Paying Tax Dollars Through the Nose to Keep Hockey in Nashville Is Like Horking Up a Puck

I’m hoping we’ll build a venue so the Highland Games can have a permanent home in Nashville. If our city is committed to pouring cash into losing sports franchises, at least can we have one with a caber toss?

- -CatMac

She also has a great post on priorities over at her place where she replies to blogging Council Member Emily Evans' point about an empty arena losing money:

But IT STILL LOSES MONEY [with the Predators]. If we're sitting on an empty thermal lot because ... we don't think the offer is strong enough, why in the world are we negotiating for the benefit of a different sports team? Is there something magical about the Predators [rather than the Sounds]?

Nashville needs to hang just as tough against the Predators as it did against the Sounds.

I part ways with Catherine insofar as I believe that reasonable deals at minimal cost may be pursued with sports teams, but it will not be any major loss if the Predators move to KC. Los Angeles did not fall apart when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to Oakland, and the NFL is more lucrative than the NHL. If one of the most major sports markets can make it without a particular professional sport, second-tiered Nashville can too, especially in the tight Metro budget crunch times.

Sometimes we get more by saying "no" than by saying "yes."


UPDATE: Ms. Evans replies. NashPo says Deans tells Council a deal is close. Let's hope the fiscal damage is minimal.