Some pictures from Nashville

I'm down in Nashville covering a conference for work so don't expect much in the way of blogging over the next few days. Seems like a decent time for a Liberal to get out of the country anyways...

But in lieu of political spin, here's a few pictures of my pre-conference day yesterday in Nashville, where I did the tourist thing. On the agenda was a city tour, the Country Music Hall of Fame (I'm not a fan but, when in Nashville...) and a Predators/Oilers game.

It was so tacky I just had to buy it.

The Sommett Center, home of the Predators. Was surprised to learn its pronounced Sew-May.

I have a dream. That one day a black man and a while man will come together to open a bail bond business, and that they will exploit my moving words about racial struggle for commercial gain. I have a dream!

No sir, I apologize but you cannot bring your handgun into this bar because we have posted a prohibition in plain sight. Don't blame me, blame the Northern liberal Yankees.

My lunch: Chicken-fried chicken. Needed a third chicken element, but still very delish.

Home field of the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

The Tennessee State Capitol. Rather than design it with the usual dome, the architect built a tower that looks like a lantern that lights-up at night.

A to-scale replica Parthenon. In Nashville. They built it for their centennial or something. Because...I don't know.

Historic recording studio on music row where Elvis Presley and many other famous Nashville stars recorded.

Some country guy's customized car from the 50s or something. Apparently guns were the bling of the period, and the rims of today.

Elvis Presley's gold piano.

The corn field from Hee-Haw.

Hank Williams' Monday Night Football jacket and guitar.

An impressive selection of condiments at the Predators game. Yes, in addition to the usual suspects you see ranch sauce and mayo. I just put ketchup on my burger, but it felt good to have options.

Pre-game skate.

There were a few fights. And these American hockey fans all loved it. At least those in the half-empty arena.

Game action.

Live music during the intermissions was fun.

The Oilers celebrate one of their many goals on the night.

The Oilers celebrate their 6-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Fun game.

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Vaughn is not getting an NHL team

This story speculating about a National Hockey League team being located in the Toronto suburb of Vaughn (to give the Leafs company on the golf course) has a number of flaws in its theory:

A group of business people wants to bring a second hockey team to the Greater Toronto Area, and the NHL took the group seriously enough to grant it an audience.

The unidentified group met with National Hockey League deputy commissioner Bill Daly in downtown Toronto last week, according to sources. The group proposes to build an arena at the intersection of Highways 427 and 7 in Vaughan, Ont., on land north of Pearson International Airport that's owned by businessman Victor De Zen.

Now don't get me wrong, I think a second NHL team in the Toronto area, or Hamilton or even London or Waterloo, makes very good sense. I have no doubt Southern Ontario could support a second franchise.

But I question how much business sense it makes to build a new NHL sized, 20,000 seat arena in Vaughn. The Air Canada Centre cost $265 million to build. That's a lot of money, and it will have to be privately financed. No way would governments put in any cash, nor should they. Heck, when the Senators built the Paladium/Corel Centre/Scotia Bank Place in Kanata, the Harris government even made them pay for a highway interchange.

But let's say the backers raise the private capital, on top of the cash to buy an existing franchise to move here as well as to buy off the Leafs and Sabres. Is another 20,000 seat arena located in the Greater Toronto area really economically viable? It wouldn't be sustainable just with a hockey team as the anchor tenant. That's only, what, 40ish nights out of 365. The ACC has the Leafs, Raptors, Rock, and a boatload of concerts. The Vaughn arena would need to find an awful lot of concerts and other lucrative dates to turn a profit. Are those events out there?

A more likely solution would seem to be, if the team is going to be resident in the Greater Toronto area, tenancy at the Air Canada Centre. They'd need to get a share of the concessions from Maple Leaf Sports, pay them rent, but this would also go a long ways to over-riding MLS's concerns about another franchise in the area. In Los Angeles, the NBA's Lakers and Clippers both share the Staples Center.

There would be a lot of complications and issues to overcome with an ACC tenancy, to be sure. But they seem more easy to overcome than the economics of a 20,000 seat arena in Vaughn.

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