Renee Colthran makes purchases at the Nashville Predators Pro Shop in Bridgestone Arena.(Photo: Steven S. Harman, The Tennessean)
Story Highlights
- Predators games pump $91 million a year into spending at downtown businesses, study says
- Sales at surrounding restaurants are down 5% to 12%
- Local hotel gets 40 to 45 rooms booked from visiting teams
9:03AM EST November 26. 2012 – NASHVILLE – Nearly every morning before heading to work, Shawn Courtney searches the Internet for updates on the labor dispute between NHL owners and players.
He is the owner of the downtown eatery Past Perfect, which stands just a block away from Bridgestone Arena. On days when the Nashville Predators play, Courtney’s restaurant is teeming with patrons. But over the past months, on nights when games were canceled, he has seen his business cut in half.
“I can’t tell you how much it hurts us,” Courtney said. “October is usually one of our best months, if not the best month, and this year it wasn’t even close.”
As the hockey labor dispute drags into its 10th week, some restaurants and businesses around Lower Broadway are starting to feel the pinch. So far, 14 regular-season home games have been canceled after the dispute resulted in a lockout that started in September. Four of those were on Saturday nights, when the 17,113-seat Bridgestone Arena is often sold out.
While some of that impact has been buffered by other events that have lured people downtown, bars and restaurants on the popular strip have their fingers crossed that the dispute will end before the slower winter months.
In recent years, Predators games have been a boon for restaurants and bars in the area as visiting teams and fans have flooded the area with business. The games generate an annual economic impact of about $410 million in job creation and spending, according to a study commissioned and paid for by the team. Those games and other arena events such as concerts pump $91 million a year in spending at retailers and restaurants downtown, the study showed.
Across the league, 422 games have been eliminated, while negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players’ Association have produced no resolution. The Predators have seen 29 games canceled overall, more than a quarter of their 2012-13 schedule.
The last time there was a lockout, in 2004-05, the entire season was eventually called off.
Meanwhile, Metro government is still on the hook for millions of dollars in subsidies to the Predators even if the games don’t resume. The government agreed to provide the team up to $8.6 million a year. That comes in the form of subsidies and fees for management of the arena. The city also pays the team incentives for booking other acts at the venue, some of which generate revenue for the city that won’t be lost to the lockout.
Eateries, bars hit
For restaurateur Courtney, the canceled games have meant reaching out more to local hotels in a bid to drive traffic to his eatery.
“I’ve kind of resigned myself to the fact that they’re not going to play and trying other ways to get people in here,” he said. “I keep track of how many people are staying at what hotel. I go down there and give out discount cards. It’s all word-of-mouth.”
The boost his restaurant gets from the hockey season helps make his business model work, Courtney said. The busier months hold you over through the slower ones, he said.
“You really do want to end the year with a bang,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get the fat on to hibernate.”
At The Palm Restaurant, which stands across the street in the shadow of Bridgestone Arena, sales also have suffered, said Bryan Lytle, the general manager.
“I would have to say the impact is 7 to 12 percent,” Lytle said.
That percentage could grow if all games are called off, he said.
Around the corner, honky-tonk bars have also felt the impact.
“October is usually our best month of the year anyway, so the hockey season in the beginning is icing on the cake for us,” said Julie Rahimi, the office manager at Robert’s Western World. “Missing that business has been felt a little bit, but if it continues on, it will definitely impact our business more.”
Steve Smith, an owner at Rippy’s, Honky Tonk Central and Tootsies, said sales at his bars have been hit about 5%. “But around December and January — that’s when I’m afraid it’s going to be ugly, because there’s less things going on in town,” he said.
Hotels suffer
The games are also a boon for hotels, which get business from out-of-towners such as fans and the teams.
The Hilton across from Bridgestone Arena sees more than half of the visiting NHL teams stay there over the course of the season, said Ray Waters, regional director for Turnberry Associates, which runs the hotel.
He said those teams occupy 40 to 45 rooms per night, often on non-premium days.
“Sometimes those are two nights in the middle of January on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night, which is really good business for us,” he said.
The bigger the game, the more fans come to town. For example, a Predators versus Chicago Blackhawks game on a Saturday night often draws a big out-of-town crowd.
“When you get those big archrivals, those fans do come, and not only do you pick up the business, you pick up a lot of fans,” Waters said.
The last lockout cost the Hilton $1 million in revenue, Waters said.
Josh Brown and Josh Cooper write for The (Nashville) Tennessean
