Predators to Blackhawks fans: You're not welcome here

The Predators are sending a clear message to out-of-town Chicago Blackhawks fans: Stay away from Bridgestone Arena in April.

With a first-round playoff series between Nashville and Chicago a possibility, Predators president Sean Henry is pushing steps to assure Bridgestone and Lower Broadway does not turn into a sea of Blackhawks red.

"We want to fill the building with gold, filled by our fans, through our fans and for our fans. Period," Henry said Wednesday. "Just like any team should want their home arena to be. And any columnist who says otherwise, should look at his own history."

Oh, not this columnist. This one agrees with Henry.

His barb was intended for Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Rosenbloom, who recently penned that the "Predators will obsess anew over plots and firewalls and security installations to keep Hawks fans out of the rink. If the past is neurotic prologue, then you watch, before the Predators release playoff tickets, they'll completely eliminate the paper version and allow E-tickets only after demanding their fans submit to iris recognition technology."

Rosenbloom's sarcastic prose was close to reality.

The Predators will begin selling playoff tickets this weekend. On Saturday, tickets can only be purchased at Kroger stores in Middle Tennessee. On Sunday, they can be purchased at the Bridgestone box office prior to and during the 4 p.m. game against Calgary. On Monday, tickets will be sold online through the Predators' website — but only to customers who live within the team's TV market.

Good for Henry and the Predators. And good for Predators' fans.

A strong fan base is built on lasting memories. Quite often, those memories are created during dramatic and dynamic playoff moments.

While the Predators have done a remarkable job of marketing their product, the franchise is still in its infancy. Season 16 is a fraction of the life of most of our country's professional sports franchises.

And there are ebbs and flows with every franchise, something Blackhawks fans should know. Before Chicago's recent run of success — two Stanley Cup titles in last five years — fans were not flocking to home games.

As recently as 2006-07 the Blackhawks averaged just 12,727 fans, ranking next-to-last in the league and well behind the Predators.

Then what happened? The Blackhaws drafted well and started winning games. The fan base grew as it experienced exciting playoff atmosphere and two championships.

Henry wants the same thing to happen in Nashville. It's really a simple formula.

But it can't happen if playoff games are a replay of the Dec. 6 meeting between the Predators and Blackhawks at Bridgestone. Henry estimates as many as 5,500 Blackhawk fans attended that game, a 3-1 Chicago victory.

He said the team estimated 1,200 tickets were sold by season package holders to fans in out-of-town zip codes; another 2,500 were sold from the team's online portal to fans in the Chicago market; and another 1,500 were sold to scalpers who either sold the tickets on online sites such as StubHub or to fans on the streets.

He doesn't want to see that happen during the playoffs.

"We make no apologies for building this fan base for our fan base," he said. "We are obsessed with it as an organization because we want our fans to feel comfortable. We are not obsessed who the (opponent) is."

Reach Dave Ammenheuser at 615-259-8352 and on Twitter @NashSportsEd.