Nashville Predators to name Herb Fritch new chairman, replacing Tom Cigarran

The Nashville Predators ownership group will soon name Herb Fritch its new chairman, replacing Tom Cigarran who has held the post since 2010.

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Fritch, a veteran in Nashville's health care industry, has been a member of the ownership group since 2007 and owns the largest stake in the team.

Cigarran replaced David Freeman, who led the effort to buy the team in 2007 when the Predators were on the brink of being sold and leaving town.

The Predators confirmed the change in a statement on Wednesday.

"Both Day One Season Ticket Holders themselves, Cigarran and Fritch have worked closely together the past several years to create the number one franchise in professional sports and they are excited to continue to work with each other and the rest of the ownership group to reach new heights," team spokesman Kevin Wilson said. "The transition from Cigarran to Fritch has been in the works for a long time, but not until recently have we begun to work through the governance that is necessary to start the process of putting the transition in motion."

Under Cigarran, the Predators' business operation has been on the upswing, culminating in the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final last year. Cigarran earned positive reviews for his decision to hire Jeff Cogen and Sean Henry to lead the Predators' day-to-day operations.

Henry took over as CEO in 2015 after Cogen's departure. By handing the reins to Fritch, the ownership group is positioning itself for stability and endorsing the job Henry has done at the helm.

In addition to the hockey part of the franchise, the ownership group owns the company in charge of operating Bridgestone Arena, which has consistently been ranked among the busiest arenas in the U.S. in recent years.

"There is no timetable on when this will be official, but the vision of Tom Cigarran and Herb Fritch, as well as the rest of the local ownership group has positioned Smashville well, on and off the ice, for years to come," Wilson said of the pending transition to Fritch.

Fritch is a well-regarded health care executive, who founded HealthSpring in 2000 and then sold his company to Cigna in a deal reportedly worth $3.8 billion. He stayed on with Cigna-HealthSpring until about two years ago when he retired.

When the Predators' ownership group was forced to answer cash calls during its tumultuous early years, Fritch emerged as the owner with the largest stake in the team. The Predators do not disclose owners' individual ownership percentages.

It's likely that the change from Cigarran to Fritch will come this summer after the Predators' playoff run concludes.

Deal with Metro crucial to Preds' business success

A key pillar of the Predators' successful business turnaround is their lease agreement with Metro, which provides operating subsidies and incentives for the franchise to generate as much non-hockey business as possible.

The Predators have hired two lobbying firms — the Ingram Group and Hall Public Strategies — which have had lobbyists registered with the city to represent them in talks about updating the lease agreement.

Those talks were ongoing and in their early stages under former-Mayor Megan Barry, and they've continued under new Mayor David Briley.

Through its spokesman, the team credited former mayors Phil Bredesen and Karl Dean for helping lead the charge to keep the Predators in Nashville.

Fritch's move to become the new chairman comes just a few weeks after the Predators ownership group took on new investors when health care executive Joey Jacobs and his two sons bought into the team.

Although operations have been smooth skating in recent years, it was just two years ago that Freeman sued Cigarran and the team in a Nashville court. Freeman claimed Cigarran kept crucial business operations secret from him and failed to pay him loan guaranty fees that Freeman said he was owed.

The guarantees were to banks, which were pressuring the Predators after initial partner William "Boots" Del Biaggio pleaded guilty to fraud and subsequently went to prison.

The 2007 ownership group — which also includes the Thompson family, the Dobberpuhl family and California businessman Warren Woo — was a hodge-podge of mostly local investors, several of whom didn't know each other well. Led by Freeman, they joined together to buy the Predators from original owner Craig Leipold, who had a deal in the works to sell the franchise to a Canadian businessman. That would likely have led to the team's relocation.

Freeman brokered the initial lease deal that included the incentive package with the city. But he fell out of favor with both city officials and some of his fellow owners after the revelation of a federal tax lien, which stemmed from a tax bill Freeman said came about after he made the loan guarantees.

Freeman's lawsuit was thrown out in Nashville business court and sent to the NHL commissioner's office for mediation, and the status of the complaint is unclear since such proceedings are kept private.

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.