Thursday, May 24, 2007

Preds being sold?

The big news in hockey world this morning is that the Nashville Preds are possibly being sold.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold reached an agreement to sell his franchise to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie after 10 years of losing money.

Leipold told Predators' employees of the sale in a meeting Wednesday afternoon in Nashville, according a person familiar with the sale who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday night on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized.

Whether the sale would involve relocation of the franchise remained unknown. The NHL's Board of Governors must approve any sale, but the Predators have struggled to sell tickets for years and their future in Nashville has been in doubt.

Team officials declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Blackberry makers Research in Motion Ltd., has offered an undisclosed amount for the team, Canadian sports network TSN reported. In December, Balsillie withdrew his offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins for $175 million.

UPDATE: Bleatings from a Caps Nut has a good take.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

See, as a native Northwesterner (like OR/WA, not Michigan) I could sort of get behind the move if they plonked a team down in Portland or Seattle, which they were thinking of. I doubt Seattle would get it, as they just ponied up the money for two new arenas (baseball and football) but Portland already has the Rose Garden, and the Trailblazers (bball) SUCK....

I could definately support a hockey team going into my hometown... Gives me a reason to visit Mom and Dad :-)