If the Predators move to Hamilton....

[cranium]

I gotta agree with the earlier post about too many distractions now for the NHL to compete with and gain NEW American fans south of Chicago or Denver. It is not like a bunch of new kid's hockey leagues have sprung up in the South because of Nashville, Atlanta, and Florida having teams. Correct me if I'm wrong there. If the Preds tank and finish last, that arena will be empty very quickly. The NHL should play to its strengths and focus on areas with a built-in fan base like areas of Canada currently being under served by the NHL. The whole Hamilton is a temporary step to Waterloo conspiracy is intriguing and would probably affect any changing of the team name right away, like the Tenn. Oilers to Titans makeover.

A new owner would seem more likely to support changing the team name to create a new identity for the franchise.

Correcting!

The Predators Cup

Nashville

Memphis

There are also leagues in Knoxville and other areas (Alabama, etc.) because of the Predators.

Cool. Good for them. I lived in Nashville for a couple of years and would like to see the city keep the team if it works out. I never followed youth sports around there, so it might have been right under my nose the whole time.

[bigreid07]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

[IceCap]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

[jkrdevil]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

Of course there is a difference between putting your money down for actual tickets and putting a fully refundable deposit down for tickets down the road. The Hamilton season tickets sales should be taken with a grain of salt. Again I point to Saskatoon "selling" 18,000 season tickets in the 80's like this when they tried to get the Blues.

[IceCap]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

Of course there is a difference between putting your money down for actual tickets and putting a fully refundable deposit down for tickets down the road. The Hamilton season tickets sales should be taken with a grain of salt.

Not really. The fact that they're willing to pay for season tickets proves the interest in hockey in Hamilton far outweighs the interest in Nashville, and that more people in Hamilton are willing to buy Preds season tickets then their Nashville counterparts.

The fact that the tickets are refundable doesn't matter. People wouldn't be buying them unless they were interested in the product, in this case NHL hockey. But hey, don't let something like that stop you from shaking the boat, right?

Again I point to Saskatoon "selling" 18,000 season tickets in the 80's like this when they tried to get the Blues.

And again, Hamilton is not Saskatoon. I know Americans are generally ignorant when it comes to Canadian geography, but jeez. Hamilton not only has a NHL arena ready to go, but they also have a larger metropolitan area, a larger population, a larger corporate base, and a larger surrounding area to draw fans from. Other then both being Canadian cities, Saskatoon and Hamilton don't have that much in common.

[jkrdevil]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

I fully realize Hamilton is not Saskatoon, it was just an example from the past to show approval is not guaranteed.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

Of course there is a difference between putting your money down for actual tickets and putting a fully refundable deposit down for tickets down the road. The Hamilton season tickets sales should be taken with a grain of salt.

Not really. The fact that they're willing to pay for season tickets proves the interest in hockey in Hamilton far outweighs the interest in Nashville, and that more people in Hamilton are willing to buy Preds season tickets then their Nashville counterparts.

The fact that the tickets are refundable doesn't matter. People wouldn't be buying them unless they were interested in the product, in this case NHL hockey. But hey, don't let something like that stop you from shaking the boat, right?

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

I fully realize Hamilton is not Saskatoon I'm just using it as an example that these type things are essentially meaningless and does not guarantee approval

[bigreid07]

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

I knew there were still some sensible Canadians out there!

[jkrdevil]

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

I knew there were still some sensible Canadians out there!

I'm not Canadian but I'm sure there are some out there.

[IceCap]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

I fully realize Hamilton is not Saskatoon, it was just an example from the past to show approval is not guaranteed.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

Of course there is a difference between putting your money down for actual tickets and putting a fully refundable deposit down for tickets down the road. The Hamilton season tickets sales should be taken with a grain of salt.

Not really. The fact that they're willing to pay for season tickets proves the interest in hockey in Hamilton far outweighs the interest in Nashville, and that more people in Hamilton are willing to buy Preds season tickets then their Nashville counterparts.

