An investigation by the Tennessean newspaper, and authored by Brad Schrade , unearths some information that a lot of us here at OSG HQ had suspected for a long time. Had William "Boots" Del Biaggio ((pictured- thanks tennessean.com)) had his way he would have moved the Nashville Predators NHL franchise to the Sprint Center in Kansas City to be their primary tenant.
Del Biaggio had tried to become majority shareholder in the franchise, but could only swing a one-third interest in the current ownership structure because of financing difficulties. Those difficulties have led to him being under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission to the tune of... oh, hell... a lot of millions of dollars.
The Tennessean obtained a confidential document where Del Biaggio explained the Preds had, what he called, "portability value." Any investor that wished to join Del Biaggio and his Forecheck Holdings group could, in his view, be on the front lines for a part in moving the franchise to any other locale. If after the 2009-10 season, the franchise did not average 14,000 in attendance or had lost $20-million, Forecheck's view was that the other partners would cede control.
In the confidential document obtained by the Tennessean, the market of Kansas City had "already made a very compelling offer" for the Predators.
The team's lead owner, David Freeman, has already told the Mayor of Nashville, Karl Dean, that he was aware of the plan and had a certain "distrust of his (Del Biaggio's) motives." Freeman also asserts that the Preds are not in danger as a franchise in Nashville.
If that's the case, we ask, then who has taken care of the outstanding one-third of the shares that are needed for a full ownership group and investment capital for same. There will be a match race for the lowest payroll in the National Hockey League this season between the Preds and the Atlanta Thrashers. But, at least, NHL Commssioner Gary Bettman gave a basement figure of $40-million for that so they couldn't under-spend each other.
Enjoy... apparently Del Biaggio does... or did...
David Climer's editorial from The Tennessean on the situation is hyah
No comments:
Post a Comment