Monday, February 16, 2009
Kotz / Media / Sports Nashville Predators Insist They're Not Papering the House
Posted by Pete Kotz on Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 5:33 AM
Word is fast and furious in Canada these days that the Predators are papering the house to scam the NHL's revenue sharing agreement. (See CBC video above where Commissioner Gary Bettman discusses the league's economic situation; the Preds part comes in about the 3 minute mark.) Though no one seems to be offering concrete proof, the theory runs like this:
Low attendance teams can receive a certain revenue sharing level if they average 14,000 fans a game. For some teams, that could be as much as $17 million, according to Bettman. But because the team has struggled to reach that figure, Canadian media geeks are floating the rumor that the Preds are papering the house, presumably with free or drastically discounted tickets, so they can score free money from the more profitable teams.
Preds Senior VP Gerry Helper isn't buying. He admits the team's schedule is loaded with specials, but nothing out of the ordinary. "We're doing a lot of discounting to fill this building as best we can," he says. And while that may include things like a ticket with registration for the team's 5K run, it doesn't include scamming the system.
After all, he notes, teams also have to reach income growth levels as part of the revenue sharing deal. "You can't just hit 14,000 but not grow revenues to a certain level," he says. "You have to do both."
Comments (6)
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Hockey snobs will only be happy when every team in US cities where the average winter temperature is above freezing relocates to backwater Canada. Never mind that to sell enough tickets to meet the revenue sharing threshold, small Canadian cities like Regina and Winnipeg would have to cut regular ticket prices below the discounted Predators ticket price level, and sacrifice any chance that the NHL could make money off a US national television contract.
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This whole issue started when David Freeman, in an interview with the Tennessean, mentioned that the owners were considering using their own money to buy tickets, if needed, to hit the 14K target for full revenue sharing (important note: if they don't hit 14K and the growth target for revenue, they still get 75%).
Based on the way paid attendance has come through this year, it's doubtful they'll need to open their wallets. Even if they did, I'm sure the players won't object, because the majority of that money would go right into their paychecks.
Discounting and giveaways are part of the business, and always have been. Detroit's owner, Mike Ilitch, used to give a car away at each home game to try and draw fans in. Now he's in the Hall of Fame for his efforts.
Maybe you've heard otherwise, DG, but I haven't heard anybody talking about relocation to Canada. Hamilton seems to be the only city large enough to make that work, and Buffalo will veto. Seems to me the talk is more about contraction, but NHL wouldn't have the money to buy the contracted owners out, and from the interview with Bettman above, it doesn't seem like anyone is even considering it besides some in the Canadian media.
I just can't see the smaller Canadian cities doing any better. Remember Edmonton when the Canadian dollar was low? It was one of the financially weakest franchises in the league. And though I haven't been there in a long time, Winnipeg just seems too poor to support a team in tis day and age.
Kotz, sorry for not providing context. The hockey snobs who draw sustenance from things like the papering allegation are the denizens of the most popular internet forums, like tsn.ca's comment section or hockeyforums. I was anticipating that line of thinking more than responding directly to the entry.
The interesting thing is when Ron MacLean starts talking about it. He's probably the most respected hockey media guy in Canada, so you know it's getting some traction up there. But you're right about the prejudice. I don't think the original teams -- not the 6, but the ones that go back to the WHA merger -- are ever going to accept the warm weather teams. Only San Jose and Dallas are viewed as legit franchises.
7-3-0 since the All-Star break. Steve Sullivan back from a two-year absence and Jordin Tootoo recovered from his injury. David Legwand finally playing like a multi-million dollar contract player. Only three points out of the playoffs (after being down as much as 15) and peaking at exactly the right moment.
There are plenty of reasons why the Predators are averaging 14,000 fans a game now. Some crazy anti-Canada conspiracy is not one of them.
