Local Bid For Predators Emerges, But Others Still In Play

Local Group Emerges With Predators Bid

A group of Nashville businessmen have submitted a bid to buy the Predators, but “at least two other offers remain on the table,” according to sources cited by John Glennon of the Nashville TENNESSEAN.  The group is led by 36 Venture Capital CEO David Freeman and HealthSpring CEO Herb Fritch, and while the amount of the bid is unknown, it “could provide a boost for fans hoping owner Craig Leipold sells the Predators to a group intent on keeping the team in Nashville” (TENNESSEAN, 7/4).

LOCKOUT LESSON FORGOTTEN? In Nashville, David Climer wrote due to the uncertain ownership situation, the Predators have “gone old-school at a time the rest of the NHL is feeling its Wheaties.”  For “no apparent reason,” the league and many teams “seem to be forgetting that they are less than three years removed from the lockout.”  The average player salary for the ’07-08 season will “equal or slightly exceed the pre-lockout median of $1.83[M].”  Climer: “They have gone back to pre-2005 thinking, where players’ salaries were inflated, premier free agents commanded top dollar and there was a general belief that all was well. ... So much for the owners’ vows to control costs” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/4).