Quote:
Originally Posted by Platinum Bryan
Nashville is already as good as done. This will be the last season there for sure.  |
Actually the Preds can't move until 2009-2010 at the earliest and in order to to do that they have to have less than 14,000 in paid attendance this year.
Also
Metro Finance Director David Manning said the Predators can't exercise an escape clause in their lease of the city's arena until a dispute over their "tangible net worth" is resolved. The lease requires that Metro be able to get back part of its initial $35 million investment in the Predators if the franchise leaves town before the lease expires in 2028.
The city said last year that the Predators' tangible net worth was too low to let taxpayers recover that investment. The Predators responded that Metro was miscalculating their value and accused the city of violating the lease by failing to pay a sister company's bonus fees for managing the arena.
A year's worth of negotiations haven't settled the dispute. Until it is settled, Manning said, the Predators can't invoke an escape clause available to them if paid attendance falls below certain levels for two seasons.
"The opinion of our counsel is that on that point, they are in default," Manning said.
"They're not entitled to give notice while that issue is unresolved," Manning said.