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It’s the beginning of another season on the ice for the Nashville Predators, time to look at the checklist for this preseason game night in Smashville…
- Excited fanbase? Check.
- Dedicated, hard working team? Check.
- Sold out preseason games? Check.
- Typical front page hatchet job on team by local newspaper? check.
As sure as the sun rises in the east, you can always count on a negative story about the Preds at the beginning of the season, before critical games and especially, right as the playoffs start. Say one thing about our local newspaper, they may not be accurate, but they are predictable.
Can someone tell me what the heck is going on over at 1100 Broadway? The team buys out the shares held by the bankruptcy court in a clear sign of fiscal strength and commitment, and the paper buries it, gives it almost zero ink. A member of Metro Sports Authority asks a reasonable question, and our friends in the newspaper business blow it up into a huge scandal, billing this as a “Watchdog Report.” (Insert dramatic music here.)
The so-called “issue” revolves around the submission of financial reports. The fiscal year ends on June 30th. The lease agreement calls for reports to be filed on July 1st. Now… I’m not an accountant, but I have never seen financial reporting for an entire year be compiled, reviewed, audited and filed within a single day. The reporters in this case seem to have no concept of this… and these are the “watchdogs?” Reporters with no evident practical knowledge of business in the position of reporting on business… no wonder the paper is losing subscribers… The interesting part of this is that these reporters have set up a Catch 22, if the Predators submit unaudited reports on time, the paper will hammer them for every little human error, if they wait to submit accurate financial reporting (as ANY responsible business would do,) they get hammered for being late.
The other thing blown out of proportion (and misunderstood by our intrepid reporters) is the “Facility Fee” that gets charged on every ticket sold. Since 2001, concert goers have been charged $2.50 per seat, which $2.00 of that fee has gone to Metro to help pay down the construction debt on the arena, the rest of the revenue goes to Powers Management (who runs the arena) to pay for upkeep and upgrades to the arena, reducing Metro’s need to subsidize. The Finance Director in the mayor’s office says the practice complies with the lease. So, I’m wondering where the story is.
There was some very good news in the story, not that you could easily find it. Powers Management has done an outstanding job in driving up usage of the arena (heaven forbid that is the headline.) The story states that there were 327,491 tickets sold for concerts in 2009, a 55% increase over 2008. That resulted in almost a quarter million dollars in more “seat use fee” revenue to Metro… that number doesn’t take into account increased sales tax revenue from parking, food and drinks sold at the arena and surrounding restaurants/bars.
The new ownership has done an outstanding job of turning things around with this franchise, not only on the ice, but in the arena as well. They have driven up non-hockey related events and attendance, driven in new revenue for the city and been responsible corporate citizens as well. It’s time for the local newspaper to recognize it and quit pandering to the negative…
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By the way… there’s a game tonight. The Predators return to the ice at Bridgestone Arena to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the first preseason tilt for the Preds. Carolina dropped their preseason opener to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Tonight is the first game of a four game in five night stretch for the Preds, three of them on home ice.
Carolina’s Roster
Drayson Bowman
Brett Carson
Erik Cole
Joe Corvo
Zac Dalpe
Patrick Dwyer
Jay Harrison
Jussi Jokinen
Tom Kostopoulos
Jamie McBain
Riley Nash
Patrick O'Sullivan
Justin Peters
Joni Pitkanen
Justin Pogge
Bryan Rodney
Tuomo Ruutu
Sergei Samsonov
Eric Staal
Brandon Sutter
And Nashville’s
Mark Dekanich
Pekka Rinne
Jonathon Blum
Ryan Ellis
Cody Franson
Teemu Laakso
Ryan Parent
Alexander Sulzer
Jonas Andersson
Taylor Beck
J-P Dumont
Blake Geoffrion
Marcel Goc
Patric Hornqvist
Sergei Kostitsyn
Cal O'Reilly
Nick Spaling
Andreas Thuresson
Jordin Tootoo
Kelsey Wilson
I am very excited to see some of the youngsters get a taste, especially Ryan Ellis and Taylor Beck, there is also bound to be quite a few buttons busting among the local hockey community as local boy Blake Geoffrion gets his first taste of NHL hockey, in the town he grew up in.
The game is a sellout, puck drop is at 7pm. There is no local radio for the game however you can listen to Carolina’s radio feed at their website. See you tonight at the Bridge!
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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates… I’ll also be updating with starting lineups and scratches during Pred home games, also I’ll be supplying information and explanations from the PA box.
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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…
SlapShot Radio is on hiatus until our NHL Preview show on October 6th… however, pre-season advertising specials are available. Join our returning advertisers who already know, advertising on SlapShot Radio is a cost-effective way to reach out to hockey fans all over North America. Send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll get you information on joining the SlapShot Radio family.
The show has also put together a road trip for Pred Nation… watch out Carolina, we’re headed your way this year. We’ve set up a bus trip to go see the Preds and Canes tangle on November 20th. We got the bus, the tickets and hotels available… check it out at SlapShot Radio’s Facebook page. We’ve already filled one bus and are efforting another… stay tuned.
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