Nashville is staying?

[Legionnaire11 0]

Press conference just ended, here is what happened...

Letter of Intent Announcement

Gerry Helper opens, turns over to Leipold

Craig Leipold: we need to stop meeting like this. A lot has happened since may 24. Never lost sight that Nashville would have every opportunity to keep the team. What happened since may 24 was unexpected. Didn’t foresee Balsillie using the preds logo and selling tickets in Hamilton. Immediately after, Freeman entered the picture. Freeman kept pushing and working on a deal. It was at the July 18 meeting with the league, it was apparent to everyone involved that there was enough interest to keep the team here. Kept talking to Boots at the same time. Boots knows how the league works and has financial depth. This gives Boots an opportunity to become more heavily involved in an NHL franchise. The predators staff has been excellent, continuing to work through this. Thanks Our Team and The Zone for the ticket rally. 726 is the single biggest ticket sales day since the very first day of ticket sales 10 years ago. Excited to pass the torch to Freeman and Boots. They are ALL committed to Nashville. Expects a deal to be approved in September. Freeman put down $10M to make this a BINDING AGREEMENT.

David Freeman: Thanks craig for the opportunity. This is the first step in a long process. Thanks the mayor for meeting and talking for the past week, listening to freeman’s concerns and putting the Preds at the top of his priorities.

Questions….

-Freeman: There are 8 partners in the group. 7 are local. Herb Fritch from day 1. Waiting two more weeks to identify the rest of the local investors. Every one of them has similar motivations, they’re reluctant to come forward, but they’re all doing it for very pure reasons and just want to see the team stay in town. Boots Del Biaggio is the outside investor.

-Chase Cole has done as much work for the locals as anybody. Chase: (can’t make out what he’s saying since he’s not at a mic)

-Everybody in the group feels that same way that the government and media feels. Appreciates the media allowing the group to give a lot of no comment answers.

-Boots is a minority owner. There are NO circumstances where he can become a majority owner of this team. Boots has a great interest in the NHL and loves hockey.

-Plans started the day that Leipold made the announcement, they just kept it quiet

-Leipold: I was really focused on exiting. The opportunity to get local owners was the way to go. The team needs the local connections and political support to make it happen. 14k does nothing for the long term viability of the franchise. I couldn’t make it happen, and was ready for someone else to take over. Thrilled that the team is staying.

-Freeman: there is no assurance that the team will stay if hockey doesn’t succeed here. but Our belief is that if given a second chance, Nashville will support the team. They’ve written Leipold some large checks to back up that believe. Boots is not a threat to Nashville. His interest and the locals interests are similar, they want to show that Hockey can succeed in the heartland of America.

-Buy tickets and show up at the games. There are some magic numbers such as 14k. They have no interest in breaking the lease, but the 14k number is important to revenue sharing and 14k has to be met to receive that full amount. The group is committed to owning the team for life.

-The mayor recognizes the importance of the Preds to Nashville. can’t really comment on the possible changes in the lease.

-Leipold: $193M sale price

-Freeman: bringing Boots aboard with a significant contribution reduces the debt. That helps right away with the long term viability of the team. They’re doing everything they can to set up the club to succeed. Success is not just surviving financially, but winning on the ice.

-Less than 25% of the purchase money is financed. very low amount of debt

-Signed a letter of intent today, will turn that into a legal document and then ask the Board of Governors for their blessing. Work is ongoing behind the scenes with lawyers and accountants.

-There’s a lot of difficult work left to be done. Today is a show of faith that they want to proceed down this path, they put their money where their mouth is. expect the best

-haven’t spent any time working on selling tickets. Turned that over to plaster, Schultz and Samuels. Not worried about the corporate community. This is a wonderful town and this is now OUR TEAM.

-Leipold: we are further down the road than they’ve been with any other group. It’s a complicated deal. Shouldn’t have any problems with the BoG vote. A deal like this, anything can happen, just getting this far is huge. There are still 4-6 weeks of discussions. But, the most difficult part is over.

-This % of debt is very low for an ownership group, the league will view this as very favorable.

-says that Freeman is very focused on making this work. admires him for doing things in this community that leipold hasn’t been able to do.

-Freeman: up until today, they never knew for sure that they could pull this off. It was a longshot. They’ve been focused on getting a deal done and not and type of staffing issues. Only thing for certain is they want to keep Poile.

-The decision making process will be a group decision. Trying to avoid a scenario where Freeman is identified as the head of the group. Does feel confident in his ability to make decisions though. His voice will be probably 1 of 5 (so 3 silent partners)

-Leipold: can’t tell you how thrilled he is. can’t express in words what it means to him that the team is staying in Nashville. the thought of the preds moving to another market was not comforting at all. It’s fantastic for him. When they’re done here, he’s going to be buying season tickets!!!

