Predators sale falls just shy of NHL record

The Nashville Predators announced a majority ownership change nearly 10 months ago, and now, details have been released about the near-record transaction.

According to a report from Front Office Sports, former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, the brother of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, will complete his purchase of the team in mid-May for a reported $880 million — five times more than the team’s reported revenue, according to Forbes.

Haslam will own a 60 percent stake in the franchise, taking over for Herb Fritch as the new majority owner, pending a vote by the NHL’s board of governors. Fritch, who was a part of the multi-person ownership group that bought the Predators for $174 million in 2007, stated last year that Haslam was one of only a few people he would consider selling his majority share to.

“I only had a list of three or four people that I could think of that had the wherewithal to do it and maybe had the interest,” Fritch told reporters last June, via the Nashville Post. “That’s really the bottom line. I thought it was the right longer-term decision for the franchise, and Bill will be a good steward for [the community].”

The sale falls just shy of the largest in NHL history — a designation that belongs to Fenway Sports Group and its $900 million purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021. After valuing the Predators at $600 million one year ago, Forbes recently adjusted that valuation to $810 million back in December, which ranked 23rd among the league’s 32 teams.

While the deal is close to being finalized, the sale won’t become official until 2025. Haslam’s majority ownership, which is expected to be finalized by July 2025, will be done in four installments — one in 2023, one in 2024 and two in 2025.