Nashville Predators to be sold; moving to Kansas City

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Is this a finalized deal yet? It says that the owner "plans" on selling to the new KC owner still. Sounds similar to Balsillie deal. To me this sounds like tough negotiation and Balsillie may still be in on the deal.

It appears as if Balsillie makes a ridiculous offer, then stalls on entering an binding agreement, then owner seeks out new buyer and enters into another potential deal so that Balsillie will see that he is serious and force Balsillie to enter into the binding agreement. If Balsillie doesn't commit, then the owner takes the other deal.

I could be wrong, but I am not so sure that Balsillie is done and gone from this yet. Of course, if its a finalized binding deal with KC, then I'm wrong, and its probably likely the owner knew that Balsillie was not going to finalize his deal.

You just don't say no to $50 million (especially if the franchise is moving either way) unless you're pretty sure you are not actually going to get it. Or else the NHL is sweetening the deal with $50 million because they don't like Balsillie, but I am not sure they would do that. Now, maybe the Leafs would.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Interesting article from Sunday about just how bad the initial try at a NHL team in KC really was......

Scouts were a disaster
By JOE POSNANSKI
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City has had more than its share of natural sports disasters. The Kansas City Athletics were in town for 13 seasons and never had a winning record. The Chiefs, after early glory, went 14 consecutive seasons without even making the playoffs. The Royals have lost 100 games four of the last five seasons and have not made the playoffs since 1985. The Kansas City Kings, not exactly the model franchise to begin with, once had to move their home games because the roof collapsed at Kemper Arena.

None of that comes close, though, to the two-year disaster film that was called The Kansas City Scouts.

•••

Even the naming process was a disaster. You have to remember those were heady days in Kansas City, 1974, the year when an NHL hockey team came to town.

The hockey team completed the cycle. Kansas City now had the best of all four major American sports. Only eight other cities had the complete set — baseball, football, basketball and hockey — and those were America’s great cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Now, Kansas City was one of them.

So the people decided to name the hockey team the MO-Hawks to celebrate the area (MO for Missouri, Hawks for Kansas, you probably already got that, though).

There were a couple of small problems with the name MO-Hawks. One, it was awful. Even if you could get beyond the bizarre capitalization issues, the name didn’t make much sense. Two, and more to the point, the Chicago hockey team was already named the Blackhawks. This might have served as a note of caution. You can’t have two hockey teams named the Hawks playing 400 or so miles apart.

But those were heady days, as we said, and Kansas City entered the name MO-Hawks to the league and seemed quite surprised that it was rejected in about 3.2 seconds. Kansas City came back with the nickname “Scouts,” inspired by “The Scout” statue in Penn Valley Park that overlooks the city. It is a statue of a Sioux on horseback peering out, shielding the sun from his eyes. If anything says “hockey,” it’s that statue.

They became the Scouts. The logo for the team was a sketch of the statue with a lemon yellow “KC” next to it. And Kansas City, after years as a thriving minor-league hockey town, was finally ready for some major-league hockey.

Unfortunately, Kansas City would get the Scouts instead.

•••

It was, to be fair, an unfair time to get an expansion hockey team. There was a talent war going on then between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association, and there just wasn’t much talent to fight over. In 1967, there were only six major professional hockey teams. Six. By 1974, between the two leagues, there were 30.

According to Eddie Thompson, the team president, the average NHL salary when the Scouts were awarded the team in 1972 was $33,000. By the time they got the team two years later, the average salary was three times that.

“We had a little cash-flow problem because of that,” Thompson says.

Cash-flow problems or not, on June 12, 1974, the Kansas City Scouts and the Washington Capitals took part in an NHL expansion draft that would pretty much seal their doom.

“What happened, really, is that the National Hockey League hurt us,” says Bill Grigsby, who was part owner, assistant to the president and broadcaster for the Scouts. “Some of those old-timers didn’t really want the new teams around. They didn’t want any newcomers making inroads into their game. So, they set it up so each team was able to protect 16 players for the expansion draft. That means we were starting with the 17th squad member.

“Do you know what one 17th player on a team has in common with all the other 17th players? They are not very good.”