The fact that the tickets are refundable doesn't matter. People wouldn't be buying them unless they were interested in the product, in this case NHL hockey. But hey, don't let something like that stop you from shaking the boat, right?

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

But people wouldn't be buying the tickets in the first place if they didn't want to see whatever the tickets were for.

I could start taking deposits in Hamilton for underwater basket-weaving, fully refundable. I wouldn't sell any because people don't want to see the product. People are buying these tickets for Hamilton NHL hockey because they want to see NHL hockey in Hamilton.

Even if the team flounders tickets would still sell. This isn't America, this is Canada. We support our teams through thick and thin.

Nationalism aside though, even if the Hamilton team struggles, they would still be providing NHL hockey in a region full of hockey fans that would still be unable to get tickets to a Maple Leafs game (the Leafs, being a team that sells out even when they're terrible, what a shock!). In short, great season, mediocre season, or bad season, a Hamilton team would sell out almost every home game.

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

I knew there were still some sensible Canadians out there!

I'm not Canadian but I'm sure there are some out there.

Yeah, and they all see that moving a team out of a failing southern market and putting them in a market filled with rabid hockey fans that can't get tickets to see the "local" team is the right move. We love our hockey, why not put an other team here? Our six teams already contribute around 40% of the NHL's revenue anyway.

People like you, what exactly is your main objection to a team in Hamilton other then not wanting a seventh Canadian NHL team?

[YELDARBfield]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

[Neon_Matrix]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

[YELDARBfield]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

The fact that you just rambled off Balls-silly's biographical info like that not only scares me, but it also makes me think you're from Canada...

Anyway, the guy who wrote this is an economics professor from Vanderbilt in Nashville, not a Canadian cartographer. So the guy says that Balls-silly is from Hamilton. Big deal. That's the only Canadian location that dude's probably heard through all the BS being thrown. He's an economist. He's knows money, business, etc., and that's what the article is about. Just read the freaking thing.

[Sir Donald]

Name wise - what is the likelihood of a more far reaching location name ie Ontario? (Thinking that they would eventually move from Copps to a new arena in Waterloo)

Ontario Tigers anyone?

[Neon_Matrix]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

The fact that you just rambled off Balls-silly's biographical info like that not only scares me, but it also makes me think you're from Canada...

Anyway, the guy who wrote this is an economics professor from Vanderbilt in Nashville, not a Canadian cartographer. So the guy says that Balls-silly is from Hamilton. Big deal. That's the only Canadian location that dude's probably heard through all the BS being thrown. He's an economist. He's knows money, business, etc., and that's what the article is about. Just read the freaking thing.

After reading so many bloody articles about the 14,000ish people in Nashville who may actually miss the team I retained some info about the man who is trying to pry it away. I ended up reading it regardless and I still didnt like it. The real reason why the team is worth anything is because it has a good on ice product... if it didn't, I'm sure it would be worth next to nothing.

[jkrdevil]

The sell isn't going to go through so I don't think it really matters! hahaha!

Cold hard facts speak louder then a city who can't muster enough support to hold onto a team:

Hamilton NHL ticket deposits leap past Nashville's base

Two days into the campaign, the number of people putting deposits on season tickets for a potential National Hockey League team in Hamilton overtook the number of season-ticket holders of the Nashville Predators.

By early Friday afternoon, Jim Balsillie, who is trying to buy the Predators, sold almost 10,000 seats and luxury suites for Copps Coliseum, where the team will play if it is moved from Nashville. The Predators currently have just under 9,000 season-ticket holders.

I fully realize Hamilton is not Saskatoon, it was just an example from the past to show approval is not guaranteed.

There were 6,533 seats sold in the lower bowl at Copps for a deposit $1,000 each, while 3,367 seats in the upper bowl went for deposits of $500 for a total of 9,900. Also, 64 of the 70 proposed suites were reserved for $5,000 each.

