Hello All! I'd like to present a question for some locals answering.
I was recently listening to 1010 CFRB's (out of Toronto) Hockey Night
when they were discussing the financial state of the game. The
conversation swayed over to franchises that may relocate within the
next 3 or 4 seasons. Nashville, Calgary, and Edmonton were each
discussed.

Why are the season tix falling each year for the Predators? What are
they doing to turn around the ticket issues? Why did such a major
player in bringing the franchise to Nashville (Gaylord Corporation)
bail on the franchise. That's a bad sign they've been discussing on
the WIP here in Philly or WABC out of NY. The outlook sounds dark for
the Preds future in Tennessee according to the media up here in the
Northeast. What's happening?

Some of the cities discussed this past week were these ->

Kansas City: population of 2.3 million with a new downtown stadium in
the works. A strong corporate presence and the rumor is the Hunt
Family is involved in the talks with Bettman.

Oklahoma City: population of 1.1 million with a new 20,000 seat arena
downtown along the nations fastest growing entertainment district
(Bricktown Canal) OkC's minor league hockey team has led all North
American minor league hockey teams in attendance for the last 4
seasons nearing 10,000 per this season. NORAD has recently assigned a
Canadian base to the city relocating 25-30,000 Candians into work
assignments within OkC. A strong corporate presence in the city with
retired executives from the Shell Oil Company being the leaders of
the hopeful group.

Jacksonville: population 1.3 million and rated as the 2nd fastest
growing city in the US during the 1990's. A new 18,000 seat downtown
arena is approved next to a new 10k seat baseball stadium, Alltel
Stadium, a new entertainment district, and 45 a story hotel. A couple
of real estate magnets from the southeast coastal islands are said to
be the leaders of the Jacksonville group.

Other cities discussed were Cincinnati (CMSA 3.0 million); Hartford,
Ct (MSA 1.2 million); Seattle (MSA 2.7 million); Portland (MSA 2.3
million)

Any input? Just curious ...