Nashville submits bid to host NHL All-Star Game before 2020

The Nashville Predators are eager to bring the 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019 NHL All-Star Game to the music city. 

"We’re pretty optimistic that we’re going to have one in the very near future," Predators chief operating officer Sean Henry said during a Metro Sport Authority budget meeting on Friday. "We should be hearing some positive news, I think, in the next few weeks."

"We have the facilities to do it," Henry told the Tennessean, speaking about the recent openings of the Music City Center and the Omni Hotel nearby the Bridgestone Arena. "And I feel pretty good, pretty confident."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Dally wouldn't comment on the Tennessean's report, but is quoted in the piece saying that the league "will be in a position to make an announcement on the 2016 All-Star Game" by July 1st. 

The NHL All-Star Game wasn't played in 2014 due to the league's participation in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and presumably the same fate could befall the 2018 NHL All-Star Game if the IIHF, IOC and NHL can come to an agreement.