On the NHL | Predators: OK to buy, not move

OTTAWA, Ontario - The NHL won't block Jim Balsillie's purchase of the Nashville Predators. But the Board of Governors will block any move to southern Ontario, where Balsillie reportedly would like to see the franchise relocated.

Now, if he can prove financial duress and somehow break the Predators' long-term lease, commissioner Gary Bettman said the preferred choice of relocated cities would be Winnipeg, Manitoba. Yeah, a city the NHL once abandoned.

"I'm not opining on whether or not that's an opinion that I agree with, but it is an interesting and intriguing thought," Bettman said this week during his state-of-the-game address in Anaheim, Calif.

"When we had the chance to go back to Minnesota, we did because it made sense, the right ownership, the right building situation. The market was strong and vibrant.

"We haven't studied Quebec or Winnipeg or anywhere else in Canada. But the notion, that if it could work to put a franchise back in a place where one was lost, feels good provided we don't wind up in a situation where we've created a prescription for another failing franchise.

"So am I intrigued? It's obviously something I've thought about in terms of trying to make right something that one point in our history went wrong."

Leaving Nashville, however, won't be easy. The team must stay there next season. If a number of economic factors go haywire, there are clauses that would allow the team to move.

"If the attendance mark is satisfied, even if it's not, if the city cures what would then be the default, this team is not going anywhere," Bettman said. "There is a lease, and sports leagues aren't in the practice of letting teams violate their leases. I believe Mr. Balsillie understands that, and it's conceivable that this team will be in Nashville for as long as its lease, however long that may be."

The problem in Nashville is the majority of season-ticket holders are Joe Fan with little corporate support.

"I believe as a percentage of season-ticket holders, there are more individuals as opposed to corporate in Nashville than any of our other markets," Bettman said. "They do have a good, strong fan base, particularly for a team in a nontraditional market that's been there 10 years.

"So, I wouldn't suggest that every part of Nashville . . . has failed the team. I think the corporate community hasn't stepped up, certainly not the way it did in the first two years when the economics were different."

Bettman said in his conversations with Balsillie there was no indication that he intended to move the franchise.

If you believe that, we've got some prime real estate in East Rutherford we want to sell the league.

There is a foreboding thought that Nashville has a lame-duck season in its offing. Unless the fan base can generate more corporate support this year to turn the franchise's finances around, the Predators figure to abandon Music City in 2008.

Ticket prices around the NHL have risen since the lockout. In many cases, they went down then back up. Didn't Bettman say that if the game got its finances straightened out and implemented a salary cap that prices would go down?

"What I said around the time of the work stoppage was the pressure on ticket prices would ameliorate somewhat," Bettman said. "There wouldn't be as much inflationary pressure. I think we've been true to that considering the fact that our prices are about if not a little bit less than they were four years ago. Nothing in this world holds price to what it was three, four, five years ago.

"Just look at gasoline prices. But with respect to our ticket prices, relative particularly to the other sports, we have not been on an inflationary track."

It's still cheaper to see a baseball game.

Don't look for the NHL to expand to Europe any time soon. And it has nothing to do with the American dollar vs. the Euro.

"From our standpoint, based on where we've been and where we are, we needed to take care of ourselves in North America first," Bettman said.  "We owed it to our fans here.  We owed it to the game here."

The NHL is going to have teams play some games there. The Ducks and Kings will open next season with two games in London. Hmm. Why not send two teams from the East Coast so travel time and jet lag wouldn't be so hard on everyone?

"I think over time you'll see us have a greater and greater presence, maybe bring more teams over to start the regular season," Bettman said.

Hockey Night in Canada

's Don Cherry will join the NBC broadcast team for Game 4 of the Finals.

"A lot of people have written that what I say up here [in Canada], I would never get away with it down in the States," Cherry said. "I'll just go on and do what I have to do. In the States, they wanted me to go on one time in Pittsburgh. Jaromir Jagr, it was when he had long hair and he was with Mario Lemieux, and I said, 'There's Mario and his daughter.' It didn't go over too good. That was my last time in the States."