Skip to main content

The Mouth of Balsillie speaks to Nashville

Jim Balsillie's legal representative, Richard Rodier, discussed the impending sale of the Nashville Predators on 104.5's Sports Zone today.

Don't be fooled, he sounds a lot smoother on the radio...

When asked why Balsillie is purchasing the Preds, the answer was, "this is a tremendous team with a tremendous front office", focusing solely on the on-ice product, and not a word about the local market. One thing that was notable was Rodier's well-informed discussion of the Predators deep stock of talent, both at the NHL and minor-league level. When it comes to the on-ice aspects of this deal, you could hear the enthusiasm coming through around acquiring such a talented, young team. According to Rodier, Balsillie's silence up to this point is due to the constraints of a Non-Disclosure Agreement as part of the sale. As initially stated, it sounded like the Predators had requested that silence of Balsillie, but when pressed on the topic, Rodier characterized it more along the lines of usual procedure since Balsillie isn't the actual owner of the team yet.

The motivation for buying the Preds was constantly put in terms of the quality of the team and the front office that puts it together, and about the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup. When asked about relocation, Rodier quoted the well-worn dictums that before the team can move, the lease has to expire/lapse and the NHL Board of Governors needs to approve the move.

Rodier was hopeful that they could complete the transaction by the end of the month, in time for free agency, and was adamant (quite properly) that all decisions up until that happens remain with current owner Craig Leipold. While many fans would want some assurance that GM David Poile can spend some cash in the even that the sale doesn't close until sometime later on, Leipold would be foolish to take on that burden prior turning the keys over.

The bottom line, of course, is that there would be no reason for Rodier to twist his moustache and wring his hands while cackling, "yes, we're going to take your Predators to Hamilton and there's nothing you can do about it!" Rodier said all the right things as the representative of a prospective franchise owner, without making any strong commitments to the city.

As it stands, the burden is on the Nashville community to get out and support this team and prove it deserves NHL hockey. The nature of the arena lease means that there's not much margin for error in that regard, as opposed to teams like Chicago and St. Louis which have seen attendance plummet, but are in no danger of being moved. That makes the "Our Team" movement all the more critical.

Popular posts from this blog

Cheer up, it's the holidays...

Why is it that various media outlets continue trying to put their own spin on the "what's wrong with the NHL" story? Our latest example comes from The Hockey News , in a piece by Jay Greenburg entitled, "Excitement Level On The Decline." Take the opening sentence: Attendance is down and yet still up from before the lockout, leaving it arguable whether buildings in New Jersey and Florida are half-full or half empty. It's no surprise that attendance is down from last season, particularly if you compare the first half of 2005-06 to the first half of this year. Coming out of the lockout, there were legions of fans starved to see the on-ice product, particularly in light of the massive rule changes. This year is more indicative of business as usual, so the fact that the league is above pre-lockout levels is a positive. Toss in the projection that overall revenues are increasing despite a 1% decrease in attendance, and I'd say that paying fans have come back

How I'm Trying To Make Money Sports Blogging

To kick off this series of articles general sports-blogging articles here at OTF Classic, I think it's best to start with a comment that Brad left here last week, after I shared my goals for 2012 , which include specific revenue targets: I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source. Trying to make money at sports blogging can be a very touchy subject - for the vast majority of us, this is an activity we pursue to both exercise our creativity and share our love of the game, whether it's hockey, football, badminton, whatever, with fellow fans. Mixing that personal conversation with a commercial message can turn people off, especially if it becomes too intrusive for the reader. It's not unrea

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...