Friday, May 25, 2007

Endangered Species


It looks like my newest sports entertainment hobby will be packing up and heading to Canada in the very near future. This week Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold announced that he has sold the team to Canadian Billionaire Jim Balsillie. Balsillie had previously tried to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins in an effort to relocate them.

Leiopld acknowledged Thursday that he has sustained 75 million dollars in loses over the ten years of the clubs existence. In the past two years the Predators have lost 27 million despite benefiting from consecutive playoff runs and a league-wide revenue sharing program. It is doubtful that Balsillie purchased the team to keep it in a market that consistently loses money. If the Predators do not average 14,000 in ticket sales next year, Balsillie will be able to void the lease with the Nashville Arena and move the team.

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