Skip to main content

Two Huge Victories in One Night

It's been a pretty fun evening for Nashville Predators fans; during the 2nd period of tonight's game against the Ottawa Senators, word came that the NHL Board of Governors had given their unanimous approval to the sale of the franchise to the group of investors led by David Freeman.

Then to boot, the Preds held off the slumping-yet-still-terrifyingly-good Senators, who kept coming to tie the game each time Nashville took the lead. The gloomiest moment came in the final minute of regulation, when Daniel Alfredsson walked out of the corner and roofed a shot over Dan Ellis' shoulder, but mere seconds later J.P. Dumont stole the puck in the Ottawa end and fed Martin Erat in the slot for the game winner, with the final 6-5 in favor of Nashville. The offensive charge was led by the top line and the defense, as three Predators blueliners scored and Dumont racked up a goal and three assists.

In terms of the ownership situation, the only step left there is to formally close the transaction, would could come very shortly. The new owners have already laid out their short-term plans in the Tennessean, which consist mostly of setting a budget for GM David Poile to give him parameters within which to make deals, and launching a reinvigorated marketing effort.

For now, I thought I'd pass along the following statement that was released by David Freeman:

NASHVILLE -- “Personally, and on behalf of our ownership group, we thank NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL’s Board of Governors for their vote and confidence in us as an ownership group and their ongoing support of Nashville as an NHL market.

This is another big step in the process of completing the purchase of the franchise and solidifying its future in Nashville.

We have several more steps to take related to the purchase and operation of the franchise, including seeking review and approval of the proposed lease changes from the Sports Authority and Metro Council. We look forward to working with both groups and moving forward to make the Predators successful on and off the ice.”

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...

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.