Nashville Predators winning corporate sponsors

Despite a dismal economy, the Nashville Predators have been able to strike new deals for corporate sponsorships.

Nissan Americas has signed on as a sponsor, somewhat surprising because the Franklin-based company had given the impression that it would be tight-fisted with such deals. Vanderbilt University Medical Center stepped up after Baptist didn't renew its deal with the team.

In October, the local Wendy's franchisee agreed to give out a Frosty to each fan at home games when the team scores five goals. That's happened twice so far, both wins, and caused a run on the dairy desert at the West End Wendy's.

The Frosty deal replaces the Taco Bell franchisee's free tacos, which had been a popular promotion. Before the season, Taco Bell supposedly was on tap to return. Last month, Bank of New York sued the franchisee claiming default on loans.

On the ticket side, Predators officials say sales are a challenge. The team is averaging about 13,000 a night in attendance and need to do better. There's still the looming goal of maintaining average nightly paid attendance so the Predators can participate in league revenue sharing.

The team doesn't disclose season ticket sales but they are apparently down some from last year, pushing the team to rely more game-day sales. Selling 6,000 to 7,000 tickets per night is tough.

In October, lead owner David Freeman had said ticket sales were up and that they wouldn't be a problem because people would choose to stay close to home rather than travel. But that was before the economy really began its meltdown.

A myriad of ticket packages have been created to give fans options. But in these economic times it will be tough and the team won't be able to send the same distress call as last year when new owners were buying the team and striking a new deal with the city.

Now may be the time to build fan loyalty when the economy is in such tumult. Perhaps a locally-based company such as Dollar General or Cracker Barrel could buy a bunch of tickets to have a customer appreciation night.

The chains could surprise customers at registers by giving them a gift of two tickets, or more depending on the size of the family. That certainly could create loyalty for those companies.

Of course, the team might have to cut a deal for the companies but at least its more ticket revenue than zero for empty seats.