Marty Turco and Dallas Stars Hockey

source: Kansas City Business Journal

William “Boots” Del Biaggio III has ended his efforts to bring a National Hockey League team to Kansas City.

Del Biaggio joined a group of Nashville-area investors who on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to buy the Nashville Predators from Craig Leipold.
Once the sale is approved, Del Biaggio will be a minority owner of the Predators. He also is a minority owner of the San Jose Sharks.

Del Biaggio said this ends an agreement he had with Anschutz Entertainment Group to move an NHL team to the Sprint Center.

“I will now be part of the Nashville ownership group, and I’m 100 percent committed to Nashville,” he said. “Now the people of Nashville have a chance to make it work here. If it doesn’t work and the team is no longer financially viable, the Nashville Predators will have to look at all their options.”

Del Biaggio said the situation is actually good news for Kansas City because it will make the NHL healthier and allow the NHL Board of Governors to consider expansion.

“My hope is Kansas City will get expansion if and when the NHL Board of Governors looks at the issue,” Del Biaggio said.

Asked whether his name might come up again if it becomes apparent Kansas City could get an expansion team, Del Biaggio said, “My answer to that would be, I’m very interested in being a majority owner of an NHL hockey team.”

AEG representatives could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

The Nashville investment group is led by David Freeman, a Nashville venture capitalist and former CEO of Commodore Medical Services. Leipold said in a news conference Wednesday that the Nashville investment group is expected to make a $10 million down payment before September to enable a binding purchase agreement. The NHL owners then could formally evaluate the bid before the start of the regular season.

The Nashville group is said to be offering around $180 million for the team.

The group began pursuing a Predators deal when Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie struck an agreement to buy the team for $220 million. The Balsillie deal went sour shortly after the co-CEO of Research In Motion began taking steps to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario — including the sale of prospective tickets through the Canadian arm of Ticketmaster.

The prospect of the team leaving Nashville spurred a push by local business leaders to boost season ticket sales.

As long as the Predators average more than 14,000 seats sold per game, the team is locked into its lease in Nashville through 2028.