His Boots Are Headed For Prison

((HT: GlobeSports))

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Silicon Valley financier William “Boots” Del Biaggio III ((pictured, thanks Nashville Post)) to more than eight years in prison for bilking investors and banks — including one he helped launch — out of millions of dollars in a desperate attempt to buy a pro hockey team.

Boots is to report to prison in January.

Del Biaggio pleaded guilty to one charge of forging financial documents to obtain $110 million in loans from several banks and two NHL owners — Craig Leopold of the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings owner AEG. Del Biaggio used the money to purchase a controlling interest in the Nashville Predators.

Del Biaggio set his crime in motion by turning to David Cacchione, a financially strapped stockbroker at Merriman Curhan Ford Group Inc. who owed him $2 million. According to federal prosecutors and the SEC, Cacchione e-mailed Del Biaggio account statements from several wealthy Merriman clients showing tens of millions of dollars worth of stock holdings.

Del Biaggio then doctored the account statements by cutting out the clients' names and pasting in his own and presenting them to the banks and NHL owners as collateral. Auditors examining Merriman's books uncovered the fraud last year. Cacchione has pleaded guilty to one fraud charge and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 29.

Henry Tang, Merriman's chief financial officer, on Tuesday told U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer that the scam cost the San Francisco-based company $10 million in legal fees and forced it reduce its staff from 188 employees to 85. Tang said the publicly traded company's share price has tumbled because of Del Biaggio's action, wiping out $43.4 million in market capitalization.

Breyer ordered Del Biaggio to pay back eight banks and the two NHL owners a combined $47.5 million. One of the victim banks is Heritage Bank of Commerce, which Del Biaggio co-founded with his father nearly 20 years ago. The judge ordered Del Biaggio to pay the bank $4.8 million.

Besides the fraudulent loans, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit seeking to recover roughly $20 million of individual investments the agency accuses Del Biaggio of spending on personal expenses. Three of those investors on Tuesday urged the judge to mete out a lengthy prison sentence, complaining that Del Biaggio squandered their retirement funds and children's education nest eggs.

Several other victims, including childhood friends and longtime business associates, wrote the court with similar sentiments. Although those losses weren't included in the indictment, Breyer still ordered Del Biaggio to also pay back those victims. In all, Del Biaggio has to repay a total of $67.4 million.

“A betrayal of trust is an awful thing,” Breyer said. “I don't care if you can pay back everything — this will never leave you and that's the real punishment here.”

Breyer said Del Biaggio's cooperation with investigators once his fraud was discovered spared him a longer prison sentence of more than 10 years.

He filed for bankruptcy and many of his assets, including his Nashville Predators stake, will be sold by court order.

On Tuesday, while his weeping parents and friends looked on, Del Biaggio tearfully apologized and vowed to pay back everyone.

“I was blinded by pride and ego,” he said. “Everyone makes mistakes. I will come back from this and I refuse to let this define my life.”

Those of us at OSG HQ would like to remind people that the NHL let this happen as well- by not performing due diligence necessary to make sure someone like Del Biaggio couldn't be an owner...

And that Jim Balsillie could...

These Boots Were Made For Prison

((HT: GlobeSports))

Silicon Valley financier William (Boots) Del Biaggio III was scrambling during the summer of 2007 to buy a significant portion of the NHL's Nashville Predators.

The 24 per cent piece of the team he was after would have achieved a long-term goal, cementing his status as a major player in the NHL. Authorities allege he wanted the franchise ownership so much that he turned to crime.

Today, he faces more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to one charge of fraud for using forged financial documents to obtain US$110 million in loans from several banks and two NHL owners. Del Biaggio's lawyer did not immediately return telephone messages.

In court papers, Del Biaggio admitted to the fraud and said he will attempt to pay back his victims.The rise and demise of the flamboyant 41-year-old high roller is chronicled in federal court records, including a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit that outlined the fraudulent loans and a separate $19-million Ponzi scheme in which he used investors' money to finance his lavish lifestyle.

