The Nigh Seen Creeder

In a letter sent to season ticket holders, Predators owner Craig Leopold 'splains why he sold the team:

"The Nashville Predators tallied up 216 points in the last two seasons, fifth most in the NHL, yet because of below-average attendance, the team will still have a real cash loss of $27 million during that time.  Additionally, that loss is despite receiving the most money in the league from revenue sharing. 

"Over the last five years, the team has lost over $60 million.

"We've invested heavily in sales and marketing efforts, spending over $50 million in 10 years, most of that with locally-based businesses.

"Our average regular season attendance this past season was 13,589, up from the year before, but still 2,000 below the NHL average.  A low turnout, combined with a low ticket price results in a poor financial situation.

"The new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement with revenue sharing is not a cure-all.  Each local market must still support its local team. In addition, this attendance does not qualify us for our full revenue sharing allocation under the collective bargaining agreement.

"While individual fan support has always been strong, we've worked aggressively to increase our local business support since Season Four.  We've tried a variety of approaches with minimal success.  Our records show today that corporate support for the Nashville Predators makes up about 35% of our season ticket base.  The average in other markets is around 60%. During our first two years, approximately 4,000 businesses owned season tickets. Today, only 1,800 businesses have season tickets. 

"While my heart and my love of the game tell me we can still be successful, the facts outlined above suggest otherwise.  I've reached the only possible conclusion and it's one of the most difficult decisions of my personal and professional life."

The Tennessean's David Climer wrote an excellent column over the weekend in which he discussed what the Predators' new owner, Jim Balsillie, can do to build good will. You can read it here. Good will or not, I'm still bearish on the "Will the Preds Stay?" question.

UPDATE:

"NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday that even if the sale of the Nashville Predators goes through, the franchise 'is not going anywhere,'" Nashville Is Talking reports.