NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -It’s looking more and more as though the Predators will be staying in Nashville.
The Web site for a prospective Hamilton Predators NHL Franchise has been shut down, and a group of investors looking to buy the club and keep it where it is will meet with league executives Monday, a spokeswoman said.
People who put down $500 deposits for the Hamilton Predators started receiving notices Wednesday that their money would be credited back to them. Ticketmaster’s Web site said the page for the Hamilton Predators had been canceled.
A site set up by Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie was shut down after the Nashville investor group with a deal to buy the Predators pointed out that the site accepted a deposit Monday.
Balsillie’s $220 million offer to buy the Predators from Craig Leipold fell through in June when Leipold and the NHL became upset with the co-CEO of Blackberry makers Research in Motion Ltd. for taking deposits in Hamilton, Ontario.
“It just hadn’t had much activity,” said Bo Roberts, a Nashville attorney representing Balsillie. “Frankly, it should have been taken down a long time ago.”
Margie Newman, a spokeswoman for the group, said the prospective buyers will meet with the NHL’s Board of Governors on Monday. That’s just nine days before the investors must complete their $193 million deal to buy the Predators from Leipold or risk losing their $10 million deposit.
“I can confirm there will be a meeting, and that’s about all I can say,” Newman said.
A lawyer, Richard Rodier, told the Hamilton Spectator on Tuesday that Balsillie’s group had not paid further attention to the site after his agreement fell through. They had received nearly 15,000 season ticket deposits and had sold 80 corporate boxes at Copps Coliseum.
Balsillie had a letter sent to Metro last week pointing out he sees Nashville as a strong hockey market and that he thought the team’s arena lease was fine.
“(The) proposal speaks to the issue of Jim’s view of the Nashville market,” Rodier told the newspaper. “And for the Freeman group to try to spin that differently – by signing up for a deposit on a defunct Web site – is unfortunate.
“The proposal speaks for itself. We have no other comment at this time.”
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