When last I touched on the plight of the Nashville Predators on this blog, it had been announced that current owner Craig Leipold had signed a letter of intent to sell the club to a group of local investors which would keep the team in Nashville.

Since then, things apparently aren't going as smooth with the sale as hoped.

On October 2, the Tennessean reported David Freeman, leader of the investors group, claimed he wasn't hopeful that the deal would go through, based on the city's rejection of the group's request for new tax money and improvements to the Sommet Center, the Predators' home arena.

The synopsis of the requests (as per James Mirtle's blog) were as follows:

* They wanted to keep all of the sales taxes and seat use fees related to hockey games and other events ($4.6-million in 2007)
* A cap on the amount of operating losses covered by the city at just under $4-million
* They wanted the team to be able to leave if attendance fell below 14,000 and the group lost $20-million
* An increase on the penalty for breaking the team lease
* Assistance with creating new revenue streams and eliminating excessive utility costs
* Free use of a new parking facility

As Mirtle points out, "the Predators already had the league's best arena lease deal before any of these concessions were made - concessions that the Freeman group brought to the table after signing an agreement with Craig Leipold."

In addition, last month the Predators announced an increase in single-game ticket prices by 25 percent. This was a stunning announcement considering the Preds were attempting to bolster its sluggish season ticket sales, which has ranked amongst the lowest in the NHL contributing to the Predators, despite their on-ice success of the past three seasons, placing the club near the bottom of the NHL's attendance rankings.

Blogger Tom Benjamin writes:

"The whopping ticket price increase is, to me, another indicator that a deal to relocate the team to the Anschutz Empire in Kansas City is signed, sealed and delivered. If team had to increase attendance to an average of about 14,200 customers a game to ensure revenue sharing payments and an ongoing lease, is it smart to increase ticket prices by 25%? I don't think so either. The explanation offered by the Predators is drawn from the same economics textbook Bettman used when he promised the lockout would lead to lower ticket prices. On the other hand, if the objective is to ensure that the lease is broken, the team would ice an inferior product at much higher prices."

Mirtle subsequently noted the Predators had 7,900 tickets still available for their second home game of the 2007-08 season five days prior to that game.

For the Predators to survive in Nashville, they must reach the magic number of 14, 000 in average attendance every season, as their arena seats over 17,000.  To have nearly 8,000 tickets available for the second home game of the season, as Mirtle points out, is "a little troubling".

If this trend continues, it'll be more than a little troubling, and as Benjamin suggested could lead to the eventual relocation of the Predators.

There are hockey fans in Nashville and Tennessee who support the Preds and don't want the club to be moved, but if they cannot sell the required number of tickets to reach that 14, 000 average attendance number, the writing is on the wall.

And despite the reasons given by the Predators for jacking those ticket prices, it might not sit well with an already fragile fan base nor could it drum up the civic support the team so desperately needs for its ultimate survival.  

Back to the problems facing the Predators sale, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman refuted the possibility of the sale falling through.

"Based on the last report that I got, it appears most likely that the franchise is moving towards a closing to the local group headed by David Freeman," he said. "It appears to be heading in the right direction."

He had a theory about why reports on the progress of the sale seem to conflict.

"It is a fast-moving, free-flowing situation," Bettman said.

Publicly, Bettman isn't going to admit there's a problem. He almost never does whenever questions about problems within the league are raised. Still, he's correct that it's a "fast-moving, free-flowing situation".

One day after Freeman's gloomy forecast, the Tennessean reported Nashville city council was split over spending any more taxpayers money on the club, with half of the 16 council members believing the city would lose more money on the arena without the Predators than with them.

Negotiations remain ongoing and according to a spokesman a number of major issues were resolved, but it was subsequently reported the team wanted an additional $7 million of arena improvement from the city in addition to the $4.2 million previously requested by the team.

One gets the sense that the new ownership is attempting to squeeze the city council for as much as they can get by hinting (threatening?) that their attempts to purchase the team would fall through without those concessions from the city.

One also wonders just how much the city council is willing to keep bending, as it would be na