Sommet's name will stay on the arena ... for now

After movement in last day, Preds see potential for a resolution

Email | Print By J.R. Lind

Nashville's downtown arena will not revert to its original name – at least not yet.

At a special meeting Thursday of the Metropolitan Sports Authority, Nashville Hockey Club Vice President Ed Lang said a resolution is still possible between the team and the Sommet Group in the naming-rights spat.

"The Sommet Group has reached out to us," he said. "This all happened in the last 24 hours and it's worthwhile to try to resolve it amicably."

The Sports Authority was widely expected to give the Predators permission to change the name of the Fifth and Broadway facility back to the Nashville Arena, the name it held between its opening in 1996 and 1999 and again in 2007 after the naming rights agreement with Gaylord expired. Sommet's name has graced the arena for the past two years.

Lang asked the authority instead to give the team the ability to change the name back to Nashville Arena if an agreement could not be reached with Sommet in "the next short period of time."

He declined to be more specific on a timeline.

The Nashville Hockey Club filed suit in Chancery Court last week, claiming non-payment from the Brentwood-based company. Sommet fired back, claiming "surprise" at the move because of a $3.3 million IRS lien against Predators principal owner David Freeman. Freeman said the lien is a result of cash-flow problems related to his bailout of the team in the wake of the bankruptcy of former invester William "Boots" Del Biaggio III.