Hockey was Del Biaggio's passion. In 2002, he bought a two per cent ownership stake in the San Jose Sharks. Two years later, he was part of an investment group involving Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille that purchased the minor-league Omaha Lancers in Nebraska.Del Biaggio and Lemieux were frequent golf partners and the two purchased a $2-million home in Santa Monica, court records show. And Del Biaggio and Robitaille opened a $2-million real estate investment fund.

Del Biaggio, the son of a respected banker and grandson of a successful beer distributor, lived with his three children and socialite wife in a gated home in San Jose's Almaden neighbourhood. An elaborate fundraising event there turned his tennis court into a stage for the singer Seal and brought in $400,000 for the American Heart Association. He maintained his office on Silicon Valley's famed Sand Hill Road and was considered a high roller in Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, the millions he needed in 2007 for his 24 per cent share of the Predators was far beyond his means.So Del Biaggio turned to David Cacchione, a financially strapped stockbroker who owed him $2 million. According to federal prosecutors and the SEC, the duo hatched a simple, lucrative and illegal scheme.Cacchione emailed Del Biaggio account statements from several wealthy clients showing tens of millions of dollars worth of stock holdings.Del Biaggio then doctored the account statements by cutting out the clients' names and pasting in his own.

Using the falsified documents, Del Biaggio obtained about $110 million in loans and loan guarantees from two NHL owners and various banks, including $4 million from the Heritage Bank of Commerce, which he and his father launched in the mid-90s.Del Biaggio also showed the account statements to NHL authorities to back his ownership bid. And that has led some to question whether the league adequately examined Del Biaggio before authorizing the sale of the Predators to his ownership group.

"What kind of due diligence did the NHL do on this?" said Jeffrey Citron, a Toronto lawyer who served as the NHL union's No. 2 lawyer for five years ending in 2000. "Typically I would expect them to be much more thorough."The NHL defended its handling of Del Biaggio's ownership application and said that his influential hockey friends had no bearing on the approval process."

"Del Biaggio's application received the normal level of due diligence done on investments of the same size," said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. "Del Biaggio was not given any special treatment."

Court records show that Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold and AEG, which owns the Los Angeles Kings, loaned Del Biaggio a combined $17 million to buy the team without the permission or knowledge of the commissioner's office.The league has since changed its policy to require owners to disclose all financial deals with each other.

"The situation was unfortunate and regrettable, but it has not had a huge effect on the league or how we conduct business," Daly said.Lemieux declined to comment and a spokesman for the Los Angeles Kings said neither Robitaille nor an AEG representative would comment.

Del Biaggio's world began crumbling a year ago. New York-based Modern Bank demanded repayment of its loan in late May after discovering that the accounts Del Biaggio used as collateral did not belong to him.Then his father's bank and several other lenders sued him. Del Biaggio filed for bankruptcy. And his wife filed for divorce.

Del Biaggio, who has pleaded to a federal fraud charge, is scheduled to be sentenced in July to at least 6 1/2 years in prison.Del Biaggio's fraud of more than $100 million is not in the league of the billions stolen by Bernie Madoff, but his greed has devastated his victims.Lawyer Ronald Laupheimer has to continue working because most of the $600,000 retirement nest egg he invested with Del Biaggio was lost in the Ponzi scheme.The 63-year-old is considering selling his San Francisco home of 35 years and, like other Del Biaggio victims, he worries that the banks and NHL owners Del Biaggio defrauded will be awarded the lion's share of his estate.

"I was pretty close to retirement," he said. "It's been tough and we don't know what we are going to do."

"Boots" Walks In To A Conviction

((HT: The Tennessean))

A Silicon Valley financier who federal authorities say bilked investors and scammed banks to furnish a lifestyle that included buying a stake in a professional hockey team pleaded guilty Wednesday to securities fraud.

Former Nashville Predators co-owner William “Boots” Del Biaggio III ((pictured, thanks Garvey Scott/KC Star)) entered the plea exactly two months after federal prosecutors brought a single criminal charge against him for allegedly using brokerage accounts that weren’t his as collateral for nearly $100 million in loans.The charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, but Del Biaggio likely will be sentenced to much less time behind bars.