-there’s no deadline. They just want to move quickly and get it done at the BoG meeting in September.

-will look at opportunities to use the arena on more nights, but have just been focused on getting to this point.

End of broadcast.

[vangvace 12]

Press conference just ended, here is what happened...

Letter of Intent Announcement

End of broadcast.

Congrats Legionnaire

[Krystal 41]

As much as I'd have truly loved to see Nashville come to Kansas City - I'm very glad Nashville gets to keep their team. I've had to sustain losing *two* minor league teams, and I'd never wish the pain of having no hockey in town upon anyone.

Then again, my hillbilly county voted down a little exhibition center that had a guaranteed CHL team to stay in it... /sigh I just can't catch a break. I might as well just go ahead and book my tickets to Chicago for their hockey games

[FireCaptain 563]

Here's the letter that went out from their website/press releases.

CRAIG LEIPOLD SIGNS LETTER OF INTENT TO SELL PREDATORS AND POWERS MANAGEMENT TO LOCAL GROUP

Nashville (August 1, 2007) – Craig Leipold announced today that he has signed a letter of intent to sell the Nashville Predators and Powers Management (the company that manages the Sommet Center) to a group of local investors, led by David Freeman, CEO of 36 Venture Capital, and including Herb Fritch, CEO of Healthsprings, as well as William "Boots" Del Biaggio, President and CEO of SandHill Capital.

The investors, a group which would have majority and controlling interest in the club, includes local executives in finance, health care and private business. The sale price for the franchise is $193 million. The sale must be approved by the NHL's Board of Governors. The anticipated closing date for the transaction is no later than September 30, 2007.

"I am thrilled that David Freeman and his local group have joined up with Boots Del Biaggio and come together to purchase the Predators," Leipold said. "My hope is that their commitment to Nashville will be reciprocated in the form of business and individual support on an ongoing basis to make this franchise successful for the long-term. This is a great day for Predators fans, players and staff!"

"Six weeks ago we set out to acquire the Predators so that we could make sure our team stayed in our town. The letter of intent is a big step toward making it happen. Nashville is now firmly in the driver's seat to keep this franchise," said Freeman. "We are confident of moving through this process successfully and starting the 2007-08 season with local ownership in majority control of the future of the franchise. We want to thank Craig for giving us this opportunity.

"We have recruited Boots Del Biaggio to our investor team because as a limited partner in the San Jose Sharks he has strong experience and is respected by the Board of Governors," added Freeman. "His proven success in this league is important to us."

"Having the opportunity to join this exceptional, dedicated and committed local partnership was an opportunity that I could not turn down," said Del Biaggio, who will assume a minority investment position. "There is no doubt in my mind that this transaction will bring proper leadership and investment to the Predators while building an organization that the NHL leadership will respect and our fans can be proud of and support."

Mr. Leipold does not plan to comment again on the franchise sale until the transaction is completed and is approved by the NHL's Board of Governors.

[2probert4 8]

Boots was only added to the group because he would possibly take over as full owner at some point if they dont start averaging 16 to 17K a night and the local group loses money. Theres always more to a story involving Leopold than you ever know about until a bomb is dropped. Now Leopold wants to be involved in the ownership in Minnesota, just another slap in the face to the city of Nashville.

As much as I'd have truly loved to see Nashville come to Kansas City - I'm very glad Nashville gets to keep their team. I've had to sustain losing *two* minor league teams, and I'd never wish the pain of having no hockey in town upon anyone.

Then again, my hillbilly county voted down a little exhibition center that had a guaranteed CHL team to stay in it... /sigh I just can't catch a break. I might as well just go ahead and book my tickets to Chicago for their hockey games

Krystal, the new stadium for the Wizards ruled that one out. St Louis is closer to you than Chicago, I know the feeling though, hockey in these parts is something nobody seems to give a hoot about. KC having a NHL team would be like what Nashville has been through - a novelty for 3 or 4 years then the new wears off, but that Sprint Center is a nice venue, drove by that a couple of weeks back.

Edited August 2, 2007 by 2probert4

[hockeytown9321 0]

Very good news. Them staying in Nashville keeps the Red Wings' dream of manifest destiny alive.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Very good news. Them staying in Nashville keeps the Red Wings' dream of manifest destiny alive.

Manifest destiny? I'm certainly not understanding what you are trying to imply there...

Anyways, good that hockey looks to be staying in Nashville. I know I know, hockey isn't going to ever be all that popular in a lot of Souther placss, I know that and am fine with that. I am happy though living in the Sun Belt/Gulf Coast that this is a victory for Nashville. Hopefully their fans can continue to back up their support and more corporate companies and sponsors step up to the plate to keep this franchise in Tennessee for years to come.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

yea thats good news, i mean i feel that anyteam that had the kind of fan support they had should be allowed to stay

[vangvace 12]

Boots was only added to the group because he would possibly take over as full owner at some point if they dont start averaging 16 to 17K a night and the local group loses money.

