Sports Authority Member Wants More from Preds Suite Idea

((HT: Tennessean/Cass))

A proposal to create a large luxury suite at Sommet Center should look to generate more money for the city, the head of a Metro Sports Authority committee told Nashville Predators officials today.

“We’d like to see some of that gain, too. … Maybe not a 50-50 split, but something,” said Rusty Lawrence, chairman of the authority’s Finance and Audit Committee.

The Predators agreed to look at the idea but said they deserve to get the great majority of the revenue because they would take all of the risk in remodeling part of the arena.

“If this flops, we’re a half-million dollars in the hole, and maybe more,” said Ed Lang, the hockey club’s president of business operations. “If the city wants to take some of the risk, great. But the idea is that we’re trying to improve the building and increase revenue.”

The Predators want to turn two club-level sections into a 130-seat area for “high net worth individuals” and small and mid-sized companies, which would pay $20,000 per year per seat to attend all events at Sommet Center.

If the area sells out, Lawrence said, the Predators should net about $2 million a year after paying for renovations and other expenses. The team’s projections show the city making an additional $154,000 a year starting in the second year, 2010-11, based on sales tax, rent, concessions and seat use charges.

Lawrence said the city has already done its part to help the Predators by building the arena. But Lang said the city built the facility for itself in the mid-1990s, before it knew the Predators would be the main tenant.

The Predators’ sister company, Powers Management, runs the arena under a contract with Metro.

In other business, the Tennessee Titans said they would have about 150 TV sets to give the city next month after replacing them with flat-screen, high-definition TVs on the club level at LP Field. Sports authority members said they would look for other Metro agencies, like hospitals or schools, that might be able to use them.

And all the above story does is give us the excuse to play this...