Wednesday’s hearing capped a spectacularly rapid fall from grace for Del Biaggio, 41, a member of a prominent San Jose banking family who founded Sand Hill Venture Capital and co-founded Heritage Bank of Commerce with his father. In May, he abruptly resigned from Sand Hill, which authorities say was not involved in Del Biaggio’s illegal activities. He filed for bankruptcy the next month after three lawsuits accused him of using forged documents and bogus collateral to land multimillion dollar loans.

At the end of the year, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a related lawsuit accusing the venture capitalist of misappropriating more than $19 million from private investors and using client account information to obtain loans.Del Biaggio has agreed to make restitution without admitting wrongdoing in the SEC case.

Federal authorities say Del Biaggio used the money to repay gambling debts, to decorate the four houses he and his wife owned and to buy a $10 million minority stake in the Predators.

[ed.note- we especially like the background in the photo... the irony is inescapable...]

Feds File Charges Against Del Biaggio

((HT: San Jose Mercury News))

Pete Carey and Brandon Bailey, who have been following the William "Boots" Del Biaggio ((pictured, thanks Rick E. Martin/mercurynews.com)) case from the drop of the puck, come forward with news the Feds are filing charges against the man alledging a US$65-million fraud over a five-year period.

"Mr. Del Biaggio exploited his reputation and relationships to defraud numerous lenders and clients out of tens of millions of dollars, bankrolling his dream of owning a professional sports team and maintaining an extravagant lifestyle," said Marc Fagel, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's regional office in San Francisco.

In addition to a complaint filed by the SEC in federal court, officials said the U.S. Attorney's office was also planning to file separate criminal charges against del Biaggio.

View the complaint by clicking the black...

It's ten pages, but we think you'll want to know where Jim Balsillie is getting his stake in the Nashville Predators franchise from ((to end a sentence in a preposition))...

Nothing like the disgorgement of IGG...

Preds Filing Claims Del Biaggio Cost Team Milions

The Tennessean's Brad Schrade is monitoring the bankruptcy proceedings for William "Boots" Del Biaggio ((pictured, thanks yahoo sports- he's the one on the left)) for the home team and his latest piece in the paper details the tack that the ownership group is taking in all of this...

To wit... The "he's costing us money" approach...

From the article... ahem... quote...

"The local owners claim in their filing that the value of the team purchased in December for a reported $193 million has been diminished by 15 percent. And the owners also claim they are stuck with high-interest debt and a loan in cross-default because of Del Biaggio's activities."

Couple of interesting points Schrade raises through interviews with John Vrooman, a Vanderbilt University sports economist and Marc Ganis, President of SportsCorp, Ltd. Both think the Preds are stretching things a bit... but they kinda have to...

Vrooman is questioning the idea that Del Biaggio actually is at fault for costing the Preds lost revenue in sponsorships, ticket revenue, and the like. Ganis thinks the filing is a way to strengthen their position in the attempt to get the 27-percent stake Del Biaggio had before he ended up in court.

The US$193-million is also being questioned by Schrade since The Tennessean obtained confidential documents over the summer that had the franchise's value at US$176-million after price adjustments. But the court papers filed by the owners in the Del Biaggio case list their value, after self-imposed, value-added loss, to yield a purchase price of US$180-million.

Don't you all love new math...?

More from bankruptcy court as we know more...

Predators Default on US$40-Million Loan

The Globe and Mail duo of Gordon and Shoalts are at it again...

Word comes from the ownership group themselves that they have defaulted on a US$40-million loan. They are the first ones, however, to put the blame on "Boots" Del Biaggio ((pictured)) and his "imaginative" ((shall we say)) economics.

The group had filed a US$100-million petition for damages with the Bankruptcy Court handling the Del Biaggio proceedings in San Francisco earlier in the week. Court documents, according to the Globe and Mail article, also claim that an unnamed individual/source/group is bidding for the US$40-million debt owed CIT Group, Incorporated.

