Haslam Excited to Join Preds Ownership Group, Continue Growing Franchise

The Nashville Predators aren't going anywhere.
It's understandable how when news broke last Thursday that the Preds were facing a change in ownership, many may have thought back to 2007, when the team was on the brink of being sold and relocated to Hamilton, Ontario.
But that simply isn't the case, and current Majority Owner Herb Fritch, future majority owner and former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, General Manager David Poile and CEO Sean Henry spent Thursday morning discussing how this change will only serve to continue bolstering the Predators footprint in the NHL and the city of Nashville.

"I'm really bullish on Nashville and its future," Haslam said. "I think the trajectory we've been on is not going to stop and I think that adds to the whole Predators experience… I love the way the Predators have interwoven themselves into the fabric of this community. To me, it's kind of a model for what a team has done in embracing the community and the community embracing them back."

"For almost 25 years [Haslam] has been a fan of the team," Henry said. "He's watched what's happened and when he became governor, he really appreciated what the impact could be of a well run team that's engaged with the community, a team that competes at the highest level, who's insatiable and takes it a step further each year. He's done a lot with our foundation, he appreciates what we do, and he's a sports guy at the end of it all… So, it's going to be a lot of fun working with him, just as it has been working with Herb and the rest of the group."
According to Fritch, the meticulous process of finding a new owner began six months ago.
"I just thought it was important to get the right person to succeed me for the stability of the Predators franchise and the credibility of it," Fritch said. "And [I knew] that it could take two or three years to find the right person."
So Fritch began his search, and ended up with a shortlist of potential buyers. On the list was Tennessee's former governor.
For a number of reasons, Fritch says Haslam fit the bill.
"I wanted to find somebody local, somebody that is a Tennessee and a Nashville person," Fritch said. "[The Preds] are a tremendous community asset, and I wanted to find somebody that people knew in Tennessee, that was interested in Tennessee and was interested in Nashville… I just think it was the right thing to do for the franchise, and we got the right guy that we can trust as the steward of the franchise."

So Fritch gave the former governor a call and asked if he had any interest in owning an NHL franchise.
"It was a pretty quick and easy yes," Haslam said.
With a lifelong passion for sports, and even a brief peewee hockey career to boot, Haslam was immediately drawn to the idea.
"I care deeply about this team and it succeeding," Haslam said. "I'm just like [the fans]. I wake up in the morning and I read sports or watch it on the news and I understand that winning matters. Hardly any organization is always going to be at the top… But I want to make certain that we're competing and winning, just like the person that shows up wearing Roman's (Josi) jersey to 34 games a year."
To find that success, Haslam says it's important to have trust in the team around you - a philosophy he says he learned as governor. As far as he's concerned, that includes both the business and hockey sides of the operation.
"You can't run every part of the state yourself," Haslam said. "And I strongly feel that ownership's job is to say, here's where we want to go, and here's how we're going to measure ourselves."

Haslam is expected to finalize a deal to become a minority owner by the fall. Over the next three to four years, his stake in the franchise will increase until he takes over as majority owner.
For now, Smashville can rest easy knowing there's plenty to be excited about in the years to come.
"He totally believes in Nashville," Poile said. "He seems to be an unbelievable sports fan and some of the things he's been able to do business-wise - it just feels like this is a tremendous handoff from a great owner in Herb Fritch to another great owner in Governor Haslam."