My Quarrytorium Moratorium...A Hockey Hiatus for the Next Four Months

Many of my friends will find this hard to believe, but I just cancelled my season ticket for the Nashville Predators.  This might seem especially odd in that the 133 day lockout over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the National Hockey League and the players’ union has just been resolved, and the shortened regular season is about to finally commence. 

It takes a lot to shake the hockey out of my system. Even before the NHL’s arrival, I had seen hundreds of major and minor league games across the country, and wrote a monthly column on pro hockey marketing in a national publication for years.  As a member of Mayor Phil Bredesen’s civic committee to research and recommend a downtown arena, I was one of the few that lobbied hard for the facility to be fitted for ice hockey.  Other cam around to realizing that the NHL was a much better possibility for an expansion or relocated franchise than the NBA.

As some of you may know, I’ve been a staunch supporter of the Preds as a season ticket holder since Day 1 in 1998.  In the first ten seasons, I only missed six games. I was on a first name basis friendship with then-owner Craig Leipold and attended countless fan relation and marketing meetings. I interacted regularly with many in the front office.  Along with a few other knuckleheads, I helped create the fan experience known as Cellblock 303 that helped generate an energy at Preds’ games like none other in the league.  My vocal histrionics and enthusiasm at the rink watching the Predators encircle their quarry…their prey, have earned me the monikers of “The Warden,” “The Duke of Rebuke,” and, most aptly, “Chief Goofball.” Heck, I was even at Bridgestone a day and a half after heart surgery yelling my head off for the Predators’ Game 5 clincher over the hated Red Wings in Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last April. There has been little to compare with the fun and pride of watching this young team develop into strong contenders. So, it is clear that my loyalty to the Preds has been unwavering.

When the last lockout occurred, which wiped out the entire 2004-2005 season (a first for any major pro league in US sports history), I kept my money invested in my tickets.  Like most fans, we realized that impasse was necessary for the well being of the league’s future.  Exorbitant salaries, lack of a salary cap, no profit sharing, etc. needed to be addressed or the whole system would implode.  In the next seven seasons, due to the positive changes that were implemented, the NHL’s revenue’s tripled to $3 billion, even in the face of the big recession. You would think that unprecedented growth would mean that when the current contract came to a close this past September that there would just need to be a few minor tweaks to the next CBA and the league could continue its upward trajectory.

But no…greed reared its ugly head on both the owners and players union sides, and there were no reasonable compromises brought to bear on how these multi-millionaires were going to split $3,000,000,000. Hence, another lengthy shutdown.  All the record-breaking growth of the Predators from last season, including a new record of 25 sellouts, swelling corporate partnerships, and the highest TV ratings in their history were put in jeopardy.  Not to mention all the restaurateurs, parking enterprises, and arena employees whose livelihoods were threatened with all the cancelled games.

So, it is not without considerable consternation and sadness that I’ve made this decision.  I certainly don’t want to see the Predators franchise fail, but SOMEBODY needs to get the message that these selfish work stoppages are unacceptable, especially to we fans who fill those millionaires coffers.  And maybe it is just ME that needs to be reminded of this.  When I weigh everything out, I still can’t get past the ungratefulness of the union and the owners.  Nor can I stomach their presumption that we will blindly return no matter what.

I know of other season ticket holders who are willing to move forward, and I refuse to be critical of anyone else’s reasoning.  If they are at peace with their decision, that is fine by me.  My frustration is not with my fellow fans.

But I feel I need to make this statement.  Perhaps I’ll have a change of heart once the regular season is complete. Or maybe it will be late in the summer before I’m ready.  Or perhaps never.

My hope is that the league sees a significant drop in attendance and revenues this season.  Maybe a franchise or two closes shop due to significant downturns.  Then, perhaps, some vows will be made by the powers-that-be to NEVER put the fans through this again (I can dream, can’t I?).

No doubt I will pine-away some evenings for the adrenaline rush of a spirited contest against the Dead Things, Blackholes, or Blosers.  Going to a Predators’ game is a form of Primal Scream Therapy where I can pour it out in a way that is good for my constitution.  But more than anything, I will miss the camaraderie of all my fellow inmates in the Cellblock, and the rest of the NBP (North Balcony Posse).  I hope to see you all again…and please don’t hold this against me.

When I receive my refund from the Preds for my season ticket, I’m signing it over to the Nashville Rescue Mission.  Now there’s a downtown institution that’s been staying open day in and day out for decades and actually doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

Nashville Predators Go For 7th Straight Sellout

Since local ownership really took hold of the Predators three seasons ago, the attendance patterns have climbed steadily from 14,854 per game to the current robust 16,572 per game. Here are some stats to put it all in perspective:

1) With the Predators’ sellout last Sunday vs. Calgary, they attained their sixth sellout in a row, only the second time they have done that in a regular season (in the first year from March 16 thru April 17, 1999).