No one knows if that is Balsillie as well...

The group also claims they had to come up with the balance of the moneys Del Biaggio would have contributed on their own to satisfy the pricetage for the franchise... which puts them in deeper financial doo-doo...

From the article... ahem... quote...

"People familiar with the Nashville ownership situation suggested the lease-guarantee payment has particular importance because the team would face a penalty of up to US$50-million if the Predators were to default."

Gordon and Shoalts reached minority Predators owner Herb Fritch and he told them in no uncertain terms that:

A) The news had made more Toronto papers than Nashville papers,
B) He didn't think the franchise was in bad shape,
C) "It will pass."

To that, the stock responses in the hockey community are the following...

"Well, duh..."
"Are we looking at the same balance sheets, sir...?"
"No, it won't."

Stephen Brunt has another column on the subject in black...

Nashville City Attorney Not Surprised By Balsillie Interest

Brad Schrade of the Tennessean caught up with Metro Attorney Larry Thrailkill and asked him about Jim Balsillie's ((pictured, thanks globeandmail.com)) current re-interest in the Nashville Predators franchise with William "Boots" Del Biaggio's 27-percent stake held up in Bankruptcy Court.

Thrailkill maintains that if any owner, regardless of who ends up with the winning bid, assumed the Del Biaggio shares he or she would have no impact on the city of Nashville's guidelines for keeping the Preds at their downtown arena home.

The Preds still have a lease with Metro ((that what they call themselves in a collective-governmental sense)) that is for two more seasons. The lease can only be re-examined if the team doesn't average 14,000 per game in attendance and loses US$20-million.

Thrailkill also recalls an attempt by the ownership group over the summer to restructure the deal-in-place for an adjustment in veto power over possible future owners. He doesn't recall if the measure was approved, but you'll recall yesterday's words from local ownership head David Freeman that alluded to an "approval process" for anyone that would assume those duties.

"As I have said for months, if the trustee accepts our bid, we will write him a check. If the trustee wishes to accept the bid of another, we anticipate he will adhere to the terms of our governing legal documents and seek our approval. If such a request for approval is made, we will consider the request at the appropriate time."

Last time we checked, a bankruptcy court just cares about recouping losses toward the eradication of a debt, not where the money comes from under any circumstance...

That's just us...

Preds File Claim Against Del Biaggio

Brad Schrade from The Tennessean newspaper has been all over this whole Del Biaggio-Nashville Predators fiasco from the beginning...

News out of Nashville has the remainder of the current Preds ownership group filing a claim against William "Boots" Del Biaggio in the Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco. The group is claiming that Del Biaggio's fraudulent behavior has cost them millions of dollars.

Schrade's middle paragraph... ahem... quote...

"The claim seems to counter statements made by the club immediately following Del Biaggio's bankruptcy in June that his problems would have no impact on the club's operations. Del Biaggio is under federal investigation, and facing a series of lawsuits claiming he defrauded lenders in an effort to purchase his 27-percent stake in the team in December."

This could play one of two ways- either the Predators ownership group is in really bad shape and is set to lose a boatload of money with or without Del Biaggio as a part owner. The other idea is that the Preds are just doing this to protect their assets and this was just an attempt to snow Del Biaggio and his attorneys under more paperwork.

Those of us here at OSG HQ tend to think it's somewhere in the middle.

The Hamilton Spectator newspaper isn't buying...

A short article makes sure we all know that Preds Head David Freeman is telling anyone and everyone that the team is not for sale. He also says that he hasn't had any talks with Balsillie. Richard Rodier, Balsillie's attorney, also concurs with the previous sentence. He even goes as far as saying that the team is "firmly in the hands of Mister Freeman."

For now...