In the meantime, a group of local business people in Nashville said it is considering a bid for the Predators if Balsillie's purchase, said to be worth up to $238-million (U.S.), falls through. Balsillie and his lawyer, Richard Rodier, are working on a purchase agreement with Predators owner Craig Leipold. Once that is in place, it will go to the NHL's board of governors for approval, although no one knows when that will happen. The latest group of buyers cannot make a bid unless Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc., is no longer in the running.

According to NashvillePost.com, the new group of buyers wants to remain anonymous for now and it includes people from the healthcare field. However, a spokesman for the group told the web site that they first want to make sure there is sufficient corporate support for the team in Nashville before making a bid. Leipold said his financial woes in running the Predators were due to the lack of support from the local business community.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

In the end money and ticket sales will mean more then a few NHL governors being pissed with Basille. Money and ticket sales are the bottom line, and Basille has both in spades.

Of course there is a difference between putting your money down for actual tickets and putting a fully refundable deposit down for tickets down the road. The Hamilton season tickets sales should be taken with a grain of salt.

Not really. The fact that they're willing to pay for season tickets proves the interest in hockey in Hamilton far outweighs the interest in Nashville, and that more people in Hamilton are willing to buy Preds season tickets then their Nashville counterparts.

The fact that the tickets are refundable doesn't matter. People wouldn't be buying them unless they were interested in the product, in this case NHL hockey. But hey, don't let something like that stop you from shaking the boat, right?

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

But people wouldn't be buying the tickets in the first place if they didn't want to see whatever the tickets were for.

I could start taking deposits in Hamilton for underwater basket-weaving, fully refundable. I wouldn't sell any because people don't want to see the product. People are buying these tickets for Hamilton NHL hockey because they want to see NHL hockey in Hamilton.

Even if the team flounders tickets would still sell. This isn't America, this is Canada. We support our teams through thick and thin.

Nationalism aside though, even if the Hamilton team struggles, they would still be providing NHL hockey in a region full of hockey fans that would still be unable to get tickets to a Maple Leafs game (the Leafs, being a team that sells out even when they're terrible, what a shock!). In short, great season, mediocre season, or bad season, a Hamilton team would sell out almost every home game.

The fact that it is fully refundable does make a huge difference. It more allows people to take in part the hype of getting a new team. Because it is fully refundable they can put the money down and if they need it later on the can call back and cancel and get their money back. Whereas in Nashville a person puts down a deposit for season tickets and once they get the tickets can't get their money back. All Hamilton shows me is that there is/will be a honeymoon period which happens with most teams. Again another example is Nashville was sold out their inaugural season. The question is what will Hamilton be like after the honeymoon period in a crowded market if they are bad (which they very well be)?

I knew there were still some sensible Canadians out there!

I'm not Canadian but I'm sure there are some out there.

Yeah, and they all see that moving a team out of a failing southern market and putting them in a market filled with rabid hockey fans that can't get tickets to see the "local" team is the right move. We love our hockey, why not put an other team here? Our six teams already contribute around 40% of the NHL's revenue anyway.

People like you, what exactly is your main objection to a team in Hamilton other then not wanting a seventh Canadian NHL team?

Well I'm just asking the simple question and not going It's Canada of course the team will sell out. Are these people going to stop being Maple Leaf fans, and to a lesser extent Sabres and Wings fans, after they have been most of there life? To give an example of where I am from the NYC/Northern New Jersey area is baseball mad. Baseball by in large is the most popular sport in the area. It's much like Hockey in Southern Ontario, it is where the game developed and grew. Last year there was talk about the Marlins possible moving to Northern NJ because of population size and how baseball mad the area was. I said even if they somehow got by the Yankees and Mets territorial objects that the team would be a failure. Simple reason is that most of NJ is Yankee fans and those people aren't going to switch teams if a new one comes in. Sure the new team would get the Anti-Yankees fans who pretend to be Red Sox fans but that won't be enough to make it a resounding success. I would suspect things would be similar in Hamilton they would get the Anti-Leaf crowd but that won't be enough to make the team the resounding success that some are making Hamilton out to be. Another example I know from my own experience that it took the Devils close to 20 years to build a fan base and only now with a new easier accessible building are they going to draw near capacity on a regular basis. A large portion of the Devils fan base is young and were very young or not even alive when the Devils moved to NJ. Most people who were already fans didn't switch from the Rangers to the Devils when they moved.

