Part of the premise that I have been working with here since the announced sale of the Nashville Predators is that the franchise will likely be headed back North.
Well, not if Gary Bettman has anything to say about it:
Bettman said he met with [new prospective owner Jim] Balsillie last week and asked whether the co-CEO of Blackberry makers Research in Motion Ltd. had intentions to relocate the franchise.
“He told me that he did not,” Bettman said before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals between Ottawa and Anaheim.
People have been known to lie before, however, there is a way to make sure the team stays, and I surmise that part of allowing Leipold to sell the franchise to Balsillie will be incumbent upon Leipold not exercising the out clause with the arena by the June 19th deadline, since the sale is set to go through by June 30th (the promise not to relocate for several years that is brought into the sale agreement is null if there is no lease.) Bettman and Leipold are hoping Balsillie’s business connections are enough to tap into the corporate market to fill seats, sponsorships, and boxes in Nashville — how optimistic a scenario that is has yet to be determined (I surmise it is pie in the sky; with major college sports at UT and a pro football team, the local big-money businesses are tapped by more popular endeavors.)
Filed under: NHL, front office | Tagged: Nashville Predators
I surmise that your surmisation is 100% right. I think the big problem is that people are just losing interest in the sport at the moment. And really, who can blame them?
http://pressposts.com/Religion/Commish-Says-Predators-Arent-Moving-/
Submited post on PressPosts.com – “The Commish Says The Predators Aren?t Moving.”
Well, Bettman has gone out of his way to piss off Canadian fans while doing nothing of actual note to draw American ones…
Why not move this team to Vegas?
[...] in Nashville, neither of which will put up close to the $238 million that Balsillie is offering. Bettman is on record saying that Nashville will not lose its team. Now, he may be going out of his way to ensure [...]