NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Nashville Predators are working out a deal with the city of Nashville to take over operations of the city’s only remaining publicly owned and operated ice rink.
The NHL team is looking to put more than $30 million into upgrades to the ice rinks at Centennial Sportsplex in exchange for managing the facility, but some community members who use the rinks aren’t on board with the idea.
The Predators currently operate rinks in Bellevue and Antioch through a public-private partnership. If approved, the agreement giving them control of the rinks at Centennial Sportsplex would run through 2049.
The Predators would take on all operational and insurance costs related to the building’s ice rinks and facilities. The city would still maintain control of the other facilities on the property like tennis courts and pools.
While the rinks at Centennial are mainly used for youth and recreational hockey, the Predators also use the facility for practices. That’s why they say they’d like to foot the bill for sorely needed upgrades that the city’s parks department can’t afford on its own.
“It’s gonna be a little bit more modern, and it won’t have the worry of what happens if this thing breaks,” said Predators CEO Sean Henry. “$30-35 million dollars will go into the two sheets of ice, the common area, the bathrooms, HVAC.”
The city held a public input meeting Thursday night to hear the Centennial community’s concerns, which mainly stem from the fact that if the Preds take over, they would operate every community ice rink in Nashville.
“What you are asking Parks and the city to do by giving away management of the only public rink is to create a monopoly,” said one community member.
Community members who use the rink say they’re concerned about prices going up and changes to programming if the Preds take over.
At the public input meeting Thursday, Henry said the organization is not planning on raising prices and is actually working to get a price freeze written into their contracts. Plus, if the facility ever makes money, the Predators and the city would split the profits.
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Members of the Centennial community also raised concerns about how much power the agreement would give the Predators over youth hockey programs, citing concerns with how the Dallas Stars ran their community hockey rinks in a similar situation.
But community members still aren’t convinced the Predators will stick to their word and urged the city to find another way to fund the much-needed upgrades.
“You lose a little bit of your soul giving over control of a public facility that is, it’s not a business, it’s not supposed to be a business,” one community member said. “This is something that is paid for by tax dollars for the people of the city, and so to give up control of that, is that really necessary?”
Metro’s Parks and Recreation Board will vote on whether to approve the agreement at their meeting on Monday. It would then need to pass three readings at Metro Council before it’s official.
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