Nashville Predators co-owner William "Boots" Del Biaggio III is under federal investigation, according to the San Jose Mercury News, but locally the Preds say it will not affect the team or how it does business.
Contacted early this morning by NashvillePost.com, team spokesman Gerry Helper said that the team understood that Del Biaggio has resigned from Sand Hill Capital, the boutique lender to start-up companies he founded in 1997, and that there was an investigation into his financial holdings.
Helper, who is out of town today, was asked what impact this might have on the current ownership group of the Predators and he replied, "This will have no impact whatsoever." He then added that an official statement would be issued by the team later today.
Del Biaggio is a San Jose resident who, prior to joining the Predators ownership group, was a minority owner of the NHL's San Jose Sharks. He was also part of efforts to purchase an NHL franchise that would have located a team in Kansas City.
When he joined the current ownership group of the Nashville Predators, a group led by Nashville businessman David Freeman, it was widely speculated that he was upping his stakes in the NHL in the hopes of someday becoming a member of the NHL's Board of Governors. Freeman currently sits on that board as the head of the Predators.
UPDATE: 9:40 a.m. – Official statement from the Nashville Predators
"We understand Boots Del Biaggio has resigned from Sand Hill Capital for personal reasons. Until he comments further, there is nothing for us to add or comment on. We will not comment on or address speculative or hypothetical questions. His departure from Sand Hill Capital has no impact on the Predators organizational operations as we are focused on ticket sales, building long-term business partnerships in Middle Tennessee and improving our team for the 2008-09 season, beginning with the 2008 NHL Entry Draft just three weeks away."
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