The question with the Leaf fans who can't get tickets is do they just want to see NHL hockey live or do they want to see the Leafs live? My guess is a lot of it is wanting to see their favorite team, the Maple Leafs, live. In that case those people won't be buying Hamilton season tickets and will only buy tickets when the Leafs are in town. As for packing them in when they are bad well that will depend on a lot of things. The stuff mentioned before and stuff like arena location and such. I know it's western Canada but the Oilers, Flames, and Canucks did necessarily pack people in when they were bad. Another thing to possible consider is possible provincial snobbery. It seems like this new team in Hamilton will try to draw some from Toronto, are people from Toronto area going to want to go to Hamilton or will they refuse just because it's Hamilton? I don't the dynamics of the area when it comes to stuff like that so if someone from there could shed some light it would be helpful to better understand everything. I know it is something that does exist in other places.

As for the Hamilton ticket drive I do take that with a grain of salt because a lot of that is driven by civic, and in this case nationalistic pride. No matter where the location is when you ask people if they want a team in there city and if they will support them they almost always will say yes. Add on top of that the message in the media making this a nationalistic pride thing off taking a team back from America and it even furthers the pride factor. As mentioned early these are fully refundable so once all the hype and nationalism dies down and some people realize they one can't afford them or 2 don't want them they can get their money back. Don't under estimate the power of nationalism in order to inflate support.

My point is that I question think Hamilton will be the resounding success some of said it will be. There will probably be a honeymoon period but after that I think it would be a moderately successful team gate wise but financially there may be a lot of payouts that would hurt the team. I'm sure they would have to pay Toronto a lot in territorial fees plus the money it would cost to get out of Nashville as that city will definitely fight to keep the team. These are all questions I think the BOG will ask plus the territorial issue. The BOG is a scratch each others back club and that might hurt Hamilton's chances at a team because Toronto, Buffalo, and to a lesser extent Detroit will all be against a move there.

Of that 40% how much is from the Leafs and the Candiens?

AS for Nashville I for one don't think the team is as bad off as the owner has claimed. Again from what I have read on the situation it seems that it is a bit of numbers fudging. While the team itself may be losing money the affiliated arena management company is profitable. Of course the arena management right are tied to ownership of the Predators and thus the two are linked. It is essentially shuffling around the books to show what you want. It's one of the oldest accounting tricks in the books. I believe San Jose and Boston have done similar tricks to try and justify higher ticket prices. It is also one of the reasons why the lockout took a year because one of the fears the players had to links to revenues is tricks like these. I believe in the new CBA revenues are counted as hockey related both from the team and affiliated companies. Of course that doesn't matter for PR purposes like in this case where the owner sells the team to someone who wants to move it and tries to justify it. I'm not saying Nashville is turning a large profit, they even may be at a slight loss (which is normal for a pro sports franchise) it's just that I question if they are losing as much as they say given the circumstances.

As far as support in Nashville again from what I have read it is very strong with your average fan wise. The problem is with corporate support which let's face it little to no pro sports franchises would turn a profit now a days without it. Part of the problem there is that the ownership of the Predators is not local, the owner is from and lives in Wisconsin. Further more it seems he has done a poor job of marketing to Nashville businesses. It looks like there is a local group willing to step up if the current deal falls through and that will probably help with the corporate support that the team needs.