The Scouts’ general manager at the time was one of the great hockey players ever, Sid Abel, who was the center for the famed Production Line in Detroit (along with fellow Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay). But there wasn’t much talent scouting for Abel to do. With the first pick in the draft, the Scouts took goaltender Michel Plasse, who had gained a moment of fame when he scored a goal for the Oklahoma City Blazers — he was the first professional goaltender to score a goal.

With the fifth pick, the Scouts took Simon Nolet (pronounced “SEE-mon, No-LAY”) in large part because they thought his name sounded good. Many of the players — it’s obvious in retrospect — were taken for their names. Butch Deadmarsh. Lynn Powis. Norm Dube. In one hockey history book, the Kansas City Scouts are mentioned once and only once — and that is to praise the name of defenseman Bart Crashley.

•••

Then the hockey began. And things started off badly for the Scouts. They had to play their first eight games on the road because of the American Royal — so they were 0-7-1 before they even played their first home game. Tough to build up much excitement.

Still, the first home game was a magical night. There were almost 15,000 people in the stands. Before the game, the winless Scouts were given a long standing ovation.

And they played their guts out that game and outshot a star-studded Chicago Blackhawks team (that team had Hall of Famers Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and star goaltender Tony Esposito). The Scouts lost 4-3, but when it ended there was another standing ovation for the Kansas City players.

“What an amazing crowd,” Scouts coach Bep Guidolin said. He was called Bep because his mother spoke English with a thick accent, and she called her youngest son “Beppy” instead of “Baby.” The nickname was shortened to Bep. He, too, may have been hired for his name.

“We have to start winning now,” Bep said. The very next day, the Scouts beat the Washington Capitals, who (and this is astonishing) actually got even less talent out of the expansion draft. And things got even better. The Scouts won twice the next week, both victories at home, one of those over the cross-state St. Louis Blues.

“You could look in the crowd then,” Grigsby says, “and you would see the excitement and you would think, ‘Hey, this is going to work.’ ”

Well, no. The Scouts won one game in the month of December, a month that started off with a humiliating 10-0 loss at Philadelphia. “They’ll be all right in a few years,” Philadelphia right winger Gary Dornhoeffer said after the game.

“Gotta go,” was Bep’s summation.

In January and February, the Scouts played more reasonable hockey. It was bad hockey — they went 9-14-4 — but it was more reasonably bad. Then in March, they did not win a game. The Scouts won 15 games all year. At least Simon Nolet, the gracefully named captain of the team, led the team in scoring.

“We had a group of really good young men,” Grigsby would say. “The only bad thing is that they were just not very good hockey players.”

•••

The second season began in a whole different way. The Scouts started off by tying the New York Islanders and then beating Vancouver. And then, on Oct. 23, 1975, they had the greatest moment in franchise history — perhaps the greatest moment in Kansas City hockey history. They went into the Boston Garden and beat the mighty Bruins 3-2. Guy Charron — another wonderfully named hockey player acquired in a trade — scored the game-winner.

“This was a good game,” Bep said. The Bepper apparently was not much for colorful quotes. The Scouts were 3-2-1 after six games. They could not keep up that sort of pace, of course. They lost the next five, the last of those losses was another 10-0 loss at Philadelphia, which is pretty unbelievable.

“They had a couple of good shots,” Philadelphia goalie Wayne Stephenson said after this blowout.

“I don’t want to talk to (reporters),” Bep told the guard standing outside the locker room.

Still, the Scouts were playing much better. On Dec. 28, the Scouts beat the California Seals, improving their record to 11-21-3. That may not sound like much, but it actually put Kansas City one game back in the playoff chase. That’s one great thing about hockey — the playoffs are almost always within reach.

Little did anyone know then that the Scouts would win one of their last 44 games. Yes. One victory (a 4-1 victory over those beloved Washington Capitals), 35 losses, 9 ties.

“Has this been a nightmare?” someone asked Bep during that season.

“You gotta sleep before you can have nightmares,” he said.

