About This Site
A brief history of the Unofficial Web Site

In April of 1997, I read in the Tennessean newspaper that the NHL Board of Governors were going to visit six cities to decide the four locations of new franchises. The call went out to all the native hockey fans to be at the Arena in the afternoon to give a good send off to the NHL officials. So I donned by Hartford Whalers sweater and my friend his Wings sweater and we made the trip downtown. We were excited to see that the courtyard outside the main entrance was jammed with people! While there were obviously plenty of Red Wings fans, due to the heavy automotive manufacturing industry in Middle Tennessee, most the the existing NHL teams were represented by fans.

Leipold said later that he was nervous about the turn out. He didn't know what it was going to be until he stepped out with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and company and was overwhelmed with hockey fan cheers. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Leipold at Wolfy's after the event and he was definitely excited. He believed the strong turn out would be the clincher in landing a franchise. I realized then, as I'm sure most everyone does now, that we would have a great and  personable team owner.

Birth of the Site

On June 4th, the NHL awarded conditional franchises to Atlanta, St. Paul, Columbus, and Nashville! Over the next weeks, business organizations were created and Jack Diller and David Poile were hired as President and General Manager, respectively. But as the days went on, I was frustrated with the lack of information available. You may think coverage is bad now! In 1997, the Tennessean hardly trickled out information. Hockey for George Plaster and the rest of the Sports Night team on 99.7FM WTN was about as important to them as javelin throwing.

The Internet was not much better. While more and more resources were coming online, the Web was still in its infancy compared to today. There were quite a few sports sites, with varying degrees of depths and freshness, but nothing dedicated to the Predators. Having not found any sites out there, and believe me I tried, I decided to try my own hand at it.

On July 27, 1997, my meager Web site was up on the Internet! I had two headlines posted - announcing Diller and Poile as the first two executive employees of the franchise. You can see all the headlines from this first year here.

Naming a Conditional Franchise

The NHL did not award the franchise outright. The city had to prove itself by buying a minimum 12,000 season tickets by March 31, 1998 to make it official. The conditional franchise kicked off the sales drive with the Ice Breaker Bash. But before the Bash, the team needed an identity to help the marketing efforts.

On September 25th, at the First American building in downtown Nashville, Diller and Leipold unveiled the sabre-tooth cat logo to the media, as well as yours truly. That night I added the Behind the Logo page to the site. The only thing missing from the logo was a name. From a list of 75 names, the franchise had narrowed it down to three: Ice Tigers, The Fury, and The Attack. However, Craig Leipold announced that a fourth entry would added: Predators. Fans were given a chance to vote during the Bash.

Two days later, on a Saturday morning, the Ice Breaker Bash began. 12,000 fans were allowed into the Nashville Arena to sit anywhere they'd like to find the perfect seat to buy. My Detroit friend and I found a great spot in Section 310. Aside from becoming a season ticket holder myself, I tried to lend some support via my site too. I tried to publicize any information I could find, including the "770-PUCK" number.

Ticket sales were strong, but the tally was still below the 12,000 target.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]