News Analysis: City listening for new sound from Sounds

The faces may have changed, but as long as the song remains the same, expect more of the same

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Note to the Nashville Sounds new management: The honeymoon is over.

Yesterday, NashvillePost.com reported that Joe Hart was promoted to general manager of the team, replacing Glenn Yaeger. Yaeger is now on his way back to Chicago, where he resumes his position as COO of AmeriSports LLC, the parent company of the team.

The immediate buzz around town was that Yaeger's removal from the situation meant the city and the team could now start taking steps toward a new home for the team on the banks of the Cumberland River. Relations between Yaeger and the city were strained for years over issues with the current home of the team, Greer Stadium, and proposals to build a new stadium downtown.

One of the more entertaining episodes between the city and the Sounds occurred on opening night of the 2007 baseball season when the city decided to tear up part of the Sounds parking lot to begin construction on a visitors' center for Fort Negley. That was when Mayor Bill Purcell was in charge.

The notion that the team and current Mayor Karl Dean had a better relationship was dispelled last week. The Sounds had won a round in the state legislature that would have enabled them to use sales tax revenues to finance a new home, but Metro's lobbyist Eddie Davidson said the way they won was an act of "bad faith" — and proceeded to kill the bill on the Hill.

While that may have been Yaeger's last stand as Sounds GM, his exit from the team will not make the situation any better, according to several Metro insiders. While they said Yaeger was a difficult person to deal with at times, individuals from the public and private sector who have dealt with the team in recent years say that if any progress is to be had, it must begin with team owner Al Gordon.

Gordon is the Chicago-based chief of the team's parent, AmeriSports. He also is president of the investment firm of Richland, Gordon & Company and has holdings in other entertainment ventures.

As much frustration as been laid at Yaeger's doorstep, he was and is perceived to have been faithfully carrying out the wishes of Gordon. The Sounds basically want a new ballpark that comes with almost no financial risk for the team and that is what Yaeger fought for. In this case, the problem isn't the messenger, it's the message.

For Hart to succeed at his new job and have better relations with the city than his predecessor, Gordon will have to concede that his strategy thus far hasn't worked. The city has remained steadfast in its position that a new stadium for the team is a good idea – as long as both sides are exposed to the risk involved.

Call Hart the relief pitcher, the set-up man, closer or whatever baseball-themed moniker you want. But as long as Gordon dictates to him the same strategy for a new stadium that he dictated to Yaeger, don't expect the city to call him anything... or take his calls.