OK, we take back our colorful quote criticism of Bep. Anyway, he was fired. Sid Abel himself coached the team for a short while. He then hired Eddie Bush. None of it mattered. The Scouts did not win a single one of their last 27 games.

“You wake up in the morning and think that this is the day it breaks,” Scouts winger Randy Rota said. “Only it never does.”

All the while, the team was falling apart financially. Ownership issues were flaring, the Scouts were losing money, fans were losing interest. Thompson, president of the Scouts, said the team needed to sell 8,000 season tickets to stay in Kansas City. The actual number sold was about 2,000. The Scouts left for Denver after only two seasons.

Now, it’s more than 30 years later. There isn’t much left of the old Scouts legacy. They became the Colorado Rockies, but only for six seasons, and then they went to New Jersey and became the Devils. They didn’t have any great players. They didn’t set any records — not even records for futility. Washington was somehow worse.

The only imprint they left on the NHL books belonged to Steve Durbano, one of hockey’s great bad guys. Durbano was picked up in a trade, and in the team’s second year had 209 penalty minutes. You can still see his name under “Most penalty minutes, 1975-76 season.”

Durbano later was thrown in jail for his role in importing more than a half-million dollars in cocaine. He was arrested again later for trying to hire an undercover police officer as a prostitute. The man who perhaps most clearly represented the Kansas City Scouts’ desperate two years of hockey died at age 51 in Yellowknife, a small Canadian town that the chamber of commerce proudly says is “in the heart of the wilderness.”

•••

Eddie Thompson lives in Phoenix now. He says it’s a great sports town. “They support everything here,” he says. “Of course, there are four and a half million people living here. That’s what makes it a great sports town. That’s the whole problem with Kansas City. It has good sports fans. But it doesn’t have the population.”

Thompson says he knew during the Scouts’ second home game that they were doomed. He had wanted the team to play in Johnson County — they had land set aside at the intersection of Interstate 435 and Switzer Road — but an arena down south never materialized.

“It might have worked out there,” he says. “We would have had a chance anyway.”

He does not know if Kansas City could support NHL hockey now — he doesn’t follow things here that closely — but he frankly doubts it. I tell him about the new arena, the more stable ownership possibilities, the downtown resurgence. He still doubts it. He still wears a few scars from his Scouts days. When he’s asked if the Scouts might have made it in Kansas City had they won some games, he says plainly and sadly: “No.”

When he’s asked if he has any good memories from his days with the Scouts, he says, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.”

“Oh, we had a lot of fun,” he says finally, but he doesn’t expand on the thought. The simple truth is: It really wasn’t much fun. The timing was bad. The team was bad. The attendance was bad. The ownership situation was bad.

“The Scouts never had a chance,” Thompson says. I wait for him to finish the thought, but he is finished. There isn’t anything else to say.

[Dr. Sak]

I just saw this article on Hockeybuzz

Daniel Tolensky The Daily Show
Leipold, Nashville group to meet Bettman on Wednesday - Preds to stay?
Tuesday @ 11:54 PM ET | Comments (55)
I have received word from a great source that Craig Leipold will be meeting Gary Bettman on Wednesday morning in New York, along with representatives from the potential local ownership group.

According to the source, Leipold is planning on signing a letter of intent to sell the franchise, either to the local group or to "Boots" Del Biaggio at or soon after this meeting. Given that members of the Nashville group will be accompanying Mr. Leipold to New York, one can assume that Kansas City will have to wait for the team that they quite possibly have been promised.

A month ago, TDS (that's The Daily Show) reported that the proposed deal that the local group was trying to get together would be worth $195 million ($125 million in equity and $70 million in debt). At that time they had between $75-85 million committed among three or four individuals and it seemed as if their efforts had stalled.

It will be extremely interesting to see what the final sale price will be, if in fact a letter of intent is signed with the local group. I wouldn't be shocked if it actually ends up being quite a bit lower than the $195 mil, as many reports indicated that Del Biaggio's interest in this franchise in its current state wasn't as high as originally thought.

[Capital]

This is a saga that will take a lot of time. However, KC is not a great market, but probably a better hockey market than Nashville - putting a team in Nashville never really made much sense - unless the NHL would have put them in the same division as Atlanta and tried to build a rivalry.

