For a while it seemed too good to be true. In the end that's exactly what it was.
The last trace of the Hamilton Predators has vanished, and the website set up and used by
Waterloo
billionaire Jim Balsillie to accept season's tickets deposits for his proposed Hamilton NHL team has been terminated.
A message on the site read simply, "all deposits made by internet and phone will receive an automatic credit to the purchasing card, no action is required. Refunds will be seen on your next credit card statement."
Once it all seemed so legitimate. With a non-binding agreement made in June between Balsillie and
Nashville Predators owner Craig Leopold, it appeared a third
NHL team in
Ontario
might actually become a reality. It won't, though not for a lack of interest.
The ticket drive was an immediate success -- deposits at $500 each were made on nearly 15,000 season's tickets, and all 80 corporate boxes were sold out. The NHL however, wasn't impressed and neither was Leipold, who took Balsillie out of the running for the team, choosing instead to take a less lucrative deal and keep the team in
Nashville
, at least temporarily.
Then the ticket deposits stopped coming and the site became dormant until last Friday when Balsillie renewed his pursuit of the team, insisting he was convinced of the viability of the
Nashville
market, wouldn't seek any lease concessions and would raise the exit fee for the team to leave the city by millions.
And it might have worked until the
Nashville
group, which has until Oct. 31 to finalize its deal, made public that it had received a copy of a confirmation of a deposit for upper bowl seats for the Hamilton Predators NHL Franchise dated Monday.
The site was finally taken down Tuesday, spelling an end to the months of speculation and fruitless hopes of the hockey fans seeking an alternative in southern
Ontario
.
Photo credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images Sport