Your Daily Jim Balsillie Update

According to an article from the Globe and Mail's David Shoalts and Sean Gordon, wanna-be National Hockey League/Nashville Predators ((pictured, thanks thetennessean.com)) -minority/majority owner Jim Balsillie has some competition for the 27-percent stake of the franchise currently up for bankruptcy bidding from the portfolio of William "Boots" Del Biaggio...

The rest of the current ownership group...

Minority owner Herb Fritch and two other sources told Shoalts and Gordon that the group headed by David Freeman has put in a number of their own to the bankruptcy court in San Francisco.

The article goes on to say that the 27-percent stake is valued at US$20-million, but the courts view it to be slightly higher in their own assessment. Fritch admitted that the ownership group's bid was at an undervalued rate to the assessed value.

Don't be surprised, though, if Balsillie bid over either value since he was willing to part with almost US$240-million to pick up the Preds in the first place. The current ownership consortium ((that's a fancy name for "group")) ended up grabbing the team from ex-owner Craig Leipold for US$176-million.

But another rub in all of this is the approval of the new owner by both the rest of the group and the National Hockey League when the bankruptcy court decides on a final winner in the case.

Ahem... quote... from the article...

"I believe our group has to approve any sale of those shares, so we have some control over who gets them... I don't care what the amount [of the bid] is, it's got to be approved by the powers that be," Fritch said. "I think the bankruptcy trustee has to take that into account."

Stephen Brunt follows up the work from these two with a column of his own... feeling that the current US economic downturn may lead to Balsillie's riding a white horse and bringing a second NHL team to southern Ontario province after all...

Strangely enough... the local paper in Nashville hasn't touched this yet...
As of the time of the story developing, anyway...
When we know more... you'll know more...

UPDATE: Sources tell Sportsnet's HockeyCentral that the Predators, on the whole, are not for sale and that Balsillie's interest is dependent on the 27-percent Del Biaggio portion of the ownership stake. Apparently, even with the Del Biaggio percentage being less than a majority, the National Hockey League Board of Governors would still have to approve the transfer.

Here We Go Again...? Balsillie To Buy Preds... Maybe...

On "Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown" Monday afternoon, McCown had his normal roundtable discussions with David Shoalts and Stephen Brunt- or just "Brunt" as McCown calls him on the air. The program is heard throughout Canada on the Fan Radio Networks and is simulcast on Rogers Sportsnet.

A good reason for a Slingbox for a friend north of the border...

McCown had it through his sources that Research in Motion co-founder/Blackberry God Jim Balsillie ((pictured, thanks Getty Images)) was about to buy the NHL's Nashville Predators- again.

The segment can be found in black...

Balsillie's lawyer, Richard Rodier, flatly denied any talk of the sort to Rogers Sportsnet's HockeyCentral program later in the day.

"There is not a scintilla of truth in this report," Rodier told HockeyCentral. "This fell out of the sky."

Reports vary as to the amount of interest Balsillie has in the Preds. It could be the 20-percent stake that William "Boots" Del Biaggio has as part of his holdings that are awaiting bankruptcy divisions, or the whole thing- which would, again, renew the interest of an entire province in the idea of hockey expansion.

Which is where is really needs to be...
You'll know more as we know more...

Boots Kicked Again

Pete Carey in the San Jose Mercury-News adds another name to the list of folks the former San Jose Sharks/Nashville Predators part-owner William "Boots" Del Biaggio can't keep on any Fave 5 list for the forseeable future...

Former Los Angeles Kings superstar Luc Robitaille...

Robitaille has sued Del Biaggio for fraud stemming their involvement in a bank loan that Robitaille claims was used, partly, for Del Biaggio's "extravagant lifestyle."

The pair had done business before everything fell apart for Del Biaggio- including the joint purchase of the United States Hockey League ((USHL)) franchise in Omaha, Nebraska- the Omaha Lancers.

((Unrelated sidebar- the Lancers and Robitaille are putting corporate sponsorship opportunities for the upcoming USHL season on Ebay through the 29th of September))

((Go here if you're interested- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170263970189))

Robitaille and Del Biaggio apparently picked up a US$2-million line of credit to invest in real estate and some other things. Now Robitaille says Del Biaggio "tricked him" in to signing for the credit line, and is asking to be relieved of his part of the full amount credited since he "received no benefits" from it.