Finally you know that statement was a playful jab and nothing was meant by it. This discussion has been an intelligent one. I don't have a problem with a team in Hamilton I just question if it is going to be the resounding success some say it will be. Especially now when nationalism is being used to ramp up support for a new team. There are a lot of issues in play here and a strong chance that Hamilton or Balsillie will be blocked.

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

The fact that you just rambled off Balls-silly's biographical info like that not only scares me, but it also makes me think you're from Canada...

Anyway, the guy who wrote this is an economics professor from Vanderbilt in Nashville, not a Canadian cartographer. So the guy says that Balls-silly is from Hamilton. Big deal. That's the only Canadian location that dude's probably heard through all the BS being thrown. He's an economist. He's knows money, business, etc., and that's what the article is about. Just read the freaking thing.

After a quick google search of him his specialty is as a sports economist.

[DarkJourney]

If they do move to Hamilton they should honor the Steel & Iron Industry with a nickname related to that.

Some Names:

Hamilton Vulcans

Hamilton IronPigs

Hamilton Steelers

Hamilton Forge

Hamilton Steamhammers

[YELDARBfield]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

The fact that you just rambled off Balls-silly's biographical info like that not only scares me, but it also makes me think you're from Canada...

Anyway, the guy who wrote this is an economics professor from Vanderbilt in Nashville, not a Canadian cartographer. So the guy says that Balls-silly is from Hamilton. Big deal. That's the only Canadian location that dude's probably heard through all the BS being thrown. He's an economist. He's knows money, business, etc., and that's what the article is about. Just read the freaking thing.

After reading so many bloody articles about the 14,000ish people in Nashville who may actually miss the team I retained some info about the man who is trying to pry it away. I ended up reading it regardless and I still didnt like it. The real reason why the team is worth anything is because it has a good on ice product... if it didn't, I'm sure it would be worth next to nothing.

First, it's more a whole lot more than 14,000 fans. That's the average, my friend. The Preds sell out regularly (a little over 17,000), but the Sunday and Wednesday night games really hurt the team, with that whole church in the Bible belt thing going on. Plus, you really don't realise the territory that the Preds cover in TN, KY, and even AL. I'm from Western TN and don't go to as many games as I want because I still live 3 hours away from Nashville, and I don't even live halfway to Memphis. The Pred Heads there have to travel a good 6 hours to get to the Sommet Center! Then there's those in Eastern TN that just really don't feel like going to Raliegh, much less Atlanta...

Second, I'm so sorry you didn't like it, but frankly, the points Professor Vrooman made are slightly more important than how many tickets were bought in Hamilton. If When the Preds average over 14,000 fans per game next year, Balls-silly is going to have an awful hard time convincing the BoG to let him move the team after buying out the lease agreement. (This is assuming, of course, that those that run the league and own the teams actually have souls...)

Lastly, the reason the team is so valuable is because that's what Balls-silly wants to pay for it. Vrooman is correct in saying that he's not just buying the team, but he's also buying the situation. The city pretty much bought the rights to the team, gave them the arena, and provided a way of escape. Balls-silly wants to buy (and gamble on) these attributes, so he feels like he should empty his change purse for the team just in case he has a chance at backing up the Mayflower trucks, ala Baltimore Colts. Frankly, even if he doesn't move the team, he still has very little to complain about because he won't be losing much money anyway.

[Neon_Matrix]

Y'all read this:

Tennessee Voices: Savvy businessman would keep Preds in town

I didn't get through one paragraph before I realised how bs this article was. If they can't even get Jim Balsillie's origins correct (he was raised in Peterborough and his company is based out of Kitchener/Waterloo... he is NOT from Hamilton...) then how do I expect the rest of this article to be accurate??

The fact that you just rambled off Balls-silly's biographical info like that not only scares me, but it also makes me think you're from Canada...

