Hey Yo: Sports Talk with Some Southern Swagger

The whole purpose of starting to blog was to write about things I am passionate about. Most of the time it will be about the Titans, Preds, or Vols but today is dedicated to Centennial Sportsplex and the current dilemma they find themselves in with the Preds. For full disclosure I have a son that currently plays youth hockey in Nashville. He has played at the Ford Ice Centers in Bellevue and Antioch along with NYHL at Centennial. Our experiences at the Ford Ice Centers were underwhelming with the exception of the bar at Bellevue, that is a nice touch. NYHL at Centennial has been by far our favorite so seeing something that has a chance to blow that up is what is the driver behind this post.

The Preds are wanting to invest 30 million up front to give Centennial a much-needed facelift and invest up to 100 million over the next 25 years maintaining a state-of-the-art facility. That part sounds great and if it was only an investment for improving their practice facility you wouldn’t hear anything negative about this but with that investment, the Preds are also wanting to take over the day-to-day ice rink operations which is one helluva poison pill to swallow especially if you are a parent for a kid that plays youth hockey at Centennial.

That poison pill is one that I just can’t bring myself to overlook. There is a great example of this very thing happening in Dallas where the Stars have monopolized the ice rinks in the greater Dallas area and the only people benefiting from this are the Dallas Stars and their bottom line. They have managed to turn the local ice rinks into another profit arm for the Dallas Stars. I’ve heard Sean Henry say that there are no plans for what has happened in Dallas to happen in Nashville but Pro Sports are copycat leagues and when something works for one organization then others will try to emulate it.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the money and if you follow the money it will lead you to the motives behind what the Preds are trying to do. They aren’t wanting to invest 100 million over the next 25 years out of goodwill and generosity they are doing it because there is a Cost Benefit Analysis showing them a payback on this investment.

If you think I’m just being a cynic and overly negative about this I would encourage you to just look at season ticket prices, concession prices, and the price of merchandise in the Pro Shops at Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Predators have always been about how to maximize profits. Not faulting the Preds at all on this because they aren’t a nonprofit organization, but please don’t hide behind this being a charitable investment with no ulterior motives. At the end of the day I really hope Metro Parks can find a way to just say no to the Nashville Predators attempt to take over Centennial Sportsplex Ice Rinks.