[Ragone]

You know i live in kansas city, not the greatest fan in the world of the town.. However it really irritates me that people constantly bring up how the scouts failed here 20+ years ago

Sure its probably not the best market in the world.. but it has everything a team would want.. brand new arena, revenue streams, etc.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

No deal done. The local group is still hoping for the best, but it's still likely to come down to fan support that's needed to keep the franchise in Nashville.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....92/1328/SPORTS

Thursday, 07/19/07

NHL trip buoys local bidders
Predators' Nashville suitors optimistic; next days crucial

By JOHN GLENNON
Staff Writer


The local businessmen hoping to purchase the Nashville Predators didn't leave NHL offices in New York with any signed guarantees Wednesday, but they returned home optimistic about their chances.

The next few days are likely to prove critical to the group's odds of landing a letter of intent from owner Craig Leipold, a move that would ensure a period of exclusive negotiations.




That means today's rally and ticket-thon at Sommet Center, as well as continued negotiations with the city regarding the team's lease, will take on added significance.

"The result of (Wednesday's) meeting is that Nashville has the opportunity to move very quickly to retain the Predators and to do so under local ownership,'' said David Freeman, chief executive officer of 36 Venture Capital LLC and one of the coalition leaders.

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

Wednesday's meeting was exploratory. It allowed representatives from the Nashville group to meet NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and discuss the possible sale.

"It was really an opportunity for Craig to introduce the group to both Gary and (NHL Deputy Commissioner) Bill Daly,'' Predators spokesman Gerry Helper said. "This is part of the process and Craig is trying to give the local group every opportunity to put its group and offer together.''

Daly said the league would not comment on the meeting.

Attendance is too low

Although a letter of intent could be completed soon, it isn't likely to occur fast enough to be announced at today's rally.

The rally remains important, however, because it could offer signs of the region's willingness to increase attendance.

The Predators averaged 13,815 paid fans per game last season, which contributed to Leipold losing $15 million.

They need to average 14,000 this season to keep their lease with the city, a development that would almost certainly keep the team in Nashville for at least three more years.

Freeman has said the Predators need to average 16,000 in paid attendance — an average the franchise has never hit — for owners to break even and fund a mid-level payroll.

"The importance of ticket sales will be how much money we can spend on players, because our goal is not simply to save the team for Nashville,'' Freeman said. "That's one goal, but the second goal is to win and win and win.

"Our commitment back to the city is that if you buy 16,000 tickets, you'll make sure we're at the median on the NHL salary cap, which would put us up around $42 million this season. That's why the 16,000 is important — not so that we could break even, but so that we could have a competitive team on the ice.''

Lease tweaks discussed

The local group also is looking into altering the lease with the city in hopes of improving the franchise's finances.

Metro Finance Director David Manning said he met Tuesday with a member of the local group to discuss ideas including "some notion of trying to give Metro some greater certainty in what its obligations would be — and not only certainty, but some ability to limit its obligations,'' Manning said.

The lease requires the city to cover Sommet Center's operating deficits, which typically amount to millions of dollars a year. Powers Management, a company Leipold owns, operates Sommet Center under a contract with the city but is not on the hook for financial losses.

Manning said the representative of the local group also talked about "additional incentives for the team to better utilize the arena'' and keep operating deficits down.

Leipold has other offers

Two other offers have been made for the Predators.

Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie bid $220 million, and California businessman William "Boots'' Del Biaggio III bid $190 million. Both parties have an interest in moving the Predators after next season.

The Nashville contingent hasn't publicly revealed its bid, but it's believed to be the lowest of the three.

If the local group gets a letter of intent from Leipold, the next step would be a binding agreement, in which the bidder would put down money as a sign of intent to purchase the team.

Any change in ownership would have to be approved by the NHL's Board of Governors, which isn't likely to meet again until September. The board could vote by fax before then if necessary.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Looks like a deal has been worked out by the local group to negotiate a deal with the Predators. No sale in place, just an agreement to work on a deal basically.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/ne...iewStory=57144

Local group to announce letter of intent in Predators deal
By Clint Brewer, [email protected]
A group of local investors is expected to announce tommorrow afternoon they have signed a letter of intent to buy the Nashville Predators, according to sources close to the deal.