2) If they sellout this Thursday night, Jan. 5^th, when they take on the Dallas Stars, that will set a new record for consecutive sellouts in the regular season. There is plenty of reasons to make this game attractive: The Preds are battling Dallas in the points standings of the Western Conference; the hated Mark Fistric, who concussed our Captain, Shea Weber, with a cheap elbow to the head 12 days ago, will be playing for Dallas; and it’s College Night, meaning that all university students with an I.D. can get in the game at half price and receive big discounts on food and drinks.

3) With the last sellout vs. Calgary on Sunday, they now have 11 on the season, which sets a new record for the most through 20 home games. (breaking the old record from Season Two).

4) If they continue on the pace they are, they will eclipse their all-time average attendance record of 16,599 established in Season 2. They are currently averaging 16,572 after 20 games, and we know that attendance always gets even better after the holidays going down the second half stretch.

5) The Preds are currently filling Bridgestone Arena capacity at an average of 96.8%

6) The all-time record for Predators sellouts in a regular season is 20 in Season 2. It looks like they have a good shot of reaching 22 or 23 this season. There is actually the potential to make it 25 which would be more than the previous 3 seasons combined.

7) The Predators have not had a crowd under 14,000 since Dec. 5th of '09 (two years ago).

8) 16 out of 20 games so far this season have been 16,000+

9) The Preds are currently ranked 20th in the NHL in attendance. But if they were to sellout every single game, they could only go up one position to 19th (due to Bridgestone being relatively small capacity-wise by NHL standards).

10) Nashville is substantially ahead in avg. attendance over franchises in markets double, triple, and even five times as large like Colorado, Florida, Anaheim, New Jersey, Long Island, Dallas, and Phoenix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQGX9cBDQM

Things are looking good from a fiscal perspective at 5th and Broadway in Smashville!

Nashville Predators Celebrate 1,000th Game Saturday Night

It’s hard to comprehend that it was fourteen years ago that we learned Nashville was going to be granted an expansion franchise in the National Hockey League. Many naysayers, especially those north of the border, thought that this franchise would not only fail on the ice, but would subsequently leave Nashville within five years of inception.

Neither could be farther from the truth.

Here we are thirteen seasons later, and the Predators are as fiscally healthy as they’ve ever been, and are once again one of the top tier teams of the highly competitive Western Conference of the NHL. And this Saturday’s game against one of the NHL’s oldest and proudest franchises, the Montreal Canadiens, marks the 1,000^th regular season game for the Preds.

The franchise, which went through some frustrating times with changing ownership and rumors of a possible relocation five years ago, have not only weathered that storm, but have come out all the stronger on the other side. This is primarily due to a committed local ownership group, amazingly loyal fans, and a core of exciting (mostly homegrown) one-ice talent that has fostered a winning environment.

And at the center of all of this stands the only Head Coach the Predators have ever known, Barry Trotz, and the sole General Manager in the team’s history, David Poile. Together they have formed one of the best leadership tandems the NHL has to offer.

These two have steadily improved the Predators success on the ice during the formative years, consistently winning more games each season than any prognosticators could’ve predicted. Simultaneously they built a strong scouting and minor league system that has developed most of the Predators players, making up over 85% of their current roster, the highest percentage of any team in the league.

And once the Preds started making the playoffs in 2004, they have been back to the tournament for Lord Stanley’s Cup six of the last seven years (only three other franchises in the league can say that).

Most Predator faithful have come to take Trotz and Poile for granted, but here is an interesting stat to put things in perspective: Since 1998, the other four teams in the Central Division have had a combined twenty-three different coaches and eleven General Managers.

Preds fans have been a vocal lot in supporting their squad. In those first four seasons, despite little hope of making the playoffs, they filled the arena at a 94% capacity rate, earning the reputation as one of the loudest barns in the world. Then there was a lull when the uniqueness factor started to drop off and the average dipped to 79% for three years. But as the team began building into a regular playoff participant, the percentage grew back to 88%. And now, the past two seasons, it is returning to the 95% range, with sellouts occurring more often than not. And the rabid enthusiasm of these fans has helped the Predators consistently place in the top three across the league in home won-loss record for the past five seasons. It is a mutual admiration society, with players regularly commenting how they feed off the intense energy brought into the confines of Bridgestone Arena every time they take the ice for another battle.

It is therefore appropriate that when the Preds take on the stalwart Canadiens this Saturday evening at 6 PM, it will be the featured game on Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts across that entire nation on the CBC. And, it will be yet another opportunity for the Predheads of Nashville and the core of young talent on the ice featuring Rinne, Weber, Suter, and Smith can show all of those hockey purists north of the border that Smashville, just like Trotz and Poile, is here to stay.

Let’s let them see and hear our Predator Pride throughout the night, and give them a glimpse of the next 1,000 games with all the grit and drama that will be needed as we strive together to bring the Cup to Hockey Tonk.