the city comitted to buying up the empty seats to his games. must be nice. Edited February 13, 2007 by haroldsnepsts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hank 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 Man the owner of the Preds got himself a sweet deal. He gets welfare from big NHL teams like Detroit in the form of "revenue sharing" and he has the city comitted to buying up the empty seats to his games. must be nice. But he's in trouble this year. The NHL only gives out 'relief' to teams that are in small markets and who have a minimum avg. attendance of over a certain amount. Nashville is only averaging approx. 11,000 per game so they won't qualify for relief. It's time to move that team to a city that deserves and can support it. I think it's about time that Hamilton got an NHL franchise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlakChamber 8 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 Hamilton? A city with a 20 year old arena smack dab between Buffalo, Detroit, and Toronto and who's AHL attendance is in the bottom half of the league? Yeah, I bet they're tops to get a NHL team. Nashville is in trouble. It's too bad. They've finally got a good team. It's a good arena, and what fanbase they have are pretty good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FinWing 26 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 But he's in trouble this year. The NHL only gives out 'relief' to teams that are in small markets and who have a minimum avg. attendance of over a certain amount. Nashville is only averaging approx. 11,000 per game so they won't qualify for relief. It's time to move that team to a city that deserves and can support it. I think it's about time that Hamilton got an NHL franchise. And Preds are supposed to be our main rivals nowadays. How can you create any kind of real, passionate rivalry with a team like that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hillbillywingsfan 792 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 shoot if any city needs a team its austin texas....they need an nhl team...i mean i love the icebats but come on.=) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Legionnaire11 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 This thread is stupid. 11,000? do you honestly believe that? This clause has been in the contract since day 1. The Tennessean (Titans-sean) felt it necessary to make it a story on the day of a sold out game? and they ran a picture with it from the leafs game that was taken well before faceoff... there were 15,000 in the building that night. Please don't use that paper as a source of info on the Preds. In reality, we have only one media outlet here that does a decent job of supporting them and it's a radio station. Any media that was here and established (local tv and print media) before the preds are pretty much good ole boy operations and want nothing more than for hockey to be out of Nashville. If we get a little corporate support from the businesses here, then we would be at or near capacity every night. And for everyone who has ever said the preds would moved, and i've brought up our awesome arena deal as a reason for not moving... Do you believe me now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DraperFan MN 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 shoot if any city needs a team its austin texas....they need an nhl team...i mean i love the icebats but come on.=) On a Friday night in Mid-October? Shoot, late October - early November? You better have away games on Friday and Saturday nights until the beginning of December, because you would be lucky to draw 5,000 to a game. Plus, that is just too close to Dallas. If another city in Texas gets a hockey team ( I can't believe I just said that) it would be Houston. I think they have an already decent hockey market with the Aeros and a big population to support another pro sports team. I could be wrong about that, but Austin is definitely not a fit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlakChamber 8 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 shoot if any city needs a team its austin texas....they need an nhl team...i mean i love the icebats but come on.=) I went to an Icebats game where there were 50 people there. Seriously. Granted, it was the same day as when Texas was playing in the Rosebowl... If any Texas city is going to get a NHL team, it will be Houston. Fourth largest city in America. The owner of the Rockets has said he wants to get a NHL team and the Toyota Center is a NHL ready arena. I believe Houston has tried to get a team before. And the Aeros are a good draw, they're in the top third of the league in attendance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hillbillywingsfan 792 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 On a Friday night in Mid-October? Shoot, late October - early November? You better have away games on Friday and Saturday nights until the beginning of December, because you would be lucky to draw 5,000 to a game. Plus, that is just too close to Dallas. If another city in Texas gets a hockey team ( I can't believe I just said that) it would be Houston. I think they have an already decent hockey market with the Aeros and a big population to support another pro sports team. I could be wrong about that, but Austin is definitely not a fit. hahaha thats why i had the smiley....but i think they would do better then nashville and the gaylord Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YoungGuns1340 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 This thread is stupid. 11,000? do you honestly believe that? This clause has been in the contract since day 1. The Tennessean (Titans-sean) felt it necessary to make it a story on the day of a sold out game? and they ran a picture with it from the leafs game that was taken well before faceoff... there were 15,000 in the building that night. Please don't use that paper as a source of info on the Preds. In reality, we have only one media outlet here that does a decent job of supporting them and it's a radio station. Any media that was here and established (local tv and print media) before the preds are pretty much good ole boy operations and want nothing more than for hockey to be out of Nashville. If we get a little corporate support from the businesses here, then we would be at or near capacity every night. And for everyone who has ever said the preds would moved, and i've brought up our awesome arena deal as a reason for not moving... Do you believe me now? The fact that you cant get the hometown newspaper behind your own hockey team says a little about the culture of hockey in Nashville, where the problem lies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hank 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 (edited) Hamilton? A city with a 20 year old arena smack dab between Buffalo, Detroit, and Toronto and who's AHL attendance is in the bottom half of the league? Yeah, I bet they're tops to get a NHL team. Nashville is in trouble. It's too bad. They've finally got a good team. It's a good arena, and what fanbase they have are pretty good. If you know anything about the GTA it's that it only supports NHL hockey. The Roadrunners lasted one season. The Marlies draw very poorly and any other pro or semipro team to come through town has done poorly. But you can't argue the passion of the city for it's NHL team. Toronto and it's sister cities are no different than many NHL cities around the league. Look at Detroit; we call ourselves Hockeytown and yet we couldn't keep the Junior Wings around. It doesn't mean there isn't enough NHL fans in the area. Anyway, there was an article recently about all the money that is being held back in the GTA because not everyone can get Leafs tickets. Stories of people who have the money but can't get past the 5000 mark on the waiting list for the Leafs are rampant in the GTA. In the past, when expansion resumes were being taken by the league, Hamilton always shelled out the $100,000 non-refundable deposit to get in the running. And in each instance, the city immediately sold 14,000 seassons tickets. That's more than 20 of the current NHL teams right now. ''I think there's no question that the franchise in the city of Hamilton would be very successful from a business perspective. We sold about 14,000 season tickets within 24 hours when we applied for the last NHL expansion.'' source - http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=179899&hubname= And the only team that would oppose it is Buffalo but rumours have it that the league would kibosh it. If not Hamilton then another team somewhere in Ontario would thrive. Edited February 13, 2007 by Hank Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wingfaninco 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 A little more info on the situation. Really doesnt paint a good picture of the franchise. http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/6466134 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vladdy16 2,154 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 FAIR WARNING: Do NOT, under any circumstances, use this thread as an opportunity to disparage the team, the city or the residents of the South in any way, shape or form. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLegend19 1 Report post Posted February 13, 2007 I think that all of this proves Bettman's expansion plan has completely backfired. Clearly, the NHL did not do their research before just putting NHL franchises in cities. Nashville is currently the best team in the league, and still can't sell out. That's not good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
