Report: Predators may owe $400,000 in seat taxes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A review of seat taxes paid by the Nashville Predators hockey team indicates the team may owe the city nearly $400,000 from the last two seasons.

The Tennessean of Nashville reviewed ticket settlement statements and found the team hadn't been paying the full amount according to the new lease signed last April, which was retroactive to July 2007.

The new agreement says the club is supposed to pay $1.75 per ticket to offset expenses at the city-owned Sommet Center.

However, team officials say they were operating under a provision in the previous lease signed in 1997 that allowed them to charge 5 percent of the ticket price or $1.75, whichever was less.

Ed Lang, the team's vice president for business operations, said the team's attorneys are reviewing the lease, but couldn't give a clear explanation about the discrepancies.

"It changed," Lang said. "We're trying to figure out, 'Did something in the negotiations change?' I'm relying on our attorneys right now. They're reviewing it."

Through regular-season home games this year, the team reported paid attendance of 471,083, which would be about $825,000 in taxes under the $1.75 per ticket agreement. But the team reported paying the city only $605,000 -- about $220,000 less.

The current numbers do not include preseason games or a couple of recent games because reports were not yet available.

Last season, the team reported paid attendance of 660,043 for both the regular season and playoffs. That would come out to $1.05 million in ticket fees under the new lease. But the amount paid to Nashville was about $875,000, or about a $175,000 difference.

The new lease approved in April was retroactive to July 2007 and raises the question of whether the city would be owed money for underpayments from last season.

The team's lead owner, David Freeman, declined by e-mail a request for an interview with The Tennessean, referring all questions to Lang. City officials contacted for comment did not respond and there's no indication from the records that the city tracked the seat use fee very closely.

The city relies largely on an audit done by an accounting firm the team hires to review its financial records, which concerns longtime Metro Sports Authority member Steve North.

The Sports Authority has only two full-time staff members and doesn't have the expertise to protect the public's interest as the landlord of the city's sports facilities, North said.

"To the extent we do understand (the agreements) we don't really have the expertise to audit or monitor them," North said. "We are a volunteer board."

North, who wasn't aware of the discrepancy until The Tennessean contacted him, said he thinks the board should review the issue.

"I don't think anybody is being dishonest," North said. "But we have a duty to oversee. Because we exercise that duty and oversight doesn't mean we don't trust people."