I don't know. Everything official that's been released hasn't even hinted that. The fact that he'll have more say and ownership % in the team could be why he came on board.

Plus he's like the veteran player that helps the new guys getting adjusted to NHL life and I think this will get him one step closer to getting his own team in KC down the road. probably through expansion but won't be Nashville if they move a team.

[Legionnaire11 0]

That question was asked at the press conference, Freeman said that there is NO WAY for Boots to become majority owner of the team.

Also, Boots has cut his ties with AEG and KC.

Basically, the way they've outlined things is that Boots all along wanted to have more control of an NHL team than what he had in San Jose. He was originally trying to land an expansion team in KC once AEG contracted with him to do so, other than that, he has no interest in KC. Originally, he was interested in the Preds if there was a possibility to move them, but once it became clear that we would hit 14k next season and the local group made a strong push, he really stopped pursuing them.

Leipold was actually batting around the idea of staying on as a minority with the local group, but HE actually was the one who ended up inviting Boots to some meetings with the local guys. This works out for Boots because it looks like the way things will work is that he will run most of the hockey operations side of things and the local guys will run most of the business side of things. So, now Boots has his control of a hockey team, without having to put up nearly as much money, and without having to really deal with the business side of it. PLUS he gets to be a good guy in all of this buy helping to keep the team in Nashville. It's a great situation all around for him.

The local guys get to be really good guys, save the team, drum up business support for the team and not ruin the team with their limited hockey knowledge.

It's a great partnership!

[hockeytown9321 0]

Manifest destiny? I'm certainly not understanding what you are trying to imply there...

Moving to the East.

Manifest Destiny was the idea in the 1800's of the westward expansion of the US. I've appropriated it for my hope of the Red WIngs moving east.

[2probert4 8]

Honestly, I think Vokoun is the only name that the casual fans would have known. They probably heard of the rest, but not as much as Vokoun. only the die-hards really know all of the players.

Hartnell - he did have his face plastered on billboards around the city, and had it on the one that sits on the Y that separates broadway and it turns into West End / Division St. People did know him around the city, good guy.

Kariya - he's a face league wide, was a face in Nashville

Timonen - youre correct people didnt really know him, die hards knew he was gone cause of the money.

Vokoun - yes everyone knew him, especially when he was having his blood clot issues, that was everywhere around the city.

Scott Walker was a popular guy around Nashville also, he was accessible and people liked him

For Old Times Sake.... Patrick Cote - everyone knew him because he was the brawler, and (speaking from personal experiance on this) he was popular with the crowd (and the workers ) at Deja Vu over on Demonbraun. HAHA

Regardless , even if the casuals dont know the players, they do know that the Predators are cutting salary and trading away players, things like that go like wildfire, especially with McCann and Glennon fighting to get the scoop on the other.

[2probert4 8]

haven't seen it posted anywhere yet...

The rally yesterday was a HUGE success. Predictions were 2500 in attendance and 300 seasons tickets sold...

actuall attendance was 7500 and at last count they were closing in on 800 season tickets sold!!!

It was an awesome day, 14 straight hours of hockey talk on the radio, capped off by the rally which was an unbelievable atmosphere, great speakers, great message, great reception by the fans. Every hockey city should have one of these in mid-summer just to celebrate the game during the offseason.

Willie Dunnic still knows nothing about the sport. George Plaster knows nothing and doesn't care to. I know people who are friends with him, he doesnt like hockey very much, has season tickets, but they are perk from somewhere. He just goes for image sake. I havent heard the guy they hired to do the radio broadcast yet, I guess he was a former VOLS broadcaster or something. When they do that Predators caravan, they should send the star players to the places like Bowling Green, or Clarksville etc, instead of sending the ones that are down the depth chart, like in the past sending Reid Simpson, or Hutchinson etc. It might draw more people from around that area.

That question was asked at the press conference, Freeman said that there is NO WAY for Boots to become majority owner of the team.

Also, Boots has cut his ties with AEG and KC.

Boots joined the group to enhance his image with the NHL, and he will be happy to take over if this group starts losing money. If there is an expansion team available, Boots will be able to get out of Nashville and take the expansion team (probably in KC) and will have good standing with Gary Butthead. That was said in Kansas City, where im at currently. As for Leopold's supposed "staying on as a minority owner" well thats hard to do when he's applying for the same thing in Minnesota. Can't believe what that man says about anything, ditto for Freeman and that group. If that average attendance isnt 16 to 17K (Freeman said publicly they would have to do so in order to profit) look for Boots to buy out that group and take over completely. There's many details to this clique that we'll never know.