Hurricanes President & GM Jim Rutherford said that the Hurricanes are "considering playing a preseason game in Atlanta next fall as they battle the Nashville Predators for whatever hockey fans might be left in the 404 area code," according to Luke DeCock of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. A preseason game in Atlanta "would be a dead-certain money-loser, but the intangible benefits may make it worthwhile." Rutherford said that the Hurricanes "would also consider investing in Atlanta-area youth hockey if the team decided to make a long-term play for the market." Rutherford noted that the Hurricanes and Predators "will each get to broadcast 40 games to the Atlanta market this year, with a long-term decision on the fate of the TV market to be made by the NHL next summer." The Predators are "already marketing ticket packages to Thrashers fans to come up and see a game in Nashville." The "Thrash to Smash" package offers "free tickets to Winnipeg's one visit to Nashville to any fans who buy tickets to five other" Predators games (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 9/10).
SETTLING DOWN: In Atlanta, Tim Tucker reports Atlanta Spirit, which recently sold the Thrashers and has an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Hawks, and Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding "have settled the legal-malpractice lawsuit the sports ownership group filed against the firm early this year." The lawsuit filed by Atlanta Spirit claimed King & Spalding cost the group "almost $200 million by negotiating a 'botched' contract that prevented unloading the money-losing Thrashers for more than five years." The lawsuit alleged that King & Spalding "negotiated a 'fatally flawed' contract in 2005 that caused a planned buyout" of former Atlanta Spirit partner Steve Belkin to "'break down into chaos,' triggering a five-year battle between Belkin and the other owners." Terms of the settlement were not disclosed (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 9/13).