The Nashville-based investor group is scheduled to have a late afternoon press conference Wednesday to announce a letter of intent has been signed giving them the right to bargain exclusively for the National Hockey League team with owner Craig Leipold.

A spokesperson for the group, Joe Hall, would neither confirm nor deny planning for the late afternoon event or the existence of the letter of intent. However, the same sources with knowledge of the local ownership group's activities indicated the next step in the negotiation is the letter of intent.

[Wolfpack]

Well, if that comes about...KC and Vegas with expansion teams by about 2010 and Canadians go bonkers because they're still stuck with six teams.

Me personally, I'd like to see two Canadian expansions (Winnepeg, Ontario/Quebec/Halifax), then move two failing US teams to KC and Vegas. I was leaning towards Nashville and Florida. I'd just as soon see Atlanta not move because I think the NHL needs to succeed in Atlanta in order to keep Carolina and Tampa Bay viable. Atlanta's the highest-profile city in the region and if it fails there, it's probably only a matter of time on the other two. After those teams, who'd probably be the next in line to move? Phoenix? Washington? After that, it's a little harder to find out-and-out struggling US Sun Belt franchises since Dallas is reasonably successful and Anaheim (with the Cup) and LA (on general principle) are probably not going anywhere in the immediate term.

[bronconick]

I'd prefer a KC/Ontario expansion. Hockey has enough problems without adding a team in Vegas.

[Wolfpack]

I also would prefer a team not in Vegas, but given all the groundwork being laid, it seems somewhat inevitable.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The deal with the local group appears likely to fall apart. Del Biaggio is still in contact with KC officials and will likely make a bid to move the team to KC by next fall if the local group is not able to reach an agreement by October 31st...........

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/300900.html

Posted on Tue, Oct. 02, 2007 10:15 PM
KC’s chances to get Predators improve
By RANDY COVITZ
The Kansas City Star

A Nashville group’s bid to purchase the Nashville Predators appears to be unraveling, and that could put Kansas City back in the picture for an NHL club as soon as next year.

The group, which had reached an agreement to buy the club from Craig Leipold, sought about $4.6 million of tax money and seat-use fees annually from the city of Nashville from Predators games and other events at the Sommet Center, as well as nine changes to the club’s lease.

However, David Freeman, the leader of the group, said the city rejected the requests, putting the deal with Leipold in peril.

“I’m not hopeful,” Freeman told The Tennessean in Nashville. “We put a ton of work into it, and we did our best.”

The group, which includes California businessman William “Boots” Del Biaggio, gave Leipold a $10 million, nonrefundable deposit to have exclusive negotiating rights until Oct. 31.

Del Biaggio, who once had an agreement with Anschutz Entertainment Group, operator of the new Sprint Center, made an offer of about $170 million to buy the club from Leipold last spring. After Leipold followed the recommendation of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to try to keep the team in Nashville, Del Biaggio joined the Nashville group as a minority partner.

Del Biaggio is no longer contractually obligated to AEG, but he has made no secret of his desire to own an NHL club and his affection for Kansas City. If Leipold’s deal with the Nashville group falls through, Del Biaggio could re-emerge as a buyer of the club and move it to Kansas City as soon as 2008-09 if the Predators void their lease by failing to average 14,000 in paid attendance this season.

“The final chapter in Nashville hasn’t been written,” Tim Leiweke, president of AEG, said in an interview last week. “Boots has made it pretty clear that he’s in Nashville, and he’s excited by that, but if he had a chance to be the majority owner of a new team in Kansas City, he still had the opportunity to do that with us. … Boots and I talk weekly.”

Del Biaggio declined to comment on Tuesday.

Janel Lacy, a spokeswoman for Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, told The Tennessean that the newly elected mayor was not in position to comment.

“Lawyers with the city and lawyers with the ownership group are still in negotiations,” Lacy said.

