As part of the company's $80M naming rights deal at the
Nashville arena, Gaylord Entertainment Co., owner of a 19.9%
stake in the NHL Predators, "agreed to buy hundreds of
season passes each year over the next 20 years to help
bolster" the team's ticket sales, according to Will Pinkston
in the Southeast edition of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. This
season, Gaylord bought 359 season tickets at the 17,113-seat
Gaylord Entertainment Center (GEC). But the company's
season-ticket total "will taper off" and Gaylord "will buy
at least" 150 season tickets in each of the final five years
of its arena naming rights deal. Under the rights deal
signed last August, Gaylord will pay the team "almost" $68M
in cash, and the balance, "factoring in possible price
increases, will be made up" in ticket purchases. Based on
the Predators' $1,640 average season-ticket price, the
company "spent about" $589,000 on tickets this past season.
Gaylord's "unusual arrangement" stems from the NHL's mandate
that the team could begin play in '98 if it sold "at least"
12,000 season tickets. Gaylord bought 500 season tickets
that first year. A Gaylord spokesperson said the company
gives away some passes and "sells others at half price as
perks" for its 5,800 employees (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/17).