Anyway, the guy who wrote this is an economics professor from Vanderbilt in Nashville, not a Canadian cartographer. So the guy says that Balls-silly is from Hamilton. Big deal. That's the only Canadian location that dude's probably heard through all the BS being thrown. He's an economist. He's knows money, business, etc., and that's what the article is about. Just read the freaking thing.

After reading so many bloody articles about the 14,000ish people in Nashville who may actually miss the team I retained some info about the man who is trying to pry it away. I ended up reading it regardless and I still didnt like it. The real reason why the team is worth anything is because it has a good on ice product... if it didn't, I'm sure it would be worth next to nothing.

First, it's more a whole lot more than 14,000 fans. That's the average, my friend. The Preds sell out regularly (a little over 17,000), but the Sunday and Wednesday night games really hurt the team, with that whole church in the Bible belt thing going on. Plus, you really don't realise the territory that the Preds cover in TN, KY, and even AL. I'm from Western TN and don't go to as many games as I want because I still live 3 hours away from Nashville, and I don't even live halfway to Memphis. The Pred Heads there have to travel a good 6 hours to get to the Sommet Center! Then there's those in Eastern TN that just really don't feel like going to Raliegh, much less Atlanta...

Second, I'm so sorry you didn't like it, but frankly, the points Professor Vrooman made are slightly more important than how many tickets were bought in Hamilton. If When the Preds average over 14,000 fans per game next year, Balls-silly is going to have an awful hard time convincing the BoG to let him move the team after buying out the lease agreement. (This is assuming, of course, that those that run the league and own the teams actually have souls...)

Lastly, the reason the team is so valuable is because that's what Balls-silly wants to pay for it. Vrooman is correct in saying that he's not just buying the team, but he's also buying the situation. The city pretty much bought the rights to the team, gave them the arena, and provided a way of escape. Balls-silly wants to buy (and gamble on) these attributes, so he feels like he should empty his change purse for the team just in case he has a chance at backing up the Mayflower trucks, ala Baltimore Colts. Frankly, even if he doesn't move the team, he still has very little to complain about because he won't be losing much money anyway.

I do believe you had a hard time picking up some of the sarcasam in my post, which is fine. I don't get why you are so insistant about bashing the man who is looking more and more likely to be your teams new owner. So what if he moves the team, its not like franchises have switched cities before. Its a way of the game, if a team doesn't do well they try to find a better market which would support it more. Just relax on the whole thing... will you still be calling him "Balls-silly" if he ends up buying the team and keeping it in Nashville? Won't you be calling him a saint rather than a devil?? I'm sure you'd flip flop your view on him in a heartbeat in that case...

[YELDARBfield]

I do believe you had a hard time picking up some of the sarcasam in my post, which is fine. I don't get why you are so insistant about bashing the man who is looking more and more likely to be your teams new owner. So what if he moves the team, its not like franchises have switched cities before. Its a way of the game, if a team doesn't do well they try to find a better market which would support it more. Just relax on the whole thing... will you still be calling him "Balls-silly" if he ends up buying the team and keeping it in Nashville? Won't you be calling him a saint rather than a devil?? I'm sure you'd flip flop your view on him in a heartbeat in that case...

Regarding sarcasm: I was unaware that sarcasm was even present. Remember: a smilie or two go a long way!

Regarding me bashing the not-yet-owner: He has shown numerous times, via words, actions, et cetera, that he wants to move this team to Ontario. If that involves me losing my beloved Preds, then I'm gonna bash.

Regarding the nickname: You know what? You're right! That name is stupid! I'll just call him Silly Balls instead. Oh, and if he keeps the team in Nashville voluntarily, then I'll still streak up and down Broadway in Downtown Nashville while taking pictures with my brand new BlackBerry.

[pjinners]

I'll admit to not reading all the posts ... but hasn't anyone suggested this. The Hamilton Steelheads. From that crappy Canadian produced TV series powerplays. Sweaters are already designed.