However, Freeman told the newspaper his group would not be able to make the deal for the Predators financially viable without changing terms of the lease.

“This decision appears to have not turned out the way we had hoped,” Freeman said.

But it might be turning out exactly the way Kansas City had hoped.

[Butter]

Love how the title of the thread made it sound like a foregone conclusion.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Article from Nashville newspaper..........

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....0202/710030460

Wednesday, 10/03/07

Predators proposal splits Metro Council panel
Nashville officials, bidders continue lease discussions

By MICHAEL CASS
Staff Writer


Mayor Karl Dean and a group of investors hoping to buy the Nashville Predators continued to talk Tuesday as members of a key Metro Council committee split over the dueling priorities of keeping the team and protecting taxpayers.

Eight of the 16 members of the council's Budget and Finance Committee told The Tennessean that losing the pro hockey team probably would do more harm to the city's finances than keeping it. But three members said they were concerned about adding to the tax burden already created by the Predators.

Four committee members said they were somewhere in the middle, and one declined to comment. The budget committee is expected to hear a proposal to change the Predators' lease of the city-owned Sommet Center on Oct. 15, the day before the full council will vote on it.

Under the proposal released Monday, the Predators would get to keep an estimated $4.2 million a year in sales taxes and seat use fees from the arena. Those funds now help Metro pay off its debt on the 11-year-old facility, meaning the city would need to find that money elsewhere.

Councilman Michael Craddock of Madison said the millionaires in the investors group could come up with "a couple of million more" instead of asking taxpayers for help. He called the proposal "sinful" and added, "There's got to be another way."

"At some point, you can't let people push you against the wall," Craddock said.

But several other council members said the city will have to pay the debt on the Sommet Center whether the Predators are the lead tenant or not.

They said that the city would be better off with a revenue-generating hockey team and a motivated ownership group, and that rejecting the lease proposal could stop the sale of the team and lead the Predators to move out of Nashville.

"My initial thought is concern, concern that we might lose the Predators," said Sean McGuire, a new councilman from Green Hills. "I'm just concerned that if we let them go, we're going to be paying so much more in the long run."

Lynne Hargrove, a nurse who lives in west Nashville, said it would be a shame if the Predators got away. She enjoys their games and other activities that make downtown hum.

"Nashville needs to get behind this," Hargrove said. "Downtown needs this. It's going to take away a great deal from downtown if the Predators leave."

Councilman Duane Dominy of Antioch, while stressing that he hadn't seen the details of the proposal, said he worries about "putting more tax dollars into what should be a private industry."

'Good progress' reported

The group trying to buy the Predators talked to Dean on Tuesday afternoon, Dean spokeswoman Janel Lacy said.

Joe Hall, a lobbyist and spokesman for the ownership group, said the parties made "good progress" and would be back at the negotiating table today, trying to strike a deal that will help ensure the Predators' future in Nashville.

"We resolved a number of major issues," Hall said, but he would not get into specifics. "There's only a little bit to go. We're hopeful we'll get there real soon."

Dean said only that his administration and the ownership group were continuing to meet.

"We're still talking," he said as a group of aides and bodyguards escorted him back into the Metro courthouse after his only public appearance of the day, a speech to a group of advocates for the homeless. "That's all I can say. The discussions are ongoing."

The parties are trying to reach a compromise that Dean can forward to the Metro Sports Authority and Metro Council. The sports authority's finance committee meets at 9:30 a.m. today at Sommet Center, and the investors have four weeks left to buy the Predators from owner Craig Leipold.

David Freeman, a venture capitalist leading the investors group, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Freeman talked about the possibility of buying the Predators in the past tense after meeting with Dean's administration about the lease proposal Monday, but that may have been an attempt to put pressure on the new mayor.

In just his second week in office, Dean is trying to walk a fine line between supporting the hockey team and not adding significantly to taxpayers' burden.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Love how the title of the thread made it sound like a foregone conclusion.

Read the initial article. It reported that Basillie's offer was rejected and that the team would be sold to Del Biaggio and moved to KC. Had the local group not stepped up in the last hour to give Nashville a shot, it would have already been a done deal.

[Dr. Sak]

MBBF,

Haven't you learned by now not to get your hopes up? First it was Pittsburgh now Nashville part deux. I'm just trying to look out for you to not get your hopes up and then have them come crashing then. Then read about you complaining that the city of KC was used again to get a better offer.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by bsak16

MBBF,

Haven't you learned by now not to get your hopes up? First it was Pittsburgh now Nashville part deux. I'm just trying to look out for you to not get your hopes up and then have them come crashing then. Then read about you complaining that the city of KC was used again to get a better offer.

I've NEVER said that KC was being used to get a better offer in any of these situations. I've always said that it's great that KC is involved with basically every single NHL team that is having issues. At some point, either via expansion or a move, KC is going to get a team. There's nothing but positives that can come of being in the discussions. The new arena opens in a few days with an Elton John concert and is reportedly spectacular. Someone will move here eventually.

[astrosfan64]

I don't understand why Houston can't get a damn team.

[Fidatelo]

I don't understand why Winnipeg can't get a damn team.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Local ownership group given extra time to work out deal in Nashville; attendance thus far below 14,000...........

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/341659.html

Predators extend deadline to Nashville investors

A local ownership group is attempting to keep goalie Dan Ellis and the Predators in Nashville. The news out of Nashville could be good — or bad — for Kansas City, depending on your half-full, half-empty outlook.

Predators owner Craig Leipold decided to give more time to the local investors trying to buy the team and keep it in town. The group, which includes potential Kansas City owner William “Boots” Del Biaggio, had until midnight Wednesday to retain exclusive negotiating rights.

But after meeting with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and David Freeman (the leader of the ownership group), Leipold opted to give them more time to work out a new lease agreement. He didn’t specify how much more time.

“Based on the progress being made, I am convinced all parties will benefit from extra time to complete this transaction,” Leipold said, “so we will extend the purchase agreement with David’s group with a goal of completing the sale as soon as possible.

“We understand how much time and effort David, his group, the Mayor’s office and others have invested into the process all with a goal of keeping the Predators in Nashville.”

The local investors have struggled to work out lease changes for the arena. Last week, city officials asked the investors to commit to keeping the Predators there for five years in exchange for subsidies and $6.9 million for further arena upgrades. The investors agreed to the five-year commitment, but they want more help to avoid losing money.

Under the current lease, the team must average 14,000 in paid attendance this season or the lease will be void, allowing the Predators to leave. The team averaged 13,815 in paid attendance last season. So far this season, announced attendance at home games has been a 13,983 average.

[Wolfpack]

13,983 is actually not bad considering they got rid of a lot of good players and then had this uncertainty about the franchise's future. If Nashville were totally apathetic and accepted the team as gone, those numbers would be below 10,000 probably.

I read something a little while back that made it seem like Balsillie was getting back into the race for the Preds, but this time not being so brazen about trying to move them and at least paying lip service to trying to keep the team in Nashville.

[molson]

Originally Posted by astrosfan64

I don't understand why Houston can't get a damn team.

Wait 5 years.

The NHL should have a team in every North American city by then.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

13,983 is actually not bad considering they got rid of a lot of good players and then had this uncertainty about the franchise's future. If Nashville were totally apathetic and accepted the team as gone, those numbers would be below 10,000 probably.

I read something a little while back that made it seem like Balsillie was getting back into the race for the Preds, but this time not being so brazen about trying to move them and at least paying lip service to trying to keep the team in Nashville.

The fans in the city have been making an effort to get out to games and that seems to be pushing the attendance near 14K. With that said, the team isn't very good this year. I'm not sure that people are going to continue to pay their hard-earned money to see this team over the long haul. My guess would be that the deal is completed with the local group. The only question is what changes to the lease will be made to get the deal done.

[Galaxy]

What's the status with them?

[kcchief19]

My last understanding was that the city of Nashville caved and gave the new ownership group the concessions they wanted on the arena to say. Of course, that was before their part-owner was brought up on felony charges ... who happened to be the same guy who was trying to move an NHL team to Kansas City in the first place.