It is also Robitaille's belief that Del Biaggio maxed out the credit line at the end of 2008 without telling Robitaille he had done that.

Remember who owns the Los Angeles Kings ((the team Robitaille played for most of his career))...?

AEG...
Remember what AEG has to do with all of this...?

Just thought we'd remind you...

NHL Looking Into AEG

What would happen if you owned more than one franchise at once...?

That scenario almost happened when Anschutz Entertainment Group ((AEG)) dropped a $7-million loan, and Craig Leipold sent $10-million into the pockets of "Boots" Del Biaggio to make sure his Forecheck Holdings could pick up 31-percent of the Nashville Predators when Leipold wanted to leave and buy the Minnesota Wild.

Got all that...?

Had this all gone down AEG would have had pieces of the LA Kings and the Preds. Leipold would have had pieces of the Wild and the Preds. Del Biaggio admitted, in his prospectus for possible Forecheck investors, that he thought after two seasons there would be enough of a loss to move the team from Nashville. He also admitted Kansas City had shown interest in gaining a tenant for its Sprint Center ((pictured- Isn't it pretty??)). "Boots" also admitted NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman didn't perform standard due diligence research on his finances to a California business associate Doug Bergeron. Bettman disputes Bergeron's version of events.

By the way, guess who owns the Sprint Center...?
Yup... AEG...

Larry Brooks work in New York City at the Post going over all this is hyah
Current Wild, and possible current-partial owner of the Preds, Craig Leipold is now "disappointed" in learning Del Biaggio is chasing bankruptcy protection in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press;

"Mr. Leipold is disappointed to learn of these developments regarding Mr. Del Biaggio. Mr. Leipold has been pursuing his legal remedies, and he will continue to assert his claims against Mr. Del Biaggio in accordance with the applicable bankruptcy court procedures.

"In deference to the judicial process, Mr. Leipold prefers not to comment on the pending litigation against Mr. Del Biaggio at this time."

Leipold failed to address the idea of loaning Del Biaggio the money...
Shocking...

Preds Sale Hinged On Leipold Loan

The Tennessean's Brad Schrade is at it again...

He has come across the confidential agreement that got old owner Craig Leipold ((pictured, thanks thetennessean.com/George Walker IV)) out of owning the NHL's Nashville Predators and got the local consortium in as the owners.

There's one problem... Leipold and AEG, the parent company of the Los Angeles Kings, loaned "Boots" Del Biaggio 17 of the 30-million dollars that he pitched in to be part of the new sandbox.
Del Biaggio and his Forecheck Holdings outfit was in possession of 31-percent of the franchise until it was disclosed that Del Biaggio had apparently falsified financial records to make himself a bigger ((and more solvent)) player in the owning game than he was. Del Biaggio is currently chasing bankruptcy protection.

The Bettman is receiving a fair amount of flak these days because he was persuaded in some form or another not to perform his normal due diligence to check Del Biaggio's financial records before he was to become part of the frat.

Leipold also put in another $10-million in the form of a seller's note, and the new owners wanted Leipold to throw more money in ((or find another owner for the group)) if Del Biaggio's involvement disappeared. His original $10-million could have become $40-million.

And it ain't over...

"In contrast to the Del Biaggio loans, Leipold's $10 million seller's note to the Predators was disclosed in the purchase documents. That loan, which Freeman described as seller financing, along with an additional $20 million put in by the local owners, was intended to be a short-term loan.

The bank involved in the deal, CIT Group, had withheld $30 million in financing, pending the changes to the team's Sommet Center lease with Metro. But even after the more favorable lease terms were approved by the city in April, the $30 million didn't come through. So those notes to Leipold and the local group are still outstanding, though they were disclosed in the purchase documents."

The remainder of the Schrade article can be found hyah

Preds Boots Was Made For Moving

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

--Jon Nelson