We’ve all seen, and laughed along with, the movie Major League. Behind all the one-liners though was a premise with about as much chance of actually happening as the kid in Little Big League managing the Twins. In the movie, a new owner deliberately tries to drive down attendance so she can escape the Indians’ contract with the city of Cleveland, and move the team to Miami. Pretty unrealistic…right?
News of the potential sale of the Nashville Predators to a Canadian businessman has been around for a while. Also circulating has been speculation of a potential move to Hamilton. Teams changing cities is nothing new. But recent developments have us here at Coast2Coast thinking the next young prospect for the Preds could be fresh out of the California Penal League.
Before I continue, I need to make one thing clear; this is not an indictment of the new owner Jim Balsillie. In fact, he doesn’t even own the team yet. He has a non-binding agreement to buy the team, but his exclusive negotiating rights have expired (CBC is reporting talks may have hit a roadblock, and Scott Burnside of ESPN says they may be permanently derailed).
Here’s the situation. If attendance falls below 14,000 paying fans per game, the team can take advantage of an escape clause in their contract with the city. That would let the owner move the team, and if the owner is Balsillie, the destination is likely Hamilton, ON. And if you have any doubt Balsillie would move the team, ESPN.com is reporting he’s already accepting deposits for season tickets in southern Ontario.
Earlier this week the team’s oldest remaining draft pick and fine defenseman Kimmo Timonen was traded along with Scott Hartnell to the Flyers. What did Nashville get back? Only the first round pick they traded to Philly earlier in the year to get Forsberg. Now Friday, they trade Tomas Vokoun and his sub-2.5 goals against for another draft pick to Florida. All these moves seem pretty drastic for a team that finished with 110 points – the same amount earned by eventual Cup winners Anaheim.
Whether or not the sale goes through to Balsillie (and given that his offer is many millions more than any other offer – it’s hard to believe it won’t) a few things are clear. The Preds are cutting payroll, and seem to be forcing rebuilding on a team that was already pretty good.
Balsillie’s motives are probably better than the fictional owner’s in Major League (she wanted to build a lot of luxury suites and live in Miami, he wants to bring a hockey team to the country where it is the national sport). I just hope if the team needs motivation to win some games, they don’t strip the clothing off a cardboard cut-out of a naked Balsillie.
