Predators President & CEO Sean Henry "expects to sell out every home game" in '16-17 for a team that just got within one win of the NHL Western Conference finals, but the "immediate goal" is gaining TV eyeballs, according to Joe Rexrode of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. Henry said, "TV viewing is our No. 1 priority this year. And I really think we’ll have the ability to grow that 25 to 50 percent.” Rexrode notes averaged near a 0.3 local rating in Nashville "for regular-season games when Henry arrived six years ago, and now they are more in the 1.5 range." The takeaway is that hockey "possesses the largest gap between live viewing (spectacular) and TV viewing (not great)." That is "hard to overcome," though the Predators’ plan this season "includes pregame and postgame shows for every game for the first time." Viewers also will have "incentives to tune in, such as selfie contests for tickets and other giveaways during the broadcast." Meanwhile, playing hockey is "not something kids in this region grow up doing, and that limits the passion that turns to loyal fandom." That is "under all-out assault from the Predators, and it’s going to be interesting to see whether they can change it." Until they do, this franchise’s reality "will have some minor-league baseball to it." Henry: “The best way to grow a fan is with a stick in their hand" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 9/16).
BACKING THE BOSS: Henry on Monday called co-Owner David Freeman's lawsuit against fellow investor and Chair Tom Cigarran "goofy." He said, "It was in the wrong court. It was frivolous. If you read through it, it was just a soap opera. There was really no credibility to it." In Nashville, Jacob Steimer notes Henry's choice of sides in the dispute "was not surprising -- Cigarran is Henry's boss -- but the way he spoke about the lawsuit and Freeman himself was much more transparent than his past discussions of it." Henry went on to call Freeman "one of those guys that (doesn't) use his own money." He "blamed many of the franchise's initial financial woes on Freeman." Henry said that the ownership dispute "had no impact on the franchise over the summer, and he pointed to the fact that the organization had its best summer yet from a selling standpoint" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/13).
