One week out from the Nashville Predators’ season opener, a campaign to sell at least 10-thousand season tickets is still about 650 short of meeting that goal.
In a final push, business leaders like Doug Contidorio showed up to a breakfast event (this morning/yesterday) to hear a sales pitch for season tickets. Contidorio, who is vice president of North Highland Consulting, says he was convinced by the economic development impact of losing the team and bought four tickets on the spot.
“Because we’re a locally based consulting firm serving Nashville, we need healthy Nashville corporations as well as community. So if the Predators leave, that dramatically hurts us.”
The Predators narrowly missed meeting attendance benchmarks last season. If that continues, the team could lose out on the NHL’s revenue sharing program.
Attendance was a key factor in owner Craig Leipold putting the team up for sale. The local bidders who are negotiating to purchase the team say home-game attendance must hit an average of 14-thousand to make the team financially viable.
The investor group still must negotiate terms of a lease for the Metro-owned Sommet Center that meets approval of the Sports Authority and Metro Council. Leipold has set a deadline of Oct. 31 to take the deal to the NHL board of governors.
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