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Predators Sale Approved

By Mark

The long, winding road to the end of ownership of the Nashville Predators by Craig Leipold finally appears to be at hand and the winner, for now, is Middle Tennessee. The NHL Board of Governors yesterday approved the sale of the Preds to a group of mostly local businessmen headed by venture capitalist David Freeman for $193 million. The deal will likely close on Monday although a new lease, crucial to the success of the Preds' operation, will not be approved by the Nashville Metro Council for another couple of weeks. The deal is contingent on the new lease being approved and how that squares with an early closing, I'm not entirely certain. I suppose Freeman and his group has some fairly good assurances from the Council as to how the vote will go down.

The pending sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning was not on the agenda and whether that deal will be approved prior to the December 31 drop dead date in the deal is an open question. There is no currently scheduled Board of Governors meeting for December although Bettman could call one or a vote could be held by phone. The deadline could of course be extended by Lightning owner Bill Davidson, as well. We'll just have to wait and see how that one plays out. Let's hope it doesn't' take as long as the Predators.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on December 01, 2007 (boomark / email).