Bridgestone Arena expected to re-open Tuesday following water damage
By Danica Sauter
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — After a water main break at the Bridgestone Arena on Friday morning, the Nashville Predators and staff at the Bridgestone Arena plan to reopen their doors to host Tuesday’s game as scheduled.
According to NHL.com, while some of the arena’s systems and guest support functions may not be 100% operational for Tuesday’s game or Maren Morris’s concert, Predators President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Henry has an appreciation for everyone’s efforts to get the building as prepared as possible.
“We can not say thank you enough to everyone that has worked tirelessly to restore Bridgestone Arena and ready it for Preds games and events once again. More than 30 public agencies and private companies have mobilized with us in our mission to safely reopen the venue for games and events this week,” Henry said. “We had a great schedule for Thanksgiving weekend with expectations of hosting 40,000 fans for the three hockey games, but unfortunately, we were unable to open our doors. We look forward to hosting 17,000 of hockey’s best fans on Tuesday for our game with the Anaheim Ducks and we thank everyone for their patience as we continue with the restoration.”
The break was reported at 6 a.m. on Friday and flooded the arena’s main concourse and event levels. Metro Public Works worked to get the situation under control, but the water caused damage to the floors, ceilings, and tiles inside the arena, going up to three feet high in some areas.
Water could be seen spewing from a sidewalk grate on 6th Avenue South and flowing toward the Music City Center on Demonbreun Street.
Friday’s game that was scheduled between the Predators and the Colorado Avalanche was postponed due to the flooding. In addition, Saturday’s game between the Preds and Columbus Blue Jackets was also postponed with make-up dates for both games yet to be announced. On Saturday, the Music City College Hockey Classic game between Northeastern and Western Michigan was relocated to the Ford Ice Center in Bellevue.
After Saturday morning practice at Centennial Sportsplex, NHL said some Preds players also wanted to express their appreciation to city and arena workers.
“It’s obviously nothing any of us wanted,” Preds forward Matt Duchene said. “The team’s been playing great lately, it gets the momentum [going] and it’s disappointing not to have two great games at home on Thanksgiving weekend.”
“I just wanted to say thank you to all the workers for working hard every day at the arena,” Captain Roman Josi said in a video on the Predators official Twitter account. “To all the fans – thank you for your patience. We can’t wait to be back.”
“I know these past couple days haven’t been what we expected,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “But hopefully it’ll be back to normal soon. Thank you a whole lot to the arena workers that are doing all their best to get our arena back in shape and ready to go for the future.”
NHL said more information on the situation will be shared with fans and ticket holders for Tuesday’s game